Veterinary advances (such as hormone-sparing sterilization) can be slow to reach caring pet owners. Fortunately, some veterinarians — like Peter Dobias, DVM — are not only putting innovations into use, but also promoting them!
Dr. Dobias uses his website, blog, podcast, and YouTube videos to educate pet owners about disease prevention and natural treatment methods.
In the past year, he has been raising awareness of the health benefits of hormone-sparing sterilization methods for dogs. Those methods include hormone-sparing spay (hysterectomy) for females and vasectomy for males instead of traditional spay/neuter. He has also been promoting the benefits of hormone replacement therapy for dogs who have already lost their natural hormones due to being spayed or neutered. He recognizes that hormones provide important benefits!
Personal experience: the story of Pax
Dr. Dobias became an advocate for these innovations through personal experience. His five-year-old border collie, Pax, was neutered, and has benefited greatly from hormone replacement therapy. He described the beginnings of those benefits in a powerful blog post, “Hormone replacement therapy in neutered and spayed dogs.”
He wrote that about six months after being neutered, Pax started to get injured and show other signs of decline. In his search for answers, Dr. Dobias found relevant research by Parsemus Foundation Executive Director Linda Brent, Ph.D., Parsemus Foundation Founder and Trustee Elaine Lissner, and veterinary theriogenologist Michelle Kutzler, DVM, Ph.D., DACT of Oregon State University. The three presented a compelling case study in the journal Topics in Companion Animal Medicine. The case study described how hormone therapy benefited a dog that suffered from health problems after being neutered. Dr. Brent also wrote a blog post on the case (featuring her dog, Toby).
After conducting some interviews and studying the research, Dr. Dobias started Pax on a hormone restoration protocol in March 2024.
“I was honestly shocked at how quickly the change happened,” Dr. Dobias wrote. “I suspect that there are many dogs out there suffering from this spay and neuter syndrome, and that sex hormone deficit is at the core of many chronic medical conditions, some of which have been confirmed by research.”
Determined to change the status quo regarding hormones
Dr. Dobias followed up by interviewing Dr. Kutzler and Dr. Brent about the benefits of hormone-sparing sterilization. You can find his conversation with Dr. Kutzler here, and find his conversation with Dr. Brent here.
Most recently, Dr. Dobias posted an update on Pax’s ongoing progress thanks to hormone replacement therapy.
“Now, seeing and experiencing what Dr. Brent and Dr. Kutzler studied and confirmed in their research, I am thrilled and determined to help and change the status quo,” he wrote. He has become an outspoken advocate of hormone-sparing sterilization.
“Spaying and neutering our dogs the old traditional way causes inflammation, lameness, organ disease and cancer,” he said.
It’s disappointing that most veterinary schools don’t yet train new practitioners on hormone-sparing sterilization procedures. We believe this will change as people like Dr. Dobias spread awareness about the benefits of hormones (and more pet owners request them).
Pet owners have options when it comes to hormone benefits
To assist pet owners in finding veterinarians who offer hormone-sparing sterilization and other alternative procedures, the Parsemus Foundation maintains a directory of veterinarians. Our directory doesn’t yet cover all regions, but it continues to grow. If the veterinarians in our directory do not yet serve your location, we have suggestions:
- You could try discussing hormone-sparing sterilization with your regular veterinarian, and sharing this page with him/her.
- If you post a query to the “Ovary Sparing Spay and Vasectomy Info” group on Facebook, someone might reply regarding a suitable veterinarian in your area.
- If you discover a veterinarian in your area who provides (or is willing to provide) the service, please email info@parsemusfoundation.org to let us know, and please suggest to him/her that he/she consider joining our directory.
- If you’re a veterinarian, and you would like us to add you to our directory, please sign up here.
If your dog has already been spayed or neutered, and has symptoms of the loss of natural hormones, you may be interested in hormone restoration. Keep in mind that this is a very new treatment with few practitioners. The Parsemus Foundation has funded a study to further evaluate the use of testosterone replacement for neutered male dogs. We’ll publish the results later this year. For more information on what’s currently known about the benefits of hormone replacement therapy for spayed and neutered dogs, see our web page here.
