As your dog or cat reaches middle age and beyond, they may begin to show warning signs that their adrenal glands can no longer keep up with the extra demand. At that point, your pet may be running either too low or too high in certain hormones – suffering from an imbalance.

Behaviour issues like excessive fear and anxiety are often the first signs that may appear. But any of the following changes can signal a potential issue:

1. Increased thirst and urination

2. Urinary incontinence, or urine leaking

3. Lethargy

4. Hair loss, thickened skin and hyperpigmentation

5. Behaviour changes, including confusion and depression

6. Agitation, aggressiveness

7. Weight gain

Without a doubt, hormonal imbalances can have significant effects on your pet’s health, comfort and quality of life. And as you can see from this list, the effects aren’t limited to just one part of their body.

By helping to support a proper balance of your pet’s hormones, you support your dogs’ or cats’ physical, mental, and emotional health as well. You help improve their quality of life so you can spend many happy, active years together.

Over 80% of cats and dogs undergo the conventional way of neutering/spaying, and many before six months of age.

But here’s the truth about these procedures:

Once spayed or neutered, your pets’ organ systems will struggle for the remainder of their lives to create and maintain a healthy balance of hormones.

Dr Becker adds to the above, saying “Please don’t get me wrong… I’m pro-sterilization.”

However, she recommends you ask your vet clinic if they can spay and neuter your pet AND... preserve normal endocrine function.

"Instead of being neutered, a male can have a vasectomy. Instead of a spay, a female can have a hysterectomy, also called an ovary-sparing spay (OSS). Both are simple procedures but must be performed under anesthesia and it’s more technical than castration. It isn’t typically taught in veterinary schools, so not many veterinarians have experience with it." - American Kennel Club

Your pet’s endocrine system consists of tissues and glands that release hormones into the bloodstream. A big part of your pet’s hormonal endocrine balance comes from hormones made in the testicles (in males) or the uterus and ovaries (in females).

When a female dog or cat is traditionally spayed, both her uterus and ovaries are removed, while neutering removes a male’s testicles.

With either procedure, no consideration is given to the hormones produced by these organs – such as estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. Both traditional spaying and neutering remove all of the normal sex hormone-secreting tissues.

And that can create a problem.

Just because your pets are now desexed, doesn’t mean their bodies don’t need sex hormones. They still need a certain level of circulating sex hormones for normal, healthy biological functioning throughout life. And they need them in the right proportions.

When the sex organs and their hormones are taken away from a still-developing young animal’s body, it can affect everything from the brain to the bones.

And because these sex hormones are so vital, your pet’s body struggles to get them however it can…

Without ovaries or testicles, the task of producing sex hormones falls onto your pet’s adrenal glands. They are the only tissues remaining that are capable of producing these hormones.

Over time, this takes a toll on your pet’s adrenal glands. Because they must do their own work of regulating metabolism, blood pressure, stress response and the immune system – PLUS the work of the missing organs.

And it becomes very difficult for these tiny little glands to keep up with the body's demands.

Despite our best efforts, the large majority of us live in a toxic, polluted world, and that’s especially so for your dog or cat.

They may:

• Sleep in a bed that’s been treated with flame-retardant chemicals.
• Drink water that’s chlorinated and fluoridated from plastic water bowls.
• Play or sunbathe in grass that’s been treated with pesticides.
• Eat food that’s been treated with chemicals. (Furchild Meals do not contain any chemicals, additives, or junk.)
• Eat food packaged in plastic containers. (Furchild Meals are packed in high-quality BPA-free, 100% recyclable plastics for best health and food safety practices.)

Unfortunately, the most concerning of these everyday chemicals – a class of chemicals known as endocrine disruptors which includes DDT, BPA, dioxin, PCBs, lead, triclosan, phthalates and arsenic – can interfere with your pet’s hormones in much the same way as neutering and spaying.

Just like with spaying and neutering, these endocrine-disrupting chemicals, or xenoestrogens, can inhibit your pets’ hormone production as well as the release of hormones from their endocrine glands.

Because these endocrine disruptors mimic estrogen hormones, they can lead to an imbalance of hormones in your pet’s body, whether your pet is female or male.

The combination of these two factors – desexing your pet and everyday exposure to potentially harmful chemicals – can create an even greater burden on your pet’s adrenal glands.

What can happen over time is that the pressure on the adrenal glands can cause them to over-secrete hormones like cortisol – the fight-or-flight hormone – and estrogen, progesterone and testosterone precursors to keep up with the body’s demand.

This can lead to a potential toxicity or hormonal imbalance in your cat or dog.

Estrogen, progesterone and testosterone are essential components of your pet’s endocrine system. So, what can happen if they have too little or too much hormone production?

They can experience a number of issues that affect their quality and even length of life. A few of the potential effects include:

• Adrenal issues
• Bone growth and development issues
• Ligament and hip issues
• Urinary issues
• Immune system imbalances
• Shortened lifespan

A recent retrospective study analysing the records of 90,090 veterinary patients from 1995 to 2010 revealed that spaying and neutering cause a significant impact on immune function.

Spayed females, compared to intact females, showed a “significantly greater” risk of immune issues.

Neutered males fare even worse, experiencing a greater incidence of skin and gut issues, as well as immune and hormonal effects.

The researchers concluded that sex hormones are indeed crucial for optimal immune function in cats and dogs. In addition to these physical effects, early spay and neuter procedures may also lead to undesirable behavioural consequences.

Studies show a higher incidence of noise phobias, fear-based behaviour, aggression and unwanted sexual behaviours in cats and dogs who have been spayed or neutered.

Many pets who have undergone this traditional procedure may not show signs of physical, mental or behavioural issues for the first few years of their lives. But that doesn’t mean they have escaped ill consequences…

Again, Dr Becker says “Please don’t get me wrong… I’m pro-sterilization.”

Refer to 'Is there an alternative to traditional spaying/neutering?' for more info.