Wondering about whether to have your pet spayed or neutered? Here is some information from that may help

Spaying

Removing the ovaries and uterus of a female pet.  This is a veterinary procedure that requires minimal hospitalization and offers lifelong health benefits.

• Your female pet will live a longer, healthier life.

Spaying helps prevent uterine infections and breast cancer, which is fatal in about 50 percent of dogs and 90 percent of cats. Spaying your pet before her first heat offers the best protection from these diseases.

• Your spayed female won’t go into heat.

While cycles can vary, female felines usually go into heat four to five days every three weeks during breeding season. In an effort to advertise for mates, they’ll yowl and urinate more frequently—sometimes all over the house!

Neutering

Removing the testicles of your male dog or cat—will vastly improve your pet’s behavior and keep him close to home. Neutering provides major health benefits for your male.

• Besides preventing unwanted litters, neutering your male companion prevents testicular cancer, if done before six months of age.

Your male dog won’t want to roam away from home. An intact male will do just about anything to find a mate! That includes digging his way under the fence and making like Houdini to escape from the house. And once he’s free to roam, he risks injury in traffic and fights with other males.

• Your neutered male will be much better behaved.

Neutered cats and dogs focus their attention on their human families. On the other hand, unneutered dogs and cats may mark their territory by spraying strong-smelling urine all over the house. Many aggression problems can be avoided by early neutering.

Other Benefits

• Spaying or neutering will NOT make your pet fat.

Don’t use that old excuse! Lack of exercise and overfeeding will cause your pet to pack on the extra pounds—not neutering. Your pet will remain fit and trim as long as you continue to provide exercise and monitor food intake.

• It is highly cost-effective.

The cost of your pet’s spay/neuter surgery is a lot less than the cost of having and caring for a litter. It also beats the cost of treatment when your unneutered tom escapes and gets into fights with the neighborhood stray!

• Spaying and neutering your pet is good for the community.
• Spaying and neutering helps fight pet overpopulation.

Every year, millions of cats and dogs of all ages and breeds are euthanized or suffer as strays. These high numbers are the result of unplanned litters that could have been prevented by spaying or neutering.  Spaying and neutering packs a powerful punch in reducing the number of animals on the streets.

Should you decide that spaying or neutering is the right decision for your pet, be assured that at Angel Ridge Veterinary Service, we take the same care with spaying and neutering as we do with all of our veterinary surgery. Your pet is in good, skilled, compassionate hands.