You can often see many dog owners discussing, “Should I spay or neuter my male dog at home?” In fact, spaying and neutering has both advantages and disadvantages. Parents should be enough to choose whether to do spaying or neutering according to their dog’s situation. The benefits of spaying and neutering 1. spaying and neutering can reduce the number of times a dog lifts its leg to pee. Unneutered male dogs are influenced by testosterone and like to pee everywhere with their legs up to mark their territory. In the male dog’s mind, the higher they pee, the more authority they have in front of other dogs. They will drag their owners to every tree, telephone pole, corner, in short anywhere they think they need to mark to pee. Some dogs will even exhibit this behavior indoors as well. Of course, a neutered male will still lift his leg to pee, but he will be less “obsessed” with it and will do it less often, and will need to be trained to completely correct the habit. Neutering can reduce the dog’s sense of territoriality and improve his aggression. Of course, if the dog itself has a bold and stubborn temperament, or if the basic exercise is not met, or if it is not trained for normal socialization, neutering alone will not solve the problem at the root. 3. Neutering can reduce the risk of being attacked by other male dogs. Even if your dog is inherently docile and well-tempered, an unneutered male dog is more likely to be targeted by other males. 4. Spaying and neutering can help shift the dog’s attention from other dogs to the owner. An unneutered male dog will always spend a lot of his attention on other dogs, either looking for a “wife” or a rival. Neutering with proper training can greatly improve this, allowing the dog to focus more on the owner, and obedience will naturally be better. 5. Spaying and neutering can reduce mating behavior. The mating behavior here not only refers to the real mating, but also refers to the dog to toys, or even the owner’s legs or feet to make mating action. Spaying and neutering with owner education can reduce to avoid this indecent behavior 6. It is understandable that males can get very excited around bitches, especially those in heat, as they are always looking for potential mates. It is important to note that this behavior is often a source of trouble and even tragedy. Males in the vicinity of bitches tend to whimper recklessly, slobber, rush, and sometimes even run away from the house. I’m afraid that many of the dogs lost or involved in car accidents are because of this 7. Spaying and neutering can reduce the risk of prostate disease. This is not prostate cancer, which is not common in dogs, but diseases such as prostate enlargement, prostate cysts, prostate infections, etc. 80% of unneutered male dogs over five years of age have an enlarged prostate. Some dogs may have difficulty urinating or defecating as a result. Fortunately, prostate enlargement is quickly resolved with neutering, but prostate cysts and prostate infections are more difficult to treat. The actual fact is that you will be able to prevent testicular cancer with sterilization. About 7% of unneutered male dogs will develop testicular cancer, but fortunately this cancer rarely spreads and has a 90% cure rate. It is also important to note that dogs with cryptorchidism are 14 times more likely to develop testicular cancer if they are not neutered. The disadvantages of neutering 1. Neutering triples the chances of obesity in dogs. Being overweight can cause arthritis, heart disease, pancreatitis, and diabetes. After the dog is neutered, if the owner continues to feed the same amount of food as before the neuter, the dog will easily gain weight. This is because the hormonal metabolism of a neutered dog changes and therefore does not require as much food. The owner should pay attention to observe the change in the dog’s body when feeding, appropriate reduction, and ensure sufficient exercise, the dog will not become fat it. 2. Neutering increases the risk of hemangioma. Hemangiomas are usually found in the heart and spleen. Spayed dogs are twice as likely to develop hemangiomas of the spleen and four times more likely to develop hemangiomas of the heart compared to unspayed dogs. However, it is important to note that hemangiomas occur in all breeds, but are more common and more likely in individual breeds, including Afghan Hound, Bernese Mountain Dog, Belgian Shepherd, Boston Terrier, Bulldog, Doberman Pinscher, Flat-coated Touring Dog, French Bulldog, German Shepherd, Golden Retriever, Labrador, Rottweiler, and Scottish Terrier. 3. Neutering triples the chance of developing hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism can cause obesity, lethargy, and hair loss, but these symptoms can be controlled with daily thyroid medication. 4. Sterilization increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Apparently reproductive hormones also protect the brain to some extent. 5. Sterilization has risks. Twenty percent of sterilizations are associated with at least one complication, such as adverse anesthetic reactions, internal bleeding, inflammation or infection, abscesses, incomplete sutures, and so on. Fortunately, most complications are minor, less than five percent are life-threatening, but the mortality rate is very low, less than one percent. 6. Spaying and neutering at the wrong age increases the risk of hip dysplasia, ligament rupture, osteosarcoma (bone cancer) and urinary incontinence. Hormones are vital to the development of your dog’s bones, joints, and internal organs, so neutering at too early an age can lead to these problems. So when is the best time to spay or neuter? There is no single answer to this question, it depends on the breed and size of the dog, and when the dog is fully developed, and a decision should be made in consultation with a veterinarian before neutering. The time to neuter a male dog can be chosen between 6-10 months of age, when the male dog has reached sexual maturity and has formed habits of behavior and actions governed by various androgens, such as straddling actions. At this time, if the owner wants to spay or neuter the male dog, he can take him there. In addition, the dog must be spayed or neutered during the non-estrus period. If the dog happens to be in heat, you must wait until the heat is over before performing the spay/neuter surgery, because spaying a dog in heat is likely to result in heavy bleeding. Spaying method: The male dog spaying procedure is an orchiectomy. Its two balls are surgically removed from the scrotum. The dog’s seminal storage sac is in the paratesticle, which has the testicles, paratesticles, and vas deferens. The balls are removed so that the estrus can be controlled along with the fertility control. Post-neutering performance: male dogs will have obvious changes after neutering, first of all, there is no interest in the female dog, no longer run around the female dog ignore people, so this time the dog will be more like to drink the master interaction, completely forget that they want to find the female dog, but also no longer like before to go out to pee and hit the mark, secondly, temperament will be better, more docile and well-behaved, neutered personality becomes lively. Some owners will do spay/neuter surgery after the dog is 3 years old and the dog’s personality has stabilized. After neutering will find that the dog mentality seems to suddenly become younger, like to cling to people, go out also like to play with other dogs, and finally, because after neutering become less mobile, may become a little fatter, but these performances are different from dog to dog, some performance is obvious, some are not so prominent. Post-operative care: 1. Dogs need to stay at the vet for a few hours after spay/neuter surgery for observation until they are completely awake and able to walk before they can be picked up and taken home. Usually the dog will regain consciousness in 30 minutes to an hour. 2. After 4 hours after the operation, water and food should be consumed after 6 hours. In order for your dog to recover better and to reduce the pain of defecation, please do not feed your dog water and food too early. 3. Follow the doctor’s instructions and take your dog to the vet for fluids on time after the surgery. Usually, after the spay/neuter surgery, the doctor will recommend that the dog be given shots for 7 consecutive days. Please don’t be afraid of the hassle or the expense that may affect your dog’s post-operative recovery or cause inflammation or other diseases. 4. Wear an Elizabethan collar for your dog. During the post-operative recovery phase, the healing of the wound will cause pain and itchiness in the dog, and they will subconsciously scratch or lick the wound. Elizabethan collars should be worn for the dog until the stitches are removed to prevent infection of the wound and affect the healing of the wound. 5. Do not bathe your dog for 7 days after the stitches are removed. Note 1. to dog spay and neuter surgery, spring and autumn days are more appropriate. The reason is that it is too hot in the summer to cause wound infection, and too cold in the winter to cause colds and other immune system problems. 2. Be careful of obesity after surgery, male dogs often become appetitive after neutering because of hormonal changes in the body, and are prone to become fat, which must be remembered to control, so as not to obesity lead to other physical problems.
