As a dog owner, you've probably thought about desexing your pet and whether you have gone through with it or not, it's a good idea to read about the effects of the decision. Spaying or neutering your dog can have a massive impact on a lot of different things and so we've decided to highlight the medical and environmental benefits of it here.
Benefits for female canines:
1. She won't go into heat
It is normal for an unspayed female dog to go into heat for 2-3 weeks, and with this cycle comes problems such as howling, urinating in/around the house, wandering off, and attracting male dogs. Getting your female dog spayed will prevent any of these behaviours from occurring again.
2. She will likely live a longer, healthier life
Spaying your female dog will prevent diseases that are caused by being on heat, these are urine infections and tumors. 50% of the breast tumors in dogs are cancerous and it's possible to prevent them. For certain breeds, spaying the female dog will be more effective if it's done before her first heat, but with others it may be better to wait until after her first heat, so best check with the breeder and vet.
3. It's cost effective
By not spaying your female dog, you risk her being exposed to male dogs and fall pregnant. The cost to keep this from happening in the first place (paying to get her spayed) will be far less than the cost of caring for the mother and litter.
Benefits for male canines:
1. He will be much better behaved
Neutering your male dog means he will have a decreased amount of testosterone, which will reduce his aggression. A neutered male won't feel the need to fight other male dogs, or mount females or objects. Additionally, they won't go roaming for females or urinate all over the house either as they will feel far less territorial.
2. He will live a longer life
It's possible to eliminate the risk of testicular cancer in your male dog by neutering them. Other infections or cancers (such as prostate) can be kept at bay by desexing your male dog too.
Other reasons to spay or neuter your dog
1. Increase dog's life expectancy As well as reducing the risk of cancer, getting your dog spayed or neutered ensures that they won't be figuring out ways to escape the property and ending up on the streets. Being out on their own can be very dangerous for house pets, in fact, most dogs that get hit by traffic are found to be unneutered and these dogs are more likely to come in contact with diseases too.
2. You won't be contributing to the overpopulation of dogs
If your dog isn't spayed or neutered, you are responsible for when that dog has a litter. Many litters are unwanted and the pups are often left on the streets or taken to animal shelters, where they may still be killed, and this situation is far too common. To reduce the amount of suffering dogs, you can ensure that your dog won't have any unwanted offspring.
3. Reduce effects on humans
Spaying or neutering your dog means less unwanted litters. Having so many unwanted litters in society not only means unnecessary killing of healthy puppies, but it means us people, as taxpayers, have to contribute to the cost of the euthanasia, or years worth of care and re-homing of these dogs. Not to mention, dogs who end up as strays can be a health hazard to us, if they carry diseases such as rabies.
So, I hope these reasons are good enough to make you think about getting your furry friend spayed or neutered. Unless you plan to breed, there is no reason for male or female dogs to be left unaltered.
We think it's really important to encourage people to take this preventative step, as it has an effect on the welfare of the dogs and on the population of dogs which consequently is a major issue for us humans to deal with.