What's the difference between spaying and neutering?
Spaying is an ovario-hysterectomy that we perform on female dogs, while neutering is castration that we perform on male dogs.
Dr. Noël Lucas
Blue Oasis Pet Hospital
How does dog spaying or neutering impact the health and well-being of the animal?
Spaying prevents your dog from ovarian and uterine cancer, as well as reducing the risk of mammary cancer. It also reduces the worries associated with having an estrous cycle in your house. On the other hand, neutering reduces the likelihood of male dogs running off, fighting each other, marking behavior, and increases the risk of testicular cancer and prostate disease as the dogs age.
How soon should I bring in my pet to see a veterinarian to get them spayed or neutered?
We usually recommend spaying or neutering your dog around the age of six to eight months. However, the appropriate age can vary depending on the breed of your dog.
What will my veterinarian need to know about my dog before spaying or neutering?
We need to know if your dog has had any recent illnesses, the type of preventions they're on, and if they're heartworm negative. We also need to know if they're up to date on their vaccines and if they have any underlying health issues. We might recommend pre-anesthetic blood work depending on the age and lifestyle of the dog.
How long is the recovery period and what should I be prepared to do at home for the recovery period?
The recovery period is typically around a week. We recommend keeping your pet relaxed and observing the surgical incision a couple of times a day. It's important to administer their pain management as needed and prevent them from licking their incision, as this could cause infection.
If you still have other questions and you'd like to reach out to us, you can call us directly at (615) 975-2583 , or you can email us at [email protected]. But please do reach out, and we'll get back to you as fast as we can. Don't forget to follow us on social media Facebook, Instagram
Dog Spay & Neuter - FAQs
Dr. Noël Lucas
Blue Oasis Pet Hospital
Does my dog have to be spayed or neutered?
No, dogs can go through their lives with their reproductive tracts intact. A spay is an ovario-hysterectomy, and a neutering is a castration. If your dogs are intended for breeding, then they can remain intact. However, we strongly recommend discussing with your veterinarian before deciding to breed your dog, as we need to consider potential genetic health issues. We can prevent a lot of health-related diseases by spaying and neutering your pet. Therefore, veterinarians usually recommend spaying and neutering, especially if they're intended to be a pet. This helps ensure that you have a safe and healthy pet.
My dog urinates all over the house. Will spaying or neutering help?
Possibly. Spaying in female dogs could help with marking behavior related to estrus, but it's often more behavioral. Males, especially intact ones, do a lot of marking behavior. If this behavior has persisted for a while, neutering might help, but it won't always eliminate the behavioral problem. The best way to prevent such issues is to have your pet spayed or neutered at an appropriate young age. If they're an older dog and have already developed this problem, spaying or neutering them is still recommended, but we may need to work with you to address the behavioral issue.
If you still have other questions and you'd like to reach out to us, you can call us directly at (615) 975-2583 , or you can email us at [email protected]. But please do reach out, and we'll get back to you as fast as we can. Don't forget to follow us on social media Facebook, Instagram
Dog Spay & Neuter - FAQs 2
Dr. Noël Lucas
Blue Oasis Pet Hospital
How are dog spay surgeries performed?
A dog spay is an ovary hysterectomy and it's done under general anesthesia. At our hospital, we invite you to check in your dog in the morning. We might ask you to administer some calming therapy at home so the dog is not so rambunctious when it comes in. We then sedate the dog, put in an IV catheter, and get it under general anesthesia. We then prep your dog aseptically, which means we surgically prep it, and do an intra-abdominal procedure. We go into the abdomen and remove the ovaries and the uterus down to close to the cervix. That's a spay.
How are dog neuter surgeries performed?
A dog neuter is a dog castration. We carry out the lead up to a neuter the same way as a spay - pre-medications, sedation, IV catheters, getting the dog under general anesthesia. We hook monitors up, put them on their backs, and then we surgically prep the penile testicular area. Most veterinarians make an incision just in front of the scrotum, push both of the testicles forward through that incision, and then remove them. We then close that incision up. That's a neuter.
Will the spay or neuter be painful for the dog?
A spay and a neuter is a surgical procedure. We have them under general anesthesia and give them perioperative pain control because it is a surgery. If we do our jobs really well, we premedicate the dog with pain medications to help alleviate pain. We use local nerve blocks and anti-inflammatories. By the time we get them through the procedure and into recovery, they should be comfortable, and we provide post-op pain medication to keep them comfortable at home.
Are there any complications to spay or neuter surgeries?
Complications with spaying and neutering are rare, but we do see them occasionally. The most common complication is a dog licking their surgical incision. We encourage pet owners to have a plan in place if your dog starts to lick their surgical incision. We recommend using an Elizabethan collar, a Kong collar, or a surgical garment to protect the incision. Other complications include infection, swelling of the abdominal area, draining fluid out of the incision, and in rare cases, the wound can open up. For male dogs, licking the surgical site and swelling or infection of the scrotum can occur.
How long on average does a dog's spay and neuter take?
The length of the procedure depends on the doctor and their experience level, but generally, from the time of check-in to going home, it's around six hours. The actual surgery itself may only take the surgeon anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes for a spay, or 10 to 20 minutes for a neuter. However, the time it takes for us to prepare your dog for surgery and for it to recover afterwards, makes up the majority of the time.
What are some of the great misconceptions of the spay and neuter process?
A common misconception is that you should wait to spay your dog until after it's had its first heat cycle. We don't recommend this as it can increase their risk of pyometra and breast cancer or mammary tumors. In male dogs, the longer we leave them intact, the more likely they are to develop behavioral issues, such as aggression or urine marking behaviors. Other misconceptions relate to the safety of general anesthesia. We are always here to discuss and alleviate any concerns you may have about the procedure.
If you still have other questions and you'd like to reach out to us, you can call us directly at (615) 975-2583 , or you can email us at [email protected]. But please do reach out, and we'll get back to you as fast as we can. Don't forget to follow us on social media Facebook, Instagram
Dog Spay & Neuter - FAQs 3
Dr. Noël Lucas
Blue Oasis Pet Hospital
Will my veterinarian give me instructions after a spay or neuter procedure?
Absolutely. We want to make sure that you know what we want you to do when you take your little dog home, so we're going to write it all down for you and we're going to give you written instructions. We're either going to hand them to you or we're going to digitally email them to you, ideally both.
How long is the recovery after a dog spay or neuter?
The average recovery period is about one week before we lift restrictions and allow your dog to go back to its normal activity.
Will my dog need pain medication after a spay or neuter procedure?
Yes, we send all of our post-operative spay and neuter puppies and dogs home with post-operative pain management. It is not optional, it is required and we send it home with you.
Will my dog gain weight after a spay or neuter?
This is not an uncommon question. The answer is sometimes. We often are spaying and neutering dogs when they're about six to eight months of age so they're going through that rapid puppy growth and then they're slowing their puppy growth down. We're still feeding them like they're a young puppy so there is a time where we're intervening during their growth and development. They're apt to gain a little bit more weight. Often it's very controllable, we really just are more likely to just have you be more mindful of their calories. There are dogs after we spay them that just want to become fat. Some of it is because their hormones have changed and now we've taken away testosterone and estrogen, but just because we spay and neuter them does not mean they're going to get fat. If they do happen to get a little over nutritioned then we simply need to partner with you and get them to lose some more weight.
Will my dog's personality change after being spayed or neutered?
No, your dog's personality will not change after they're spayed and neutered. If they're a little sweetheart and love to be loved on, they're going to be the same. If they are a little bit assertive and maybe have aggressive tendencies, then those aren't usually going to change either after they've been neutered because those are more behavioral concerns as opposed to just spaying and neutering.
Will my dog stop running away if I neuter it?
No, your dog will not stop running away because you neuter them. If your dog wants to run away and it's an intact male, it's running away because it's wanting to find other dogs or it's fun or might get a smell of an estrus female somewhere and that's why it's running away. If you neuter that dog, that dog still knows the taste of freedom and running wanting to run away is still going to be an issue. We would like to prevent your dog from even wanting to just apt to run away in the first place by getting them spayed and neutered at the appropriate age but I would never tell a client if I neuter your dog it's going to stop it from running away, that's absolutely not going to happen.
If you still have other questions and you'd like to reach out to us, you can call us directly at (615) 975-2583 , or you can email us at [email protected]. But please do reach out, and we'll get back to you as fast as we can. Don't forget to follow us on social media Facebook, Instagram