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The reasoning behind waiting is simple: early spay/neuter interferes with puberty and the hormonal signals to close the growth plates on the long bones. Without those hormonal signals the long bones continue to grow AFTER the tendons and ligaments stop growing. This extra length puts undue strain on ACL, CCL, etc... We have discovered the incidence of soft tissue injury has increased significantly in the 30 years organizations like PETA, HSUS, and the AVMA has encouraged early spay and neuter.

Research has also shown that for males there is no health benefit gained by neutering other than the inability for males to develop testicular cancer. Neutering does not, as was previously believed, reduce the occurrence of prostate enlargement or cancer in males. It does reduce sexual behaviors, but does not change aggressive behaviors.

Spaying after a first heat cycle, if she is not to be bred, has many benefits for the female. Spaying will eliminate the risk of ovarian and uterine cancer. It also greatly reduces the risk of mammary cancer in females. (Neutering does not reduce the already low incidence of mammary cancer in males.) While spaying does bring on early onset of menopause and the possibility of a reduced metabolism causing weight gain, in most females spaying will help maintain an even temperament (no hormonal fluctuations due to ovulation), which many pet owners appreciate.

And since I did mention HSUS and PETA, I will make a request that if any of you do make charitable contributions to either of these organizations, you STOP. PETA is an anti-pet organization and through its tactics has endangered the lives of thousands of dogs. PETA has an extremely high kill rate for dogs they "rescue". The HSUS uses 95% of its donations to pay for administration costs and human causes. Less than 5% of the money they collect actually goes to dog and cat rescue. HSUS has NO SHELTERS and had a few years ago the highest kill rate of any rescue organization in the USA. But boy, their marketing is great! The HSUS has the lowest non profit charitable organization ratings given. I shall now step off my Soap Box.

Current research on golden retrievers says waiting until two years of age cuts down on joint problems like ACL tears and several types of cancers. Given 70% of golden retrievers will have cancer, that feels like something you can actually do to stop that. But even waiting a year helps.

As Peps pointed out to me you might be playing old tapes to deal with the tile person intrusion and the heat. I do think spaying is more expensive than neutering, but why were you waiting until he is 2? I thought the sooner the better?

The tile guy is still here. He's having trouble matching the grout color. This is the point in the process where I just agree to anything if it means he'll leave my house! He's a super nice guy, but I hate having people working here, looking into and tapping on my window which makes me jump to get my attention, using the bathroom (the toilet looks like a hazmat situation - his son has... issues). I've had enough. Basically Sunday is the only day he's not here and he's been here every other day since I came home on the 18th.

And it's still blazing hot, which is contributing to my crankiness.

Since I'm in crank mode, Kirby is driving me nuts. I know neutering doesn't markedly change behavior, but if it could just subtly knock the edges off I would be happy. To that end, I emailed the vet to ask for a quote (haven't heard back). We are not going to make it to 2 years. My neighbor asked for one from the same vet for spaying her dog and she said it was like $5000! We may be shopping around because that seems crazy. Maybe spays are more expensive than neuters? Don't know. Some of that I think is just "small town/limited options tax".

The Sedona art festival is going on this weekend. I'm meeting my friends there tomorrow, but I may go over for a sneak peek today. I also need a lightbulb type I don't have, so a stop at the hardware store is needed.

The garage door guy came yesterday to look at my door gaps. He's coming back Monday to replace the seals and tighten the side flanges to try and keep the critters out. I listed all the things that have gotten through the gaps: snakes, lizards, toads, scorpions, voles, bugs... Hopefully this helps!

My shot doesn't seem to be working well this week. Lots of carb and sweets cravings and I have indulged.

Anyway, I should go get in the shower. Take care!

Once when I was a kid, I got up from one of those naps, got dressed, and started making my breakfast. My Mom asked me what I was doing, and I didn't believe her at first that it wasn't 7 in the morning, instead of 7 in the evening. I still remember that deep feeling of disorientation.