• Plans to breed the dog

• Lack of understanding as to what spaying or neutering your dog means

• Inability to afford the procedure

• Concerns about anesthesia/surgery

• For dogs: While the traditional age for neutering is six to nine months, puppies as young as eight weeks old can be neutered as long as they’re healthy. Dogs can be neutered as adults as well, although there’s a slightly higher risk of post-operative complications in older dogs, dogs that are overweight or dogs that have health problems.

 

• For cats: It is generally considered safe for kittens as young as eight weeks old to be spayed or neutered. In animal shelters, surgery is often performed at this time so that kittens can be sterilized prior to adoption. In an effort to avoid the start of urine spraying and eliminate the chance for pregnancy, it’s advisable to schedule the surgery before your own cat reaches five months of age. It’s possible to spay a female cat while she’s in heat.

• Significantly reduced risk of mammary cancer in females
• Prevents future health complications like pyometra – a potentially fatal uterine infection in female dogs
• Eliminates the risk of testicular cancer in males
• Prevents heat cycles (menstruation) in females that can produce unwanted behaviors such as barking or howling, aggressive, attempts to escape
• Prevents unwanted behaviors in male dogs such as humping, vocalization, aggression, escape attempts, and marking inside the home
• Helps to control animal overpopulation by eliminating accidental pregnancies/litters

 

Debunking Spay/Neuter Myths and Misconceptions

 

• Ovariohysterectomy, or the typical “spay”: the ovaries, fallopian tubes and uterus are removed from a female dog or cat. This makes her unable to reproduce and eliminates her heat cycle and breeding instinct-related behavior.
• Orchiectomy, or the typical “neuter”: the testes are removed from a male dog or cat. This makes him unable to reproduce and reduces or eliminates male breeding behaviors.

 

Surgical alternatives to traditional spaying and neutering
The procedures described above are the surgical procedures routinely used to spay or neuter dogs, but some pet owners opt for one of these alternatives: