The Health Benefits for Your Dog When It Is Spayed or Neutered

L.M. Reid is an Irish writer who has published many articles in magazines and online.

Why You Should Spay or Neuter Your Dog

There are many health benefits of this medical procedure for your dogs. If they are spayed they will not come into 'heat'. A dog comes into heat for the first time from the age of about five to eight months. Then it occurs approximately every six months. Your dog can be on heat continuously for three to four weeks.

When your dog is on heat she experiences hormone changes. This can make her nervous or irritable and in some female dogs these hormonal changes can cause them pain.

Spaying your Female Dog

When you have your dog spayed the reproductive organs are removed under anesthetic. These are the ovaries and uterus. This medical procedure is called an Ovariohysterectomy.

Benefits of Having Your Dog Spayed

• She will not produce unwanted puppies.
• She will happier at home because its natural instinct to find a dog to mate with is curtailed.
• If the operation is done before the dog is six months old the chance of getting Breast Cancer is reduced to nil. For those dogs spayed after this age the odds are greatly reduced.
• Pyometra disease is an infection of the uterus so this operation eliminates the disease completely. A lot of unspayed dogs develop it as they get older and it can be fatal.

• Anyone who has a bitch who has come into heat will know the advantages of this.
• No more dogs barking and gathering at your door.
• No more bloody discharges to clean up.
• No more packs of dogs following you and your dog out walking
• And best of all no more unwanted pregnancies with all the medical needs and bills it incurs.

What Happens When Your Dog Goes into Surgery at the Vets

• Your dog will have her front leg and part of her stomach shaved and cleaned.
• She is given a general anesthetic so is asleep during the procedure.
• A small incision is made in her abdomen and both the ovaries and uterus. are removed.
• The wound is then stitched up.
• Once the dog is gently brought around from the anesthesia she is put into a cage in the veterinary clinic and allowed to sleep and recover.
• Recovery is usually very quick and the dog can go back home the next day.

Post Operation

Looking after Your Dog Once The Operation is Over

• For the first twenty four hours your dog will still be fragile and may experience some pain.
• Give her the tablets your vet gave you for the pain and use as per instructions.
• She will have a surgical collar on her too which she will find irritating.
• Keep her as quite as possible for the first day with lots of love and assurance.
• She will be back to her normal self in about four to six days.
• The surgical collar sometimes called an Elizabethan Collar will have to stay on her for ten days to stop her licking or pulling out the stitches.
• The stitches will either dissolve themselves or you will have an appointment with your vet for their removal.

Having Your Dog Neutered

When a dog is neutered his testosterone levels are reduced. This will reduce or even stop your dog from urinating its surroundings constantly as the need to mark out its territory is not as strong. The need to find a mate will no longer be there so your dog will be less likely to run off or stray from its home.

Medical Benefits

Because the testicles are removed during the neutering operation your dog will not develop Testicular Cancer. This can cause death in older dogs who have not been neutered. The dog's prostate will not become infected if it has been neutered. This happens because the prostate always grows larger in none neutered dogs and is more likely to become infected. This could lead to Prostate Cancer in some dogs.

Surgery at the Vets

What happens when your dog goes into the surgery? The vet makes a small incision just in front of the scrotum that contains the dog's testicles. The vet will then remove each testicle one at a time. The blood supply and spermatic cord are tied off.

Then the layers are sutured together with an absorbable thread. The skin is stitched together with either absorbable stitches or ones that will have to be removed after ten days.

Post Surgery

The surgery is usually done in the mornings and the dog is ready to go home that evening. Recovery only takes a couple of days and your dog is back to his normal self. After ten days the stitches can come out and the surgical collar removed.

Pets

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

Comments

L M Reid (author) from Ireland on October 15, 2019:

Hello Tiffany, yes it is very important for the dogs health too.

Tiffany Payne from Dallas TX on August 06, 2019:

Love your article and advocating for having dogs fixed. I have 5 dogs and yes they are all spayed and neutered. People do not understand (men) how important it is.

Scott DeNicola and Vinne Monaco from New York on November 14, 2018:

Dogs simply rule. :)

L M Reid (author) from Ireland on July 12, 2016:

Smiriti I know what you mean but I do believe it is better for the dogs

norlawrence Thank you

Norma Lawrence from California on June 28, 2016:

Excellent article. Very good information.

Smriti Tikoo from India on June 28, 2016:

its a debatable topic as though it is a sense of relief for the owner but driving one's conscent over an animal's usual nature is not appealing. Its similar to castrating a boys sexual organ at his birth so that he doesnt a rapist or a women's so that she doesnt takes up prostitution .