There are many reasons to neuter (or spay) your pet. The most obvious reason is to control overpopulation of cats and dogs. Irresponsible breeding increases the amount of euthanasia at shelters and the amount of strays. Stray animals breed disease and kill wildlife. If you would like to learn more about overpopulation and how you can help, check out www.savecoloradopets.org. It is important for you to consider many things if you are thinking about breeding your pet. Many people believe that they can make a lot of money in the process of selling the babies, but few realize just how expensive it is to provide responsible health care for all of them. Please contact us if you are thinking about this, so we can help you raise healthy babies!
Dogs
Neutering your male dog will help in the following ways:
- Reduce risk of prostate cancer and prostatitis
- Reduce risk of hormone-related diseases, such as perianal adenoma
- Eliminate risk of testicular cancer
- Remove sexual urge therefore less roaming behaviors (and less chance of getting hit by a car, getting into fights with other animals, etc.)
- Reduce certain types of aggression
Spaying your female will:
- Prevent heat cycle
- Eliminate urge to roam the neighborhood looking for a mate
- Eliminate the possibility of false pregnancy following the heat cycle
- Prevent uterine infection (pyometra)
- Prevent breast cancer (dogs spayed before the first heat have less than 0.5% chance of developing this)
- Eliminate risk of uterine and ovarian cancer
Cats
Neutering your male cat will prevent behavioral changes that occur after puberty (8-9 months of age). These changes include:
- Marking his territory by spraying urine (which has a VERY strong odor)
- Straying further and further from home
- Getting into more fights with other cats (fight wounds can become infected and abscessed, and diseases such as Feline Leukemia (FeLV) and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) are spread by cat bites)
Spaying your female will:
- Prevent her from going into heat. She will be in heat for 1 week every 2-3 weeks until she's mated
- Prevent heat behaviors (loud, persistent crying, frequent rubbing and rolling on the floor)
- Prevent male cats from roaming into your yard while she's in heat
- Reduce risk of breast cancer
- Remove risk of uterine infection (pyometra) and cancer
While neutering or spaying your pet can prevent or change certain behaviors, it does NOT change personality, guarding instincts, intelligence, playfulness, or affection levels. To prevent undesirable behaviors, such as fighting and spraying in male cats, aggression and roaming in dogs, it is important to neuter before these behaviors start. Once they become a habit, it is less likely that neutering will stop the behavior. We suggest that most animals be neutered at 6 months of age.
Another old wives tale is that you should let your female have one litter before spaying her. There is no evidence to suggest that this is helpful to her in any medical or behavioral way.
If you are worried about putting your pet through anesthesia, you will be relieved to hear that our anesthesia is very safe these days. It is extremely rare for serious problems to develop during a young and healthy animal's procedure. The drugs we use are safe, and we monitor your pet closely. Also, at our hospital, we believe in pain prevention and keep your pet comfortable by sending him/her home with pain relievers for 3-4 days after surgery.
