Desexing/neutering your dogs Speying a female dog involves intra-abdominal surgery to remove their ovaries, uterus and therefore

sex hormones so they cannot come on heat/cycle and have puppies. Castrating a male dog involves removal of their testicles and therefore sex hormones in order to eliminate their ability to father a litter. Why spey? Avoid ovarian and uterine cancers Avoid hormone-induced mammary cancers Avoid uterine infections (pyometra this is often life-threatening) Eliminate oestrogen-driven behaviours and signs aggression, escaping/roaming, fighting, bleeding, false pregnancies Eliminate risk of health problems and death associated with pregnancy, whelping (labour) and nursing Extend duration and quality of life Allow your pet to be a more affectionate, levelheaded and social companion Why castrate? Avoid testicular cancers Avoid other testosterone-induced cancers Reduce the risk of prostate and peri-anal problems developing Reduce testosterone-driven behaviours mounting, urine marking, territorial aggression, escaping/roaming, fighting Improve success with house-training/toileting

Extend duration and quality of life Allow your pet to be a more affectionate, levelheaded and social companion

But Wont my dog get fat..? Obesity is a multifactorial problem. The correct diet and exercise regime is important in every animal. Appetite and activity levels do not change after desexing. Desexed dogs may however have a slower metabolism so must be fed less. Consult your vet to determine how many calories your desexed pet needs to eat per day. Will my dogs growth be affected..? This has been proven false. Desexing an immature animal actually delays growth plate closure to some extent. Shouldnt my female dog have at least one heat/ cycle? A dog speyed before her first cycle will have almost 0% risk of developing mammary cancer and the surgery is much easier as the reproductive tract is still small. Speying your dog after her first cycle will increase the risk of mammary cancer by 7% and after her second cycle increases the risk by 25%. Following oestrus cycling, the reproductive tract becomes more developed, making surgery more difficult. Wont she become incontinent? A small proportion of speyed female dogs develop hormoneresponsive urinary incontinence. It is suspected that speying at a very young age may increase the risk of this developing. Obesity, urinary tract infections and other conditions may also be involved. Treatment for this is available. The risk of this occurring is much smaller than all the other problems associated with an entire/non-desexed female dog in the grand scheme of things. I want my children to experience the process of pregnancy and bringing puppies into the world..? Thousands of unwanted puppies and dogs are euthanized every year at shelters, please dont contribute to the overpopulation problem! Pregnancy doesnt go without risk and your dog will be

predisposed to developing mammary cancer after having a litter. Buy a canine reproduction DVD for your kids! I am concerned about general anaesthesia.. Desexing is a very common procedure performed at veterinary clinics however there is always a risk during any surgical procedure requiring anaesthesia. Close monitoring, intravenous fluids and pre-anaesthetic vet checks and blood tests make these procedures safer. Young, healthy animals will often tolerate anaesthetics better than their older counterparts. When? It is usually recommended that dogs are desexed around 6 months of age. Female dogs should be desexed before their first heat (4-6 months in small breeds, 12-24 months in large breeds) to reduce the risk of mammary cancer. The surgery is a lot more difficult to do while a female dog is on heat so it is best to do this before or about four weeks after her cycle. To avoid ongoing behaviour issues, both male and female dogs should be desexed before they are 1 year old - before hormone-driven behaviours become habitual! Desexing after this time however will still reduce these behaviours better late than never. Desexing your dog while they are still young means the surgery is usually more straight-forward; with fewer complications and faster recovery times. This reduces anaesthetic time, extent of postoperative care required and therefore costs. If you have any questions about desexing your dog, please contact your regular veterinarian. Dr Lauren Sebek, BVSc (hons.)