Posted By: Anonymous
Correct neuter stats are important - 02/09/08 07:26 PM
I have seen several posts lately with people who are afraid of neutering their gliders because they are too afraid they will SM.
YES, we need to educate people that there is a strong risk of SM in gliders and they need to prepare for it. But if people are scared to neuter their animals because of discussion on the boards, I feel like we are doing something wrong.
I feel like a lot of this worry is based on fear rather than actual facts and numbers. If you look at Alden's recent post, the majority of gliders do NOT SM after neutering. We should prepare owners for the worst case scenario, but I think we need to be careful with the numbers we throw around in conversation...they are sometimes not factual and scare people away from doing what is probably best for their glider.
One issue that I'd like to bring up is the Sticky itself on Neutering. It says in this post that there seems to be a 50/50 whether a glider will SM or not. Based on standard language of mathematics and probability, this indicates that for each neuter, there is a 50% chance of your glider SMing.
This is simply false. Or, if you feel that it is true, please post about your experience...I have never seen any information on the board indicating that anyone has had 50% of their gliders SM post neuter, unless it was the fault of an extremely negligent vet.
This stat alone almost convinced me not to neuter my second male glider because it was such a high number, until I realized after doing more research that it is not mathematically correct. I respectfully contacted the writer of the sticky over PM requesting for it to be changed, and we had a great conversation about the posting of this stat. She said she would be comfortable with us making a post about it, but I am not quoting our conversation directly as I do not have permission to do so.
Please understand my goal here is not to slam anybody or their math. My goal is that we give people factually correct information and stats about neutering. Some of the info we are giving now is not factual or correct, and it is scaring people away from neutering their gliders. This is going to result in more unwanted glider babies who need homes.
I hope to start a respectful conversation about how we can make sure we are giving correct stats when we educate new board members.
Thanks everyone
YES, we need to educate people that there is a strong risk of SM in gliders and they need to prepare for it. But if people are scared to neuter their animals because of discussion on the boards, I feel like we are doing something wrong.
I feel like a lot of this worry is based on fear rather than actual facts and numbers. If you look at Alden's recent post, the majority of gliders do NOT SM after neutering. We should prepare owners for the worst case scenario, but I think we need to be careful with the numbers we throw around in conversation...they are sometimes not factual and scare people away from doing what is probably best for their glider.
One issue that I'd like to bring up is the Sticky itself on Neutering. It says in this post that there seems to be a 50/50 whether a glider will SM or not. Based on standard language of mathematics and probability, this indicates that for each neuter, there is a 50% chance of your glider SMing.
This is simply false. Or, if you feel that it is true, please post about your experience...I have never seen any information on the board indicating that anyone has had 50% of their gliders SM post neuter, unless it was the fault of an extremely negligent vet.
This stat alone almost convinced me not to neuter my second male glider because it was such a high number, until I realized after doing more research that it is not mathematically correct. I respectfully contacted the writer of the sticky over PM requesting for it to be changed, and we had a great conversation about the posting of this stat. She said she would be comfortable with us making a post about it, but I am not quoting our conversation directly as I do not have permission to do so.
Please understand my goal here is not to slam anybody or their math. My goal is that we give people factually correct information and stats about neutering. Some of the info we are giving now is not factual or correct, and it is scaring people away from neutering their gliders. This is going to result in more unwanted glider babies who need homes.
I hope to start a respectful conversation about how we can make sure we are giving correct stats when we educate new board members.
Thanks everyone