Desexing
Surgery to prevent dogs and cats from having offspring is known as desexing. Males are “neutered”or “castrated” and female dogs are “spayed”. Neutering a male means removing both testicles and spaying a female involves removing both ovaries and the uterus.
Both are complex procedures but are done routinely and only involve a day stay in most cases. Upon returning home your pet will need to be kept calm and allowed to sleep off their anaesthetic that evening. A buster collar may be provided to prevent interference with the surgical wound. After the procedure your pet will need to be exercise restricted for 10 days (3 days for cat castrations) to allow the wounds to heal. Usually the stitches that we use are dissolvable but if not stitches will need to be taken out in 7-10 days, we will advise you on this on your pet’s discharge.
All pets are given pain relief on the day of surgery and this is included in the desexing price.
The decision to desex and the age of desexing are being questioned recently and some emerging data suggests the decision should be more considered and not “one size fits all”.
Benefits of desexing
- Prevent unwanted pregnancies.
- Reduce incidence of mammary cancer in females.
- Prevent testicular tumours.
- Reduce prostatic disease in males.
- Reduce roaming/fighting/aggression.
- Reduce urine marking/spraying.
- Reduce risk of pyometra (infection of the uterus).
- Reduce council registration fees.
Our general recommendation is to desex pets at around 5-7 months of age.
However, if you own a male dog it could be beneficial to wait until your dog has fully matured at around 12-14months before castrating –particularly for large breeds.