Treating animal behaviour problems with sex hormones: an animal welfare issue

Abstract

In England and Germany, the methods used to modify unwanted animal behaviour in veterinary practices were investigated by questionnaire. The samples were created by a systematic section. Of the 216 questionnaires posted in each country, 66 replies from Germany (30.5%) and 76 from the UK (35.2%) were obtained and evaluated.
The majority of veterinarians in both countries considered hormones effective in treating behaviour problems, but English veterinarians do so significantly more for cats and dogs. However, only a minority use cortisone, androgens and oestrogens. Progesterone is used by about 75% of veterinarians in the UK but by fewer than 50% in Germany.
There is evidence that the effectiveness of hormones is restricted to sexually dimorphic behaviours and that, even there, is of limited success (Hopkins et al., 1976; Hart, 1980). Furthermore, the use of hormones has been shown to be accompanied by serious side effects, for example a high risk of pyometra, cancer of the mammary gland, and induction of diabetes mellitus in prediabetic patients.
It is common medical practice that methods with serious side-effects that are not very effective are discarded as soon as better treatments are available. In fact, in such cases the further use of such methods is considered a grave medical fault. In scientific research, as well as in human medicine, the principles of behaviour modification have proven to be highly effective (Köhlke and Köhlke, 1994; Martin and Pear, 1996). Some psychoactive medication used for the treatment of humans has been recently approved for use in dogs. Thus, to ensure the welfare of the animals in question, the use of sex hormones in the treatment of animal behaviour should be regarded as inappropriate and obsolete and abandoned in favour of behaviour therapy and modern psychoactive medication.

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