Myths and Legends about Desexing Your Cat & Dog

Every year, hundreds of animals are handed into the Wellington SPCA and other shelters across the country. Only some of these animals are returned to their original owners, or adopted into new families. The rest of them are put to death because no one wants them.

This terrible waste can be easily stopped by reducing the number of kittens and puppies being born.

And the best way you can help is to desex your pets.

Desexing is the surgical operation on pets to prevent them breeding. Female animals are speyed, which involves the removal of the ovaries and uterus. Males are neutered by the surgical removal of the testicles. These operations are carried out under anaesthesia in the sterile surgery at the vet clinic.

A lot of myths surround desexing but they are not at all true. Let’s look at the more common ones:

1. "My bitch will become fat and lazy if I spey her."
- False.

If you provide the same exercise and diet after surgery that you did before surgery, her weight and activity will not change except as a normal function of ageing. Bitches that become lazy after speying do so because of your expectations: you take her out less because you think she's lazier, and so around and around it goes. Remember, too, that the age at which many bitches are commonly speyed (6-8 months) is also the age at which they begin to settle down from puppyhood into adulthood.

Studies done on early neutering (at 8-12 weeks) show that such puppies remain the same behaviourally with their unneutered counterparts. If anything, they are often more active than their unneutered counterparts.

2. "I want her to have one litter before speying because that will improve her personality."
- False.

Scientific studies show no permanent changes occur as a result of pregnancy. Behavioural changes that do occur are a result of hormonal levels and lactation and are strictly temporary. If your behaviour toward her does not change from before her pregnancy, her behaviour will not change either. Females speyed before their first heat are typically healthier. Many veterinarians now sterilise dogs and cats as young as eight weeks of age. Check with your vet about the appropriate time for these procedures

3. "But my pet is a purebred."
– So what.

So are a lot of the pets brought to SPCA's around the country. There are just too many dogs and cats—mixed breed and pedigree.

4. "I want my dog to be protective."
– False.

Speying or neutering does not affect a dog's natural instinct to protect home and family. A dog's personality is formed more by the genetics of its parents and environment that trains it than by sex hormones.

5. "I don't want my male dog or cat to feel like less of a male."
– False.

Pets don't have any concept of sexual identity or ego. Neutering will not change a pet's basic personality. Your pet doesn't suffer any kind of emotional reaction or identity crisis when neutered.

6. "It's too expensive to have my pet speyed or neutered."
– False.

The cost of speying or neutering depends on the sex, size, and age of the pet, your vet’s fees, and a number of other variables. But whatever the actual price, spey or neuter surgery is a one-time cost—a relatively small cost when compared to all the benefits. It's a bargain compared to the cost of having a litter and ensuring the health of the mother and litter; two months of pregnancy and another two months until the litter is weaned can add up to significant veterinary bills and food costs if complications develop.

Most importantly, it's a very small price to pay for the health of your pet and the prevention of the births of more unwanted pets.

7. "I'll find good homes for all the puppies and kittens."
– Very difficult.

You may find homes for all of your pet's litter. But each home you find means one less home for the dogs and cats in SPCA's who need good homes. Also, in less than one year’s time, each of your pet's offspring may have his or her own litter, adding even more animals to the population. The problem of pet overpopulation is created and continued one litter at a time.

No one likes to think about healthy, beautiful kittens and puppies, cats and dogs, loosing their lives because no one wants them.

Please help to prevent unwanted litters.

Please get your pet desexed.

Wellington SPCA provides a low cost desexing clinic for those in need. Please call for more details. Phone 389 8044.