Health Benefits of Spaying and Neutering

Some pet owners are not aware of the advantages of spaying or neutering their pet. A spayed or neutered pet does not become fat or lazy. Their metabolism may slow down a bit but all you have to do to keep that trim look is cut back a little on the food. In addition to the obvious advantage of preventing unwanted pregnancies, there are health and behavioral benefits:

1) Spaying or neutering is foolproof birth control that lasts a lifetime.

2) Spaying or neutering provides relief from such hormone driven urges as:

• Aggression toward other dogs, particularly for males.
• Territorialism, that is, the tendency to be overprotective of the dog's home ground.
• Wanderlust, that is, the desire to escape from the yard and seek sexual adventure inthe outside world.
• Dominance.
• Marking territory with urine/feces.
• Unwanted sexual behavior such as riding, sniffing, licking, arousal.
• Frustration which occurs when the behaviors dictated by hormonal urges cause thedog to behave in a way that is undesirable to the owners.

3) Protection (either partial or complete) from such hormone-induced conditions as:

MALES

• Testicular cancer
• Benighn prostatic hyperplasia
• Acute and chronic prostatis, prostatic abscess
• Perianal gland adenomas
• Orchitis (infection of the testicles)
• Venereal tumors
• Perineal hernia (abdominal organs bulging out of rectum)
• Inguinal hernia with potential organ strangulation

FEMALES

• Breast cancer
• Cystic endometrial hyperplasia and pyometra
• False pregnancies
• Mastitis (can occur during false pregnancy)
• Transmissible venereal tumor (TVT)
• Ovarian and uterine tumors
• Cystic ovaries and hyperestrogenism
• Chronic endometritis
• Vaginal hyperplasia and prolapse
• Uterine torsion or uterine prolapse

TVT which we see a lot in our posts affected dogs because they were not spayed/neutered. TVT is a treatable cancer which usually affects the genital area of the dog but in some cases, may also happen at the nose, mouth, anal area and also other anatomical areas.

Imagine a tumor that can be transmitted by touch. For dogs, this is not a matter of imagination; the Transmissible Venereal Tumor has been described since 1876 and is commonly found on both male and female dogs. Transmission is by simple physical contact between an existing tumor on one dog and abraded skin on another. It is most commonly spread during mating but can also be spread during routine sniffing or other contact.

These reasons alone are sufficient to bring your dogs to be spayed/neutered. Spaying/neutering can prevent many medical complications to happen in later years of your dog’s life. Bring your dog to the nearest veterinary clinic today and have them spayed/neutered.