> I'm afraid I can't make the connection between neutering and diet and coat. > I can certainly agree that diet affects a dog's coat neutered or not. But > when you have both intact and desexed all eating the same diet and only the > desexed ones have a wooly coat, something doesn't add up. If there is in > fact a connection, then it suggests to me that the health of the neutered > dog has been compromised.
Some time ago I did a search on what neutering does to the coat and found out it does slow down the growth cycle of hair so the fuzzy coats we see on neutered dogs are not in our imagination. However, I think the changes are mostly minimal. All the boarders I get have fuzzy coats, but the amount of fuzziness is slightly dependent on what type of food they eat and a LOT dependent on how much excess weight they are carrying. The more weight the fuzzier and fuller the coat--when they get back to their normal weight much of the fuzziness disappears. Care of the coat enters into it as well. I have an unneutered boy who does not reside with me but with a friend and he invariably comes to my house with a somewhat fuzzy coat. This dog has a perfect coat. I wash him and he drip-dries to a lovely straight, show condition coat so I have no idea why he looks fuzzy when he comes over--but he does! There is no doubt that the hormone balance is shifted when a dog is neutered. I'm sure there are health benefits to this and health disadvantages too. But I think deep down that I believe nature knows best and that the health disadvantages almost certainly outweigh the health benefits over a lifetime. Neutering is for convenience sake only, to prevent *accidents*. But since there are so many people who are irresponsible or just plain too busy, neutering is probably a necessary evil. Laura Lang ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 2002 by its original author.
