According to a recent report released by the American Humane Society, animal shelters across the country euthanize 2.4 million healthy dogs and cats each year due to pet overpopulation. No one steps forward to adopt these animals in the organization’s time limit and a staff member has to euthanize him or her to make room for other homeless pets. This equates to one healthy animal losing his or her life every 13 seconds in America alone. While this is a sad and frustrating statistic, it’s also preventable with spay or neuter surgery. Neutering a male pet means he can’t impregnate a female while a spay surgery in females renders them infertile.
What Happens During a Spay or Neuter Surgery
The first thing a veterinarian does when a female pet undergoes spay surgery is to provide her with anesthesia to put her into a deep sleep. The veterinarian then removes the ovaries and uterus through an opening in the dog or cat’s abdomen.
After a male pet has received anesthesia for a neuter surgery, the veterinarian makes a small cut in the front of his scrotum and remove the testicles.
Veterinary staff carefully monitors all of your pet’s heart and breathing functions throughout the procedure as well as fluid therapy and pain control. Once completed and your pet is awake, we will keep you updated and go through home care instructions and medications for recovery.
Benefits of Spaying
An unaltered female cat may go through several heat cycles each year. Intact female dogs usually go into heat two times each year. A cat becomes fertile well before she reaches one year old, which means she could produce dozens of litters of kittens during her lifetime. Cats in heat have loud vocalizations and can act aggressively to try to gain the attention of male cats.
Spaying a female dog will decrease her roaming desire which may lead to unintended injuries but also reduce incidents of reproductive infections and certain types of cancers. Timing of the spay is generally as early as 6 months of age but would be a discussion with your veterinarian based on your pet’s specific growth and health needs.
In addition to preventing litters of puppies and kittens that may not find a home, spaying a cat or dog decreases her risk of developing uterine, ovarian, and mammary gland cancer. The risk decreases the most for dogs and cats who have the surgery before they would have gone into heat for the first time.
Benefits of Neutering
Both dogs and cats can engage in aggressive behavior and roaming when they have not yet undergone the neutering procedure. The aggressiveness can surprise their human family when the dog attempts to bite or even act in a sexual manner towards people. Unneutered cats also spray their urine to claim a territory as their own. This odor is not only extremely unpleasant, it can be difficult to eliminate as well.
Similar to spaying your dog, the timing of the neuter will be discussed with your veterinarian and based on your pet’s specific growth and health needs. Neutering your pet also eliminates the risk of testicular cancer and significantly reduces the incidence of prostatic diseases and rectal tumors.
Neutering or spaying a pet increases his or her lifespan by an average of three to five years due to decreasing more common health concerns. The most common pet that is hit by a car is the unneutered male dog due to roaming behaviors. One last thing to consider is that people with altered pets make better neighbors and are less likely to encounter the dangers of roaming because their pets are much more likely to remain in the home or yard.
Call us with any questions you have about spaying or neutering your pets with Skye Ridge Veterinary Hospital.
