At Arbor Hills Veterinary Clinic, we believe that spaying and neutering your pets is one of the best things you can do to keep them healthy. In addition to helping to reduce the population of unwanted cats and dogs, spaying and neutering your pets also reduces their chances of developing certain conditions, such as uterine infections, breast cancer, enlarged prostate glands, and testicular cancer.
Animals that have not been spayed or neutered are more likely to run away in attempts to mate, which can put them at higher risk for infections, getting into fights, becoming lost, or injured by traffic. Studies also show that spayed and neutered pets such as neutered male dogs live an average of 18% longer and spayed female dogs live an average of 23% longer than their unneutered and unspayed counterparts.
Unfortunately, every year millions of puppies and kittens are euthanized due to overpopulation and lack of resources to care for them adequately. In the United States alone, there are an estimated 6-8 million homeless animals entering animal shelters each year, and only about half of these animals are ever adopted. That means that over 2.7 million healthy cats and dogs are euthanized every single year. Spaying and neutering is the only 100% effective birth control method for cats and dogs.
What To Expect:
We understand that some may be apprehensive about having their pet undergo a surgical procedure, but it is one of the most common ones that we perform. Your pet will be comfortably anesthetized during the entire surgery, which protects both them and our staff.
For female pets, we perform an ovariohysterectomy, in which we make a small incision in the abdomen and remove the uterus and both ovaries. In most cases, your pet can go home the same day, but in others, we may want to keep her overnight. To prevent your pet from licking the incision, we will send her home with a protective collar shaped like a cone. Activity should be kept to a minimum for 14 days while she heals, and we will prescribe pain medication to keep her comfortable during this time.
Male pets undergo castration, wherein both testes are removed through a small incision in or near the scrotum. Since this is a less invasive surgery than spaying, most male pets can go home the same day after surgery. Activity should be limited for 14 days while your pet heals, and we will send him home with a protective cone-shaped collar to prevent irritating the surgical site and pain medications to help decrease pain.
If you have questions about spaying and neutering your pets, or would like to schedule an appointment, please call us at (517) 750-3838.
