Neutering of dogs

We would advise spaying all bitches not kept for breeding purposes.

 The ideal time is 3-4 months after the first season.

 A high % of older bitches (over 7yrs) will develop mammary tumours, which can be malignant and spread to other organs, even benign tumours can still become very large and uncomfortable. This will be avoided if spayed before the 2nd season.

 A lot of older bitches can also get a womb infection called Pyometra (which can be fatal if diagnosed too late). They will then nearly always need an emergency operation, to remove the infected womb, which is more risky than when the bitch is young and healthy.

The surgery is done through a midline (abdominal) incision.

Your dog should be able to go home late afternoon the same day.

She will be given painkillers and most dogs act as normal the next day.

She should be kept restricted to lead exercise only for the next 10 days.

We do not routinely recommend castration. If you (or your neighbours) have unneutered female dogs, life can become quite frustrating for your dog while they're in season twice a year and you could end up with unwanted litters.

If your dog tries to mate the furniture or your friends or children castration is advisable. (Though this can be a passing stage in adolescent, 6-18mths, dogs.)

If your dog is aggressive to people or other dogs castration might improve matters.

Or if your dog runs off regularly or urinates indoors castration MIGHT help, but in all these cases often behaviour training will also be needed.

There is a hormone injection available that has similar effects to castration and lasts 4-6 weeks. This could be given to your animal first to try and see if castration would have the desired effect.