The Importance of Spaying and Neutering

If you’ve recently gotten a pet, one of the first things you’ll need to do is take care of its immediate health concerns. Vaccines and wellness checks are crucial steps in ensuring your pet lives a long, healthy life. But one more critical step is needed once your pet comes of age: spaying or neutering.

The process of sterilization through spaying or neutering is a critical one for your pet’s health. They are also very simple procedures that can be done at a nearby animal hospital in Saint Francisville, LA. If your new pet has not been sterilized, don’t delay in booking a procedure.

What is sterilization?

Sterilizing your pets means having them undergo one of two procedures, depending on their sex. Female cats and dogs will need to be spayed. During this process, the uterus is removed. Male cats and dogs will be neutered, or have their testicles removed.

Both of these procedures prevent your pet from reproducing. It will also regulate their hormonal cycles to prevent bad behavior, urine marking and other signs of reproductive cycles.

Why is spaying and neutering so important?

Most vets will recommend that pet owners have their animals spayed or neutered for the good of all animals and people involved. While it may seem inhumane to force your pet to be sterilized, there are actually many benefits to this procedure for your pet, your family and your neighborhood:

• Better pet health: Removing the uterus or testicles from your pet will cut down on their risk for infections or breast and testicular cancer, helping your pet to live a longer and healthier life.
• Manage behavior: Dogs and cats that retain their sexual organs will have periods of frustrating behavior for pet owners. Females will go into heat, during which time they will howl to attract a mate, act more aggressively and sometimes urinate in inappropriate places. Males tend to urine mark around the house to attract female companions and can even engage in bad behavior like escaping from the home to seek out females to mate with.
• Minimize vet costs: The cost of spaying or neutering your animal is very minimal, considering the high expense involved in taking care of a pregnant cat or dog at an animal hospital in Saint Francisville, LA. Should your animal conceive, you will need to pay more vet bills to ensure your pet’s health during pregnancy, as well as the health of her babies.
• Reduce unwanted litters: Many pet owners are not equipped to handle litters of new cats or dogs, so having their pet give birth is an overwhelming and stressful experience. Unwanted pet pregnancies can also result in negative consequences for the pets and the neighborhood. You will need to find a way to rehome the new pets if you can’t take care of them yourself, potentially increasing the number of pets awaiting adoption at your local animal shelter. If you do not neuter your male pet, it may get a stray cat or dog pregnant, which increases the number of stray animals in your neighborhood.

To ensure the health, safety and happiness of your pet, call St. Francisville Animal Hospital and book an appointment for spaying or neutering. Our animal hospital in Saint Francisville, LA offers a variety of vet services, from wellness examinations to vaccines and surgical procedures.

Categorised in: Dog Health