Drug Could Someday Replace Spaying for Dogs

An Arizona scientist hopes to make the surgical spaying of dogs a thing of the past. The Arizona Republic takes note of the drug Chemspay, which shows promise as a cheaper (and less painful way) of sterilizing female dogs. It evolved out of menopause studies on mice by Dr. Loretta Mayer, who successfully tested it on strays on a Navajo reservation at the request of its animal shelter's director.

“He said to me, ‘If you could do for a dog what you do for a mouse, I wouldn’t have to kill 400 animals a month,’” Mayer said. She hopes to begin FDA trials next, but approval would still be years away. (More Humane Society stories.)