Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hertfordshire.
Vet Rec. 2010 Apr 10;166(15):455-8. doi: 10.1136/vr.b4798.
A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2008 to obtain information on the advice veterinary practices currently give to their clients and the opinions of veterinary surgeons regarding neutering of dogs. An additional survey of dog owners was conducted to obtain information on the neuter status of the general dog population in Great Britain. A significantly higher proportion of practices had a policy for the age of neutering bitches than for dogs. The average recommended age for neutering bitches was 6.5 months (95 per cent confidence interval [CI] 3.1 to 9.7 months) and for dogs it was 7.5 months (95 per cent CI 1.4 to 13.6 months). There was very little agreement between veterinary practices as to whether bitches should be allowed to have their first season before neutering, with 164 of 973 respondents (16.9 per cent) always recommending this, 198 (20.3 per cent) recommending it most of the time, 203 (20.9 per cent) sometimes, 203 (20.9 per cent) rarely and 201 (20.6 per cent) never recommending it. The owner study showed that 54 per cent of dogs (233 of 431) were neutered, with the North region having the lowest proportion of neutered dogs (11 of 25; 44.0 per cent).
2008 年进行了一项横断面调查，以获取兽医实践目前向客户提供的建议信息，以及兽医对犬绝育的意见。还对狗主人进行了额外的调查，以了解英国普通狗群的绝育状况。有绝育政策的兽医实践中，为母犬规定绝育年龄的比例明显高于为公犬规定绝育年龄的比例。母犬绝育的平均建议年龄为 6.5 个月（95%置信区间为 3.1 至 9.7 个月），公犬为 7.5 个月（95%置信区间为 1.4 至 13.6 个月）。在母犬是否应该在绝育前经历第一次发情期的问题上，兽医实践之间几乎没有达成一致意见，973 名受访者中有 164 名（16.9%）始终建议这样做，198 名（20.3%）大多数时候建议这样做，203 名（20.9%）有时建议这样做，203 名（20.9%）很少建议这样做，201 名（20.6%）从不建议这样做。主人研究表明，54%的狗（431 只中的 233 只）已绝育，北部地区绝育狗的比例最低（25 只中的 11 只；44.0%）。
