Top Reasons for Spaying/Neutering your Small Dog Breed
Whether
you’re considering to get, or you’ve recently adopted, been given, or have
bought a small dog breed, one of the most important health decisions you’ll
make is whether or not to spay or neuter your dog. Spaying—removing the ovaries
and uterus of your female dog and Neutering—removing the testicles of your male
dog —is a veterinary procedure that requires minimal hospitalization and offers
lifelong health benefits, vastly improves your small dog breed’s behaviour and helps
keep them close to home.
Deciding to spay a pet is
sometimes a controversial, sensitive, even emotional topic. In addition, there
are many myths out there...
Getting your pet spayed or neutered can:
·
Reduce the number of homeless dogs killed
·
Improve your dog’s health
·
Curb or reduce bad behaviour
·
Save on pet care costs
Save pets lives and reduce the number of homeless
dogs killed everywhere
In every community, state, or country
there are homeless animals everywhere. In the U.S. alone, there are an
estimated 6-8 million homeless animals and more than 2.7 million healthy,
adoptable dogs and cats that are euthanized in animal shelters every year. These
are not the offspring of homeless "street" animals—these are healthy,
sweet pets no longer wanted, abandoned ,
or able to be cared for and puppies and kittens of cherished family pets and pure
breeds, who would have made great companions.
A USA
Today (May 7, 2013) article cites that neutered male dogs live 18%
longer than un-neutered male dogs and spayed female dogs live 23% longer than
un-spayed female dogs. Part of the reduced lifespan of unaltered pets can be
attributed to their increased urge to roam, exposing them to fights with other
animals, getting struck by cars, and other mishaps.
Another contributor to the reduced lifespan
of un-spayed or un-neutered dogs involves the greater risk of certain types of
cancers, tumours, hernias, prostrate problems and diseases.
Spaying female dogs helps prevent uterine infections, breast
cancer and other cancers of the reproductive system. Over 25%
of non-spayed female dogs will develop breast or mammary tumours, of which
50% are cancerous. And in turn spaying eliminates the chance of
developing pyometra - a serious and sometimes fatal uterine infection where the
uterus fills up with pus, which in-turn can affect many organs, (most commonly
the liver) and if allowed to mature can rupture and cause septic peritonitis
leaving your dog seriously ill, or causing death.
Medical evidence
indicates that female dogs spayed before their first heat are typically
healthier, and offers them the best protection from
these diseases by:
·
Eliminating ovarian and uterine cancer.
·
Eliminating Pyometra.
·
Reducing the risk of breast or mammary tumours
to as low as 0.05%.
(Many veterinarians now sterilize
dogs as young as eight weeks of age.)
Sometimes, natural delivery
just isn’t possible for health or anatomical reasons, in small dog breeds such
as Chihuahuas and Yorkshire Terriers (Yorkies), therefore requiring a
C-section. Whilst a C-section can be a wonderful event at a vet clinic when
everything goes well, it can be a stressful and expensive ordeal for the small
dog breed owner.
Neutering male small dog breeds eliminates
the risk of getting testicular cancer – the second most common tumour in male
dogs, and is thought to greatly reduce the risk of prostate cancer and
prostatitis – a inflamed prostrate gland generally caused by an infection, or
bacteria which may result abscesses, as well as reducing the risk of hernias
and perianal gland tumours – found near the anus and the third most common tumour
in male dogs. Benign forms of perianal gland tumours are commonly found in Pekingese
small dog breeds; however 95% disappear after neutering the dog.
Spaying and Neutering your small dog
breed also eliminates the risk and spread of sexually transmitted diseases and reduces their urge to roam which in turn decreasing the risk
of contracting diseases or getting hurt in an accident or fight with other
dogs. Surveys indicate that as many as 85% of dogs hit by cars are unaltered.
Un-neutered dogs
are much more assertive and prone to spraying strong smelling urine,
marking their territory inside and outside your home. Although not as common,
females may do it too, to attract a mate. Spaying or neutering your dog should
reduce urine-marking and may stop it altogether, provided surgery is performed
early enough, or before these behaviours become habit and ingrained.
An intact male dog will do just about anything to get to a
female dog on heat, including climbing, jumping, digging, scratching or chewing
his way under or through fences, doors and gates.
Other behavioural problems that can be curbed or eliminated by
spay/neuter include:
·
Less desire to roaming - especially when females are "in
heat."
·
Reduces aggressive behaviour - Studies show that most dogs’ bites
involve dogs who are unaltered.
·
Minimise howling or excessive barking, mounting, and other dominance-driven
behaviours.
·
Eliminates unwanted male dogs coming to your home, barking, howling and
fighting to get to your female dog when she is “in heat”.
·
Eliminates the heat cycle of your female dog and the associated mood
swings and the undesirable and erratic behaviours that occur with it.
Note: While getting your pets
spayed/neutered can help curb undesirable behaviours, it will not change their
fundamental personality, like their protective instinct.
When you factor in
the long-term costs potentially incurred by having a non-altered dog, the
savings afforded by spay/neuter are clear (especially given the plethora of low-cost
spay/neuter clinics).
·
Fixed dogs have fewer health problems, so vet
bills are lower. Caring for a pet with mammary tumours
or pyometra can easily run into thousands of dollars – some five to ten times
as much as a routine spay surgery. Worse still, pyometras often seem to happen
after hours - pushing the vet costs even higher.
·
Un-neutered dogs can be more destructive, or high-strung around other
dogs. Serious fighting is more common between non-altered dogs of the same
gender and can incur high veterinary costs.
·
Renewing your dog's license can be more expensive, too. Many counties
have spay/neuter laws that require pets to be sterilized, or require people
with unaltered dogs to pay higher license renewal fees.
·
The cost of your dog's spay surgery is a lot
less than the cost of having and caring for a litter of unwanted pups for a
minimum of 6-8 weeks. Not to mention the time involved dealing with the
pregnancy, insuring the delivery goes well, trips to and from the vets with
mother and pups for check-ups and vaccinations, finding new homes or keeping
the new pups and heaven forbid, if your female dog can’t nurse the pups, guess
who needs to get up and bottle-feed them by hand every 2 hours.
·
It can also
be less expensive than the cost of treatment when your un-neutered male dog
escapes and gets into fights with the other male dogs vying for the attention
of a female in heat, or becomes involved in a traffic, or other type of
accident on the way to a female dog.
·
Neutered male dogs are less aggressive and less likely to bite,
therefore avoiding potentially costly lawsuits (statistic show 80% of dog bites
on humans are from un-neutered male dogs).
·
During a female dog’s heat cycle she passes bloody fluid for 10-21 days,
twice a year, and urinates much more frequently, which can be left all over
your house, furniture and floor coverings. Spaying your female dog results in a
cleaner dog and home by eliminating its heat cycle.
Myths Busted
Most myths
stem from the human owners imposing their own feelings of loss which they feel
the small dog breed will feel, instead of the facts. Below are few common myths
busted:
Myth #1: The
Spay/Neuter surgery is dangerous and/or painful.
Fact: Spay/Neuter surgeries are very common routine
surgeries nowadays. They are now very
safe and quick procedures, with most dogs’ awake, alert, eating and walking within
a few hours. Complications are extremely rare, provided their owners follow all
the post-surgery care guidelines and most vets will prescribe pain medication,
if at all needed.
Myth #2: It’s
better and happier for a female dog to have at least one litter.
Fact: Many years ago Vets believed that if a female
dog produced a litter it helped to mature her, however medical evidence now
shows that if a female dog is spayed before their first heat cycle (6 months)
they are actually more healthier and many illnesses no longer occur.
Myth #3: Your
small breed dog will feel less of a “male” or “female” after being sterilized.
Fact: Dogs have no concept of
sexual identity, or ego. Their basic personality is formed by the environment
and their genetics rather than by sex hormones. Spaying/Neutering
will not change a dog's basic personality, or affect a male dog’s natural
instinct to protect the pack and they won’t suffer any kind of emotional
reaction, or identity crisis when spayed/neutered.
Myth #4: My
small dog breed is a purebred and I’ll find good homes for the puppies.
Fact: At least one in four dogs brought to animal
shelters around the country are purebred and almost half the animals brought to
shelters are euthanized. Sure you may find good homes for your puppies, but
that means less purebred small dog breeds are picked up from shelters and you
have no control over the new owners and what happens if your puppies have of
their own puppies etc. etc. (creating more chance of more dogs given to
shelters and having to be euthanized).
Myth #4:
My small dog breed will get fat and become lazy.
Fact: The only reason for your small dog breed to
become fat and lazy is you over-feed them too much and/or don’t give them
enough exercise. Sure, neutering a male dog may quiet him down a bit and become
less aggressive, but it does not make him less active.
