Spaying & Neutering

Spay & Neuter Benefits

The most obvious reason for spaying or neutering is to prevent adding to the pet overpopulation problem. However, there are other real benefits particularly relating to a pet's health.

Benefits of Neutering Male Pets

In terms of behavior, male dogs will benefit even more than females from being neutered. Neutering, is the surgical removal of the animal's testicles. An unneutered male can detect a female in heat even miles away. Neutering decreases roaming by 90%. Responding to the overwhelming urge to reproduce, he will often become nervous and irritable, perhaps picking fights with other dogs, or become lethargic, less responsive to his owner, stop eating, or act ill or depressed. Playfulness, friendliness, and socialization with humans are not changed. The behaviors that change are those that are undesirable.

Among the problems reduced or eliminated by neutering male pets are:

* Territoriality and aggression, including urinating to mark territory, and fighting to defend it

* Wandering, escaping, and automobile injuries

* "Riding" inappropriate objects

* Prostate enlargement (occurs in at least 60% of unneutered male dogs 5 years or older)

* Prostate tumors and infections

* Tumors of the testicles, penis, anal area

* Perineal hernia (rupture of the posterior abdominal wall)

* Stress, leading to increased susceptibility to disease

* Need for extra food

Benefits of Spaying Female Pets
Among the problems reduced or eliminated by spaying female pets are:

* Attendant males in abundance while the female is in heat

* Spotting during the heat period

* False pregnancies (increasingly common with age) * Mammary tumors (less than 1% incidence in animals spayed before their first heat, versus higher than 50% incidence in intact female dogs over 5 years of age)

* Uterine infections (increasingly common with age; often life-threatening)

* Tumors of the ovaries or uterus

* Stress, leading to increased susceptibility to disease

* Need for extra food during pregnancy and nursing

In female dogs, heat periods occur twice a year and last about 3 weeks each time. Female cats may come into heat every 2-3 weeks. During heat both dogs and cats will be more irritable and nervous than usual, and may even become aggressive and damage furniture or attack strangers. Female cats will howl and rub excessively.

Spaying & Neutering Age

Owners who neuter their dogs by 6 months of age or thereabouts may often save themselves the development of undesirable behaviors that present themselves at puberty. Those include urine marking, mounting, and other behaviors associated with hormone-driven desires.

Spaying or neutering can also increase your pet's lifespan. Best of all, altering is the first step toward preventing homelessness, and will allow a pet more opportunities to be a member of the family, an unconditional benefit for everyone.

For people like me who spend a great deal of time rescuing homeless dogs, there's always one big reason for spaying or neutering your dog: the appalling pet overpopulation problem that results in thousands of pets being euthanized every day. Consider the endless number of homeless pets due to pet overpopulation. Consider the homes that could rightfully go to these homless pets. Don't breed more animals and take that away from them...

The statistics:

* Approximately 70,000 puppies and kittens are born every day in the U.S.

* Between four million and six million pets are euthanized every year because they are homeless.

* Between 11,000 and 16,000 pets are euthanized every day simply because they are homeless.

* An animal in a shelter is killed every 1.5 seconds. * Only one animal in 10 born in the U.S. gets a good home that lasts a lifetime.

These alarming statistics present a good enough reason, all by themselves, for preventing more pet animal births. Simply put, the widespread failure to spay or neuter dogs results in homelessness, misery, cruelty, and death.

Reference Resources:

Healthy Pets are Spayed and Neutered Forgotten Felines and Friends Brochure, 1997

Almost Home Rescue

http://www.almosthomerescue.org/spayneuter/spayneuter.htm