Well, it’s Valentine’s Day, and love is in the air! Dinner dates, flowers, jewelry, and yes, mating. In this case, I’m not talking about humans (which is a good thing, that would be creepy). That’s right. Spring is around the corner, and the animal kingdom is ready to reproduce! That includes your dogs and cats. In this blog post, I am going to share with you the most common “reasons” clients give me for not spaying or neutering their pets. I’m also including my responses, which are a bit more sarcastic, sassy, and candid than what I would give in the exam room (another perk to reading my blog).
Think again! Even if your pet is truly an “indoor only” pet, there is always the off chance that they can slip out the door and go outside. If you have a dog, it’s highly likely that they’re at least going outside to eliminate. If not, please don’t invite me over to your house. If and when they do, there is a likely chance they will find “love” or go looking for it. A male dog can smell a female in heat from two miles away. You think your fence will stop other male dogs from getting to your intact female? They will go to GREAT lengths to breed and spread their seed. Kind of like Jersey Shore. An “indoor only” intact animal, such as a male cat, might also start spraying areas of your house if left intact. This behavior is quite undesirable as there’s almost nothing worse than the smell of Tom cat urine. If you have an intact male dog, you may find that they are more aggressive. They are also more apt to slip out the door and go “looking for love.” Intact males are more likely to roam, and while doing so, can often get hit by a car or injured by other animals. Neutering eliminates roaming behavior in >90% of dogs. They may also display other undesirable behavior like humping your leg, other pets, or even the throw pillows. If you own an intact female dog, you will find that they bleed while in heat, which normally occurs every five-seven months. After cleaning up the mess a couple of times or dealing with “doggie diapers,” you will likely be running to the nearest veterinary clinic to get her spayed. Female cats? Well, let’s just say they become very vocal and active when in heat, during all times of the night. You could be awakened at all hours of the night while your cat sings you the mating song of her people. It will probably sound a lot like many of the Selena Gomez songs you’ve heard. Additionally, female cats can be in heat for up to ten months out of the year. Oy. Best to avoid all the hassle and the mess and just spay or neuter your pet. 2. My dog or cat is purebred, so I really feel that I should breed them at least once. If only I had a dollar for every time I heard this. For some reason, at least in my neck of the woods, people are under the impression that a purebred dog or cat is the equivalent of a rare gemstone or a royal genetic line that should be preserved. It’s true that every dog or cat is special in their own way, but breeding your pet simply because they’re purebred is a bit ridiculous. Many of the same people who utter these words have a purebred animal that has hip dysplasia, a hernia, or even a cryptorchid (undescended) testicle. All of these are undesirable traits that are inheritable and do not make your pet a desirable candidate for breeding. Approximately 25% of all animals in the shelter are “purebred.” Speaking of shelters, there is also a bit of a pet overpopulation problem. Five to seven MILLION companion animals enter shelters each year nationwide. Three to four MILLION of those animals (60% of dogs and 70% of cats) are euthanized each year due to lack of adoptable homes. Even if you can find homes for all the puppies or kittens from the litters you breed, that doesn’t guarantee that animal or their offspring won’t enter the shelter system. Others may feel a desire to breed their purebred pet because they see it as a money-making enterprise. Many in this situation will find that taking care of momma and puppies adequately can come with a pretty heavy price tag. If there are complications with the pregnancy, the female dog or cat may need a cesarean section. Then there’s the cost of feed. Lactating females burn a LOT of calories and need a lot of food (preferably a high quality puppy or kitten food so they don’t waste away). Maintaining the health of the puppies or kittens can also be quite costly. You have to consider the cost of dewormers and vaccine. If you have young puppies and neglect to vaccinate them, it is likely they could develop parvovirus, a very contagious and deadly virus. With all these costs in mind, it is quite difficult to get a return on your investment when selling these animals. Many would be surprised as to how difficult it can be to find homes for these puppies or kittens, despite being purebred. So no, your purebred dog or cat is probably not the Prince William of the pet world. Not to mention, breeding (especially a female) can put your pet’s health at risk. Trust me on that. 3. A dog or cat should have at least one litter or one heat cycle before spaying. There is absolutely no medical benefit to allowing a dog or cat to have one litter or heat cycle before spaying. In fact, spaying a dog or cat BEFORE their first heat drastically reduces their risk of developing mammary tumors or uterine cancer. Mammary tumors are the most common cancer in female dogs and the third most common cancer in female cats. This cancer is malignant or deadly in greater than 50% of dogs and 90% of cats. A female dog is 12 times more likely to develop mammary cancer than a dog that was spayed before her first heat and four times more likely to develop mammary cancer than a dog that has been spayed after two heats. An unspayed cat is seven times more likely to develop mammary cancer. The best option is to spay your dog or cat before their first heat, at four to six months of age. 4. My pets are littermates. They wouldn’t mate with each other. The answer is yes, I have heard this multiple times. People will often anthropomorphize, or humanize, animals to the point where they will often make statements like this. While cats and dogs can certainly feel emotions and grieve the way we do, they do not have the intelligence needed to differentiate their brother or sister from any other mate in the animal kingdom, kind of like the Lannisters from Game of Thrones. So unless you want to have the King Joffrey of the pet world on your hands, I would recommend spaying or neutering your pets ASAP. 5. I don’t want to neuter my dog because I’m a manly man and have an unhealthy and somewhat creepy attachment to my dog’s testicles. Okay, so I may have paraphrased this statement a little bit, but you get the idea. I run into many clients or individuals with this outlook each year. Maybe it’s because I’m a woman, but I just don’t understand this. This goes back to anthropomorphizing pets, as mentioned earlier. A dog really doesn’t care if he has testicles or not. If left intact, your male dog will likely experience at least one of the following scenarios. 1) They’ll be running around town, breeding everything in sight, kind of like Charlie Sheen. Trust me, this is not a good thing. Read the pet overpopulation facts listed earlier in this post. 2) They will be more apt to roam or suffer injuries due to roaming, like being hit by a car or getting injured from fighting other animals. 3) They’ll be cooped up inside and extremely sexually frustrated, like an acne riddled teenage boy who's waiting for a growth spurt. None of these scenarios sound pleasant, do they? Plus, testicles are ugly. That’s right, I said it. I hate balls. If my husband and I are running outside and I happen to see an intact male dog, he will likely have to put up with me making the scissor snipping motion with my hands. But for the weirdos out there who don’t think balls are gross, you can have Neuticals (prosthetic testicles) placed in your dog at the time of neutering. That’s right. I said prosthetic testicles. Our testicle-obsessed society has officially gone too far. But you know what? If paying $500 for Neuticals in your dog means you’ll actually neuter them, then I’m all for it. 6. I don’t need to spay or neuter my pet. No one in my hometown spays or neuters. Despite hearing this statement a few times, I am struggling to find a response that is professional. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against certain traditions. Tradition is important in a lot of ways. But for many traditions you may find that just because you’ve always done it that way, doesn’t mean it’s not incredibly ignorant. Yeah...I did say I would be more candid in this piece than I am in the exam room. All I can do is educate the client on the health benefits of spaying and neutering and cross my fingers that they listen to reason. 7. Spaying or neutering is painful for my pet. When an animal is spayed or neutered, they are placed under a general anesthetic. They do not feel any pain during the procedure. Most veterinary clinics (including my own) will place animals on pain medications before they even wake up and for several days after surgery to keep them comfortable. They may slow down a little for a few days, but most pets return to normal behavior and activity in 24 to 72 hours. As a pet owner, you will need to restrict their exercise for several days and monitor the incision daily for any signs of redness, swelling, or infection. However, complications with these procedures are extremely rare. 8. Spaying or neutering is too expensive. The cost of spaying or neutering pales in comparison to the cost of caring for puppies or kittens, or even the potential health complications that come with having an intact animal. If left intact, female dogs or cats can develop a dangerous condition called pyometra. With a pyometra, the uterus becomes infected and fills with pus. This infection can spread to the bloodstream and cause sepsis, which can lead to kidney failure. The treatment is immediate spaying, but that doesn’t guarantee survival in an already debilitated animal. As mentioned earlier, if left intact, dogs and cats are much more likely to develop mammary tumors. These tumors can be removed surgically, but often the tumors have already spread to other parts of the body or can return a period of time after the surgery. A dog or cat experiencing obstructive labor may need a cesarean section. All the surgeries I have just mentioned are MANY times more expensive than a routine spay or neuter surgery. Also, there are options out there for people with financial needs. In fact, my clinic has partnered with the local rescue PAWs in a spay or neuter discount program, which involves $60 off the regular price of spaying or neutering. For people who are limited financially, there are often non-profits of low-cost spay and neuter clinics that can be utilized. While spaying or neutering may involve a little expense in the short-term, it can prevent a lot of costly health problems in the long-term. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! 9. Animals become less active or overweight as a result of spaying or neutering. As any animal matures, the diet and activity level need to be adjusted in order to maintain their ideal body weight. I certainly can’t eat the same things that I ate when I was 13 years old. Nor would I want to. Funyuns, chili cheese dogs, and eight Pepsi’s a day is not ideal. The heartburn alone would bring a grown man to his knees. Animals only become overweight when they are fed too much and not exercised adequately. 10. Children should be allowed to witness the miracle of birth. Cats and dogs often have their litters at night, in hidden places far from sight. Moreover, each litter an animal has can contribute to the millions of animals that enter shelters each year. Instead, maybe your child can befriend a local farm kid and experience the miracle of birth this spring as calving season rages on. This may be accompanied by a late night, a cursing farmer, and some physical activity that replicates tug of war. Or you could watch Call the Midwife on PBS. It is exactly as I picture childbirth: a miracle for sure, yet pretty darn gross and scary. A better solution might be to contact your child’s school to make sure they are being taught comprehensive and accurate sex ed. In conclusion, I’m sure you’ve gathered from this blog post that spaying and neutering your pets is important for their health and reducing pet overpopulation. Dogs and cats have a greater chance of a long life, good health, and quality of life when surgically sterilized. As pet owners, that’s really all we want for our pets, isn’t it? The best way to show your pets you love them is to make sure they don’t spread the love. So let Valentine’s Day be a reminder to spay or neuter your pets….and weird friends and relatives.
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Jessica Stroupe, DVM
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August 2017
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