Veterinary nurses must be conscious of recent research indicating early neutering of bitches increases incontinence risk

One of the most common conversations veterinary nurses will have with new puppy owners is around neutering — whether to do so and what is the right age. Owners can often feel confused about the subject as conflicting veterinary advice is often given regarding the best age to neuter female dogs.

To help inform that discussion, colleagues and I who work on the Royal Veterinary College's (RVC) VetCompass^TM programme embarked on a BSAVA Petsavers-backed study, to finally find solid evidence for this long-suspected link. To do so, we analysed the anonymised veterinary clinical records of 72 971 UK bitches born between 1st January 2010 and 31st March 2018. This was the largest cohort study on incontinence in bitches that has ever been carried out globally. Specifically, our study investigated ‘early-onset’ urinary incontinence, whereby the condition was diagnosed at <8 years.

Excitingly, our research was able to determine a relationship between urinary incontinence and neutering. Our findings showed that not only is there a 2.12 times increased risk of urinary incontinence in neutered bitches compared with entire bitches, but also that bitches neutered before 6 months of age are 1.82 times more likely to suffer from urinary incontinence than those neutered between 6 to 12 months. However, this increased risk is only present within 2 years after being neutered. We were able to discern that the average age of diagnosis for urinary incontinence in bitches was 2.9 years of age.