06/01/2024
Neutering in dogs
Male and female dogs can be neutered to prevent them from breeding and to reduce risk of health issues. In male dogs, we call this castration and in females, it's spaying.
What is castration?
Castration is the term we normally use for the surgical removal of a dog’s te**es under general anaesthesia.
Why do we castrate male dogs?
People decide to have their dogs castrated for different reasons.
-Population control, preventing him from breeding with females
-Prevention of diseases, such as testicular cancer
-Reduction of unwanted behaviour, such as indoor urine marking
-Retained testicles (cryptorchidism). Sometimes a dog’s te**es don’t make it to their intended position within the sc***um, and there’s evidence to show that they’re at higher risk of developing tumours
What is spaying?
In the UK, spaying refers to either of two operations to prevent female animals from breeding. Traditionally, spaying has involved surgical removal of both ovaries and the uterus (womb) through an incision in the midline of the female dog’s abdomen. In recent years, with the now-common practice of laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery, removal of just the ovaries (conventionally or laparoscopically) is becoming popular.
Advantages of being spayed
- Removing your dog’s ovaries means she will never develop ovarian cancer
- She will no longer come into season
- She won’t be able to become pregnant or develop pseudopregnancy (phantom pregnancy)
- Eliminates the risk of pyometra, a life-threatening uterus infection
- Chance of mammary tumours (breast cancer) are likely to reduce
If your dog has already begun to have seasons, we normally recommend waiting 12 weeks from the start of the most recent season before spaying, to minimise the risk of performing the procedure while a pseudopregnancy could be underway.
** Please note we are offering 20% off all neutering throughout January for all breeds of dogs to help with the financial burden of XL bulldogs owners (this does not include laparoscopic spays) **