Spaying and Neuturing

Surgical Procedure | Why Spay or Neuter? | Myths and Misconceptions

We recommend spaying all female cats and dogs at 5-6 months of age and neutering all male cats and dogs at 4-6 months of age.

  • A spay is an ovario-hysterectomy and involves surgical removal of the ovaries and uterus through an abdominal incision. It is a significant surgery and requires an overnight stay in our hospital, but most cats and dogs are back to their old selves in a matter of just a few days.
  • A neuter, or castration, involves the surgical removal of the testicles. Most of the time an overnight stay is not required with a neuter surgery, though your pet will probably be sleepy for a day or two.

Surgical Procedure

Both surgeries are performed under general anesthesia, so regardless of the type of surgery, the animal needs to fast (no food) the night before the surgery. This means no food past 8:00 pm, but be sure to allow plenty of water as usual.

You will check your pet in early in the morning the day of surgery (you'll schedule the specific time when you make the appointment). We will perform our physical exam, run the pre-surgical blood work, administer the appropriate anesthesia (customized for your particular pet after taking into consideration its breed, size, age, health status, history, blood work findings and the surgery to be performed), and call you when your pet's surgery is completed.

You will have a scheduled pick up time to meet with the doctor and go over post operative instructions and any questions you may have. Here at Countryside Animal Hospital, we focus not only on providing the highest quality anesthetic drugs, monitoring, surgical techniques, and equipment, but also on providing analgesia (pain relief) during and after the surgery, and a comfortable, compassionate environment for our patients. We are advocates of spaying and neutering for all pets and feel it is an important step in providing quality care for your pet.

Why Spay or Neuter?

Your pet will be healthier ...

Health benefits of spaying female pets:

  • With each of a female's first three heats, or estrus cycles, her risk of developing mammary cancer later in life increases dramatically. Pyometra, or infection of the uterus, is a common but severe emergency and unfortunately, an often fatal condition of intact female pets. It is 100% avoidable with early spaying.
  • Greatly reduces the risk of serious prostatic infections and perianal tumors.
  • Spaying eliminates the risk of uterine and ovarian cancer.
  • Pregnancy and birthing may put your pet at risk for serious complications including life threatening infections and metabolic disturbances before during and after birth.
Health benefits of neutering male pets:
  • Neutering eliminates the risk of testicular cancer.
  • Neutering prevents sexually transmitted diseases. Sexually transmitted diseases exist in animals too, and can be very serious.
  • 100% of intact (un-neutered) dogs will develop prostatic enlargement. This can lead to problems urinating and defecating.

Your pet will be safer ...

Intact animals are much more likely to roam, dramatically increasing their risk of getting lost or abducted, hit by cars, getting into altercations with wild or domestic animals, contracting infectious diseases, ingesting toxins or poisons, or being purposely injured by cruel and/or disgruntled neighbors, etc.

Too many pets, not enough homes ...

Each year approximately 11 million dogs cats puppies and kittens are killed in animal shelters and millions more suffer and die from neglect because they don't have homes. Please don't risk adding a single pet to this tragic list.

Fewer behavioral problems ...

  • Intact male cats and dogs are much more likely to urinate (mark or spray) inappropriately and also have penile discharge.
  • Female dogs will have up to three weeks of vaginal bleeding and discharge with every heat.
  • Intact animals are more distracted and more aggressive with other animals and therefore more difficult to train and work with, or even take on outings.
  • Cats in heat are extremely difficult to live with (significant behavioral changes, constant vocalization and attempts to escape) and they can be in heat almost continuously in many cases, not to mention the neighbor hood cats spraying all over your house!
  • Spayed and neutered pets are more content to be pets; loyal, trusted, productive, and loving members of your family.

Fewer financial concerns ...

  • Veterinary care required to treat the serious conditions, emergencies and complications mentioned previously can be extremely costly.
  • Veterinary care for even the healthiest of conceptions, pregnancies, deliveries, and puppy care is a significant added expense.
  • Repair of damage to house and yard incurred by your pet and by other animals attempting to intrude to breed with your pet can be very costly.
  • Building appropriate enclosures to house and protect an intact pet is no small undertaking. Pets will tear climb, dig under, or tear through walls, windows, and doors (not to mention all kinds of fencing) to find an escape or an entrance to breed.

Myths and Misconceptions about Spaying and Neuturing

Myth
Reality
It will make my pet fat. Obesity occurs from consuming more calories than you burn and that's it. There are plenty of overweight animals (and humans) that are sexually intact!
It will change my pet's personality. There is no change in personality … other than becoming relatively less aggressive, more content to stay home, and easier to train compared to what he/she may become without neutering. All animals will mellow with age regardless of neutering. However, if you do spay a pet while she is in heat (especially a cat), the hormonal flux can result in several weeks of "moodiness" after the operation. This is avoided by spaying at or before 6 months old.
It's good for a female dog to have one litter. This is an "old wive's tale." There is NO evidence to support this and plenty to support the benefits of spaying before the first heat.
My pet is a "pure bred" and his/her genetics should be carried on. Even though you love your pet and want to see more pets in the world with his or her wonderful traits, remember that millions of wonderful pets are destroyed every year in America (and 20 to 25 percent of them are "pure breds").
My children should learn about the miracle of birth. There are better ways to learn about birth … there are countless videos and books designed for at-home learning. Some animal shelters will send late term pregnant animals home with approved families for fostering of the mother through birth and during the time the puppies/ kittens are still nursing. It would be irresponsible to place your pet at risk and contribute to a population problem that causes so much death to teach the facts of life. Teaching our children about responsibility is one of the most important lessons of all.
It stunts their growth. There is no statistical difference in size between intact cats and dogs and those spayed or neutered at as young as 8 weeks of age.
It's not up to me to alter nature's course. Pets are not wild animals. They were created by human beings, and therefore depend on human beings to care for them as individuals and as a population. We have made pets a huge and meaningful part of our families and society, and we have a responsibility to care about all of them.
I'll make money from the sale of the puppies or kittens. Responsible breeding requires a huge investment of time and money and if done right yields little to no profit.

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