Pet owners, particularly dog owners who often have a number of questions regarding the sterilization of their beloved dogs, can read this piece. It will attempt to educate on the various aspects of dog sterilization.

Getting your bitch spayed and your dog neutered is your prime responsibility as pet owners. The reason for this is that if dogs are not sterilized it becomes very difficult to prevent the growth of unwanted litters. Poor puppies that are perfectly healthy but no one wants them. There are scores of animal shelters that are being over run with puppies and due the lack of space and people to adopt them, millions of perfectly healthy puppies are put down every year.

Dog owners tend to accord anthropomorphic properties to their pets and feel that a neutered dog will somehow be less “manly” and a spayed bitch will only be interested in eating all day. This is not true. Castration does not affect a dog’s nature; he retains his aggressive and playful instincts. All the same, neutering does help to control the roaming instincts of dogs and it will prevent your pet from getting into mischief. It also helps curb their instinct to mark territory; this will keep your furniture safe from being given showers by your dog.

However, to experience the benefits of neutering related to behavior, it is important to have the dog neutered before sexual maturity. This is because dogs with a dominant streak may still seek out females and get into scraps with other dogs to assert themselves. So, if you are planning on a neutering to curb such instincts in your pet dog, it is best to do so before the bad habits creep in and you can teach him submissiveness easily.

Neutered dogs do not have a different dietary requirement from that of sexually active dogs. So you can rest at ease about the myth of dogs getting obese after being sterilized. There may be some weight gain after surgery; it is a result of hormonal changes but it is reversible. Regular exercise and diet management will keep your dog in good shape.

Bitches that get spayed before they experience their first heat cycle have a far reduced risk of contracting breast cancer. It eliminates the risk of pyometra, which is an infection of the uterus and can be quite severe. As compared to intact bitches, spayed bitches do not experience hormone-induced mood swings and display an even temperament. This makes them safer pets to have around children and also to take out for a walk. Neutered dogs do not suffer from prostate cancer or cancer of the testes.

Pet owners need not worry about any psychological trauma to their dogs post surgery. Dogs do not miss their ability to reproduce as badly as we humans do. Our needs to reproduce are more local, we wish to see our family tree grow whereas in the animal world the reproduction process is driven by a desire to ensure the survival of the species.

The surgery procedure is a detailed one and there is a protocol to be followed when neutering dogs. The removal of ovaries and uterus is easier with young bitches as compared to those who have experienced a few heat cycles. The surgery is preceded by an injection of a muscle relaxer. The operation involves the vet and a technician to assist the vet. A barbiturate is injected to allow the insertion of a tube in the dog’s mouth to allow for the passage of air.
After the removal of the Y-shaped uterus and the ovaries, the doctor uses dissolvable sutures for the incisions made internally.

The external incision is closed using a layer of stitches. Bitches that have never experienced estrus can be spayed in around 25 minutes; those that have had a litter or multiple heat cycles may require more time because of the amount of fat in their abdomen.

The factors that affect the surgery rate for spaying bitches includes their age, it takes longer to operate on mature bitches so some surgeons charge more. The amount of anesthesia required is more for heftier bitches and that too is a cost that doctors tend to factor into their fee. Generally, a bitch weighing around 45 kilograms can be spayed for a cost of around $150. Laser surgery is an alternative to traditional surgery; it offers the following benefits – it causes lesser pain during recovery, the surgery is quicker as bleeding is reduced, there is no post-surgical swelling and harmful bacteria and viruses are vaporized. However, one needs to be careful in the post-operative period if laser surgery is used. Dogs may consider lack of pain to be reason enough to resume normal activities even if the tissue at the surgical site has not completely healed.

Sometimes, a dog may react adversely to the anesthetic or the sutures used. This can lead to complications during the recovery and healing process. There are some drawbacks too to sterilization. If a dog is neutered before puberty, he will have longer legs, a shallow chest, and a narrower skull as compared to an intact dog. This is because arresting the production of reproductory hormones also impacts the functioning of the growth hormones. The changes in structure stress the joints abnormally that can cause problems in dogs that are bred for physical activity. Other problems include increase in the incidence of bladder incontinence, more chance of contracting a thyroid condition, increased risk of cervical cancer in bitches, arthritis, etc.

Popularity: 31% [?]