Why Desex Your Pet?

Myths vs Facts

In addition to preventing unwanted litters, desexing may result in a positive behavioural change in your dog.  Desexing may also minimise the chance of your dog developing reproductive related health issues. 

A desexed dog is less likely to: 

• Wander or run away potentially resulting in injury, especially males. 
• Develop certain type of tumours such as uterine, ovarian and mammary cancer in females and possibly testicular cancer in males (less common). 
• Get into fights over territory or mating partners, this reduces injuries such as abscesses and infected wounds which are often serious and sometimes fatal. 
• Display undesirable behaviours such as humping, territorial urine marking or barking. 
• Prove difficult to training due to reduced human focus. 
• Develop early onset cataracts, mitral valve cardiac disease and reduce the risk of some congenital conditions. For female dogs it can reduce the risk of pyometra (an infection of the uterus) and mastitis which may occur as a result of a false pregnancy. For male dogs it reduces this risk of dilated cardiomyopathy (a disease which effects the heart and reduces cardiac function) and gastric dilation volvulus (commonly known as twisted stomach). 

In female dogs, heats can be messy and their multi-day discharge may damage your furnishings. There may also display undesirable behavioural changes during heat and adequately confining your female dog can be very difficult. There have been cases where a dog has leapt through a glass kitchen window and eaten through a number 8 wire fence. Pregnancy itself is also risky and can have many complications which can be risky and expensive. Hormone exacerbated aggression or dominance issues, especially in male dogs, can make your pet more difficult to manage. 

Statements & Myths vs. Fact – Why Desex?

Myth: My dog will get fat and lazy 

An overweight dog is the result of too much food and lack of exercise; it has nothing to do with being desexed. Most pets are desexed at an age when they are becoming an adult and therefore they don’t exercise as much as they did as a puppy. This is then interpreted as being due to the desexing because it was done at the same time. Invariably, it is just the energy requirements of your dog changing. 

Myth: I just want him/her to have one litter 

There is no medical or behavioural advantage for a dog to have a litter. It is stressful, expensive and provides no positive benefit to the mother dog. It is actually more beneficial if a dog does not have a heat cycle as this reduces the chance of developing mammary cancer to almost zero. 

Myth: The surgery is too painful 

Any surgical procedure will cause some discomfort around the surgical site and your dog should be kept quiet in the immediate post-operative period. Pain management is an important part of the surgery and your vet will ensure that this is adequate. Most post-operative problems are related to dogs feeling good very quickly and wanting to run around thus possibly disrupting the surgical site rather than being in pain. 

Myth: I want my children to see the miracle of birth 

It would be more beneficial to teach children the advantages of desexing their pet dog and promoting responsible pet ownership. In more than 80% of cases, the birthing process takes place in the middle of the night and human contact with new born puppies is strongly discouraged. Though most mother dogs have their puppies unassisted, a caesarean – if needed – will result in a bill of many hundreds of dollars. 

Download this handy guide to keep: 

Why Desex your Pet