A long-term benefit of neutering is improved health for both cats and dogs.

Neutering prevents testicular cancer and enlargement of the prostate gland and greatly reduces their risk for perianal tumors.

Every patient that undergoes surgery will have an intravenous catheter (IV) and fluids, pain medications, and full vitals (heart rate, respiratory rate, etc.) monitoring. This is all part of our safety protocol for pets under anesthesia.

We highly recommend neutering male dogs and cats. Neutering of dogs and cats is mainly done to prevent overpopulation of our pet animals, however, there are some behavioral and medical reasons to consider for this procedure.

When dogs are unneutered, they can develop prostates and prostatic cancers, anal tumors, prepuce infections, transmissible venereal tumors, and — uncommonly — testicular tumors. Only the anal sac tumors may have more of an increased incidence post neuter. Dogs tend to roam less (‘run away’) and hump people’s legs less. Inter-male aggression at dog parks is also lessened.

In cats, the problem is mainly urine spraying around the house when kept un-neutered; 90% of spraying tom cats stop once neutered. Male cats also tend to be much more territorial, leading to cat-fighting and associated cat abscesses and cellulitis. Viral transmission of AIDS and feline leukemia is higher in intact male cats. These intact males transfer these viruses when they get into fights with any outdoor cat.

Generally, we follow the recommendation of humane societies and recommend neutering for these medical/ behavioral reasons and to prevent pet overpopulation. We encourage you to adopt a pet from the humane society to help decrease pet euthanasia and to discourage buying from sources that may buy from puppy mills. Animals are generally treated very inhumanely at puppy mills, often suffering from poor hygiene, parasite infestations, and viral diseases. Thousands of healthy pets are euthanized each year at humane societies due to overcrowding and not enough people available for adoption.

There is a tendency for some pets to gain weight after spaying and neutering. It is strongly recommended that you decrease the amount of food given after neutering and be more vigilant of early signs of gaining too many pounds. The ribs should be easily felt but not seen, not too much shoulder fat and there should be a good waste indentation. In cats, it’s important to look at the ribs and the abdominal fat.

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