Neutering Your Healthy Pet

Over 13 million pets are put to death in our nation’s animal shelters each year for lack of homes. That is why responsible pet owners make sure that their pets are not contributing to this serious over-population problem. We often hear “I want my kids to witness the miracle of birth, so I am going to breed my pet”. As much as we may want our children to witness the miracle of birth, the price we pay with unwanted puppies and kittens, and the added health risks that we must then subject our pet to, far overshadows the benefit. Even if you are able to find homes for the entire litter, this means an equal number of kittens or puppies in shelters will lose potential homes.

If you keep your pet confined, neutering may seem unnecessary. Just the opposite is true. In fact, there are medical and health advantages for your pet through neutering. Spaying or castrating your young, healthy pet will reduce certain infections and cancers that could occur in later life.

Spaying Your Female Pet

The technical term for this operation is an Ovariohysterectomy. It is an abdominal surgery involving the removal of both ovaries and the uterus. Since everything is removed your pet will no longer “come into heat”.

Spaying your dog also reduces the risk of her running away to find a mate during her heat cycles.

This is a major surgery, but fortunately, modern gas anesthetics and monitoring equipment allow a healthy pet to be anesthetized for the 20-30 minute operation with minimal risk. Contrary to folklore, the surgery is best performed prior to your pet’s first heat cycle.

Spaying your dog will substantially reduce the chance of breast tumors, the most common cancer of older, intact female dogs. Cystic ovaries, false pregnancies, hormonal disorders, and uterine infections also plague these same pets. Uterine infections are very common and result in potentially life threatening illness. The only way to correct this is to perform emergency surgery should an infection occur. This is a much more costly and dangerous surgery.

4-6 months is the optimum age for spaying a female pet. We send pets home the same day for overnight monitoring at home. We use aggressive pain management protocols to keep her as comfortable as possible post-surgery. After she gets home you will need to keep her as quiet as possible for the next week. Usually house confinement and leash walks are sufficient. Complications after a hysterectomy are very rare.

Neutering Your Male Pet

The technical term for this operation is castration. An incision is made on or near the scrotum and the testicles are removed. The anesthetic risk for a young, healthy pet is minimal. If the surgery is done before the pet reaches sexual maturity certain undesirable sexual behavior traits may be avoided (humping, spraying, fighting, etc.). Prostate gland infections or cancer and testicular tumors are essentially prevented through castration. Roaming behavior (to establish a territory or find a mate) is greatly reduced. In general the animal becomes a much better pet.

4-12 months is the optimum age for castrating the male dogs depending on the size, breed and temperament of your dog. We recommend discussing your dog’s individual situation to determine the best age for this.

4-6 months is the recommended age for neutering your male cat to prevent marking behaviors and roaming.

Post surgical care includes preventing of licking at the incision and keeping your pet confined, quiet and limited to leash walks for a few days.

Quality Surgery

Our surgical costs include Intravenous Catheter, Intravenous Fluids, Anesthesia, Licensed Technician monitoring, state of the art monitoring equipment of all vital signs, pain control, surgery including the use of our surgical laser, medications to go home and lots of Tender Loving Care. We recommend and offer pre-surgical lab work to evaluate liver and kidney function and check for any indications that we would need to customize your pet’s anesthetic protocol.

We limit the number of surgical procedures we do each day so that each pet receives the attention they deserve. We are focused on high quality care, not high quantity! Be sure that your pet receives exceptional medical care with our list of questions to ask of any veterinary facility.