PrepTest 117, Section 4, Question 22

What we’re looking for

Working the answers

• A

  We don't need an exact percentage to understand the problem described. Usually already tells us that improper development is common among dogs neutered in early puppyhood. More precise numbers wouldn't repair a gap in the recommendation about when to neuter.

• B

  The passage gives us the connection: improper bone development leads to arthritis. We can accept that without knowing every detail of the biological mechanism. The missing support concerns the recommendation drawn from those facts, not whether the author supplies a complete medical explanation.

• C
  Correct

  Here's a specific alternative we haven't considered: neutering in middle or late puppyhood. The evidence concerns early puppyhood, but the recommendation says to wait all the way until the dog is full-grown. Those aren't the only two possible times.

  Perhaps the bone-development problem no longer occurs by late puppyhood. If so, the stated evidence wouldn't establish that waiting until full growth is needed to protect against this risk. C identifies a missing option, rather than simply asking whether waiting might have some other downside.

• D

  This would matter to a broader recommendation about the dog's overall welfare. But the stated aim is protection from arthritis. Other benefits of early neutering might outweigh that risk overall without showing that early neutering better serves this particular aim. Don't replace the author's limited goal with a different one.

• E

  Other causes of arthritis could exist. That doesn't by itself undermine avoiding one cause. For example, a precaution can reduce one risk even though it doesn't eliminate every possible route to the same problem. E also doesn't identify what happens at the different neutering times, which is the missing comparison C brings into focus.