Pet Care: The Pros And Cons Of Neutering Your Family Dog Or Cat

You’re trying to decide whether to neuter your dog or cat. What are the disadvantages and advantages? And what can you expect from going ahead with it?

If you browse the Internet, you’re rarely presented both sides. In fact, aside from rare instances of poor health (making surgery risky), or wanting the cat or dog to reproduce (for example, a show dog or cat), there are few reasons to not neuter your dog or cat.

Neutering helps decrease the dog and cat population. Although puppies and kittens are cute, few pet owners are willing to care for a complete litter as they grow. These pets must go some place, and so are often times set loose or put in animal shelters, possibly dying there. Unwanted pets also mean more wild cats and dogs, and increased problems in cities and towns. The life of a semi-wild animal is not a good one, and so neutering prevents any cat or dog from ending up like that.

Many concerns regarding neutering your dog or cat involve our viewpoints on the subject. What appears to be major surgery for us is not the same to our pets. While there is the biological instinct to breed built into all animals, there seems to be no problems from not actually reproducing.

Studies have shown that there are genuine advantages to neutering. In the case of females, spaying the dog or cat by 6 months, or first heat, greatly reduces the possibility of breast cancer in later years. Breast cancer has a large death rate, with ninety percent for cats, 50 percent for dogs, so early prevention by neutering is very important.

Also, the risk of uterine cancer in dogs and cats increases unless spaying is performed.

Evidence that neutering is effective but safe is that the S.P.C.A. (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) actually neuters all older dogs and cats that are adopted routinely.

Neutering your pet can also prevent problems in the home. When in heat, cats and dogs can experience behavior problems, can make messes with discharges or spraying, can disturb others with noise and mating activities, and generally are an annoyance. Neutering makes all this behavior disappear, and the animal is more even tempered.

It’s recommended to perform neutering early on, at about six months after birth. The operation can be an overnight event or same day (depending on the physician’s policy), and there may be a second visit to remove any stitches. Talk to your vet for instructions.

While we may view the neutering of a family pet with worry, it’s a loving thing to get done for your cat or dog, enabling them to have an improved life, and probably a longer one.