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Hi. Dr. Stram here from Elk Grove Pet Clinic, and I would like to discuss the subject of spaying (or neutering) your pet. Often cat declawing may be done at the same time as this procedure.
Spay Neuter prevents pet overpopulation.
Just like vaccinations and examinations, spaying and neutering is a very important responsibility that everyone should take on because we could have lots of issues with pets that are not spayed or that are not neutered.
One of the biggest issues is overpopulation. There are already lots of animals that are waiting to be adopted that are in shelters and rescue places. If left unspayed or unneutered, we get a lot of animals that are breeding that probably shouldn’t be breeding. This gives us a lot more pets that might end up unwanted and euthanized that could have found homes.
Spay Neuter may help male cats be better pets.
Concerning a male cat. If left unneutered, a few things happen. For example, they really like to wander around the neighborhood. They like to get into fights with other tomcats. They’ll wander for miles trying to find a mate. They will also tend to spray urine a lot more readily than a tomcat that has been neutered at a young age. This can make the pet difficult to live with if your male cat is urinating all around your house and not using the litter box.
It’s a very simple procedure when we neuter a male cat. They come to our clinic in the morning on an empty stomach. We give them an injection in order to put them to sleep for a short period of time. We make an incision. The surgery is done rather quickly. The cat wakes up in about 30 minutes. We get them an injection for pain. The cat then goes home the same day. From then on, we no longer have to worry about issues like the cat wandering the neighborhood and spraying around the house. It’s a good thing to do in order to make sure that your pet becomes a pleasure instead of a problem.
Spay Neuter keeps female cats “out of trouble”.
Female cats. Similar issues. If they are left unspayed, they can wander the neighborhood. They can end up getting themselves into trouble. They’ll find a tomcat somewhere and will end up with kittens that may or may not be wanted. This adds to the cat population. There are already plenty of kittens out there that need homes.
When we spay a female cat, it will prevent her from getting ovarian cancer. This is because we remove the ovaries. The uterus is also removed. This will prevent uterine cancer. If we spay them at a very young age (before their first “heat”), it will prevent approximately 99% (or more) of mammary cancers. We are doing a good job of preventing feline cancers down the road (when they are older) while controlling the cat population.
When we spay a female cat, she comes in during the day on an empty stomach. We give her an injection. We intubate her and keep her asleep on a gas anesthetic. We do the spay operation where we remove the ovaries and the uterus. We then close up the abdomen. Sometimes we use sutures and sometimes we use surgical glue in order to close the skin. They wake up, and they go home the same day.
Spay Neuter male dogs for more reasons.
We’ve got a similar situation with dogs. However, with male dogs, there are more reasons behind why you might want to get them neutered. A male dog that is unneutered will tend to want to roam and will tend to want to “mark” their territory (especially if they feel threatened). They might decide to lift their leg and urinate on items that are located inside the home in order to mark their territory. They can also have issues when they get older. This includes prostate problems. They can develop prostatitis from having testosterone long-term. They can also get testicular cancer. They may develop tumors that are called perianal adenomas that form around the anus due to the high levels of testosterone. If you neuter these dogs at a young age (around 5 months), it will prevent testicular cancer. It will also greatly reduce the incidences of prostatitis and perianal adenomas. It’s a real good idea to neuter these guys. It will make them healthier in the long run. It will make them a better pet.
When we neuter a male dog, they come in to our clinic on an empty stomach. They are given an IV injection. We intubate them and keep them maintained on a gas anesthesia. We’ve got expensive anesthetic monitors that we use to monitor all of the animals that are under anesthesia to check their EKG and their blood pressure and their pulse and their oxygen perfusion. We are watching them carefully. We make an incision. We do the operation on these guys. We close them up with sutures and/or surgical glue. They go home the same day. We give them medication for pain. We send them home with pain medication so that they can maintain pain medication for the next few days so that they don’t have any discomfort with the procedure.
Spay Neuter female dogs the sooner the better.
With female dogs, it is very important to spay them at a young age. We try to spay at about five months of age. By spaying them, it will prevent unwanted pregnancies. It will prevent ovarian and uterine cancers. It will also prevent over 99% of mammary cancers if we spay them before their first heat. Overall, it may even make them a better pet. If they are not spayed, they are going into heat approximately every six months. Every six months, they may be leaving around a blood-tinged fluid. It makes them a better pet if they are spayed. It makes them a healthier pet because they won’t have to deal with the mammary, ovarian, and uterine cancer problems.
When we spay a female dog, she comes into our clinic in the morning on an empty stomach. She is given an IV injection for anesthesia. She is intubated and maintained on a gas anesthesia. We do the procedure. We remove the ovaries and the uterus. We close up the abdomen. Sometimes, we use sutures and/or surgical glue to close the skin. She is given a pain injection. She is given pain medicine to take with her home. The animals go home the same day. They do very, very well. It’ll keep them happy and healthy for a long life.
YouTube Link
Youtube Title: Spay Neuter Cost Benefits ( Elk Grove Village, IL, Schaumburg IL, Itasca IL)
Spay Neuter (part of responsible pet ownership) may have many benefits including lower veterinary health care costs and reduced pet cancer risks.
