Neutering

Unless you are planning to breed from your dog,  we recommend you neuter your dog due to the many health and behavioural benefits it offers. Typically at 6 to 9 months of age depending on the breed.

Early spaying and neutering is also the healthy choice for most pets. Research shows that early neutering reduces an animal’s chances of developing common cancers and other diseases. It keeps pets healthy, helps control the over-population of stray cats and prevents the needless destruction of perfectly healthy animals in pounds. In Ireland we still euthanase thousands of unwanted cats and dogs every year.

The most obvious reason for neutering is to avoid your dog producing an unwanted litter of puppies.  Now we all love puppies and of course they’re very cute, but a litter of puppies is expensive to look after and an awful lot of work, not to mention the worry of finding nice homes for all of them.  Unfortunately, the numbers of unwanted pets is on the increase so it is more important than ever to make sure that your dog doesn’t accidentally add to the problem.

The health benefits to neutering are significant.  Neutering removes the risk of many cancers and drastically reduces the risks of others. Spaying a female before her first season reduces the chances of developing mammary cancers by up to 90%, this benefit reduces dramatically after subsequent seasons.

Older female dogs who have not been neutered are a risk of a potentially fatal condition called pyometra, which is an infection of the womb.

Neutering may help with behavioural problems and can reduce aggression, reduce possessiveness over toys and food, reduce territorial behaviour towards visitors and reduce the tendency to roam in search of a mate.

When your dog is neutered, you would normally drop them off to us in the morning of the operation and pick them up the same afternoon.  It is important not to give your dog any breakfast on the day of their neutering but they can be given access to water. All our patients receive the very best anaesthetics and are given pain relief before the surgery.

If you have any questions at all, speak to us about neutering and we will be happy to answer any other questions you may have.