The early neutering of male and female dogs and its relationship to an increased risk of joint disorder and various cancers has become a concern and something people are questioning more and more. A recent study showed that there are major breed differences within small dog breeds showing little vulnerability to neutering compared to those larger breeds. The findings around these pedigree dogs have obviously then led to questions about mixed breed dogs. This study looks at mixed breed dogs of five different weight categories using the same veterinary hospital database and diagnostic criteria for joint disorders and cancers as used in the paper of pedigree breeds. The weight categories were under 10kg, 10-19kg, 20-29kg, 30-39kg and over 40kg. Males and females were analysed separately as were the various ages at neutering.
