Why should you have your dogs fixed?

Answer 1

Answer

There are many reasons to spay and neuter your pets and very few reasons not to.

Animal control centers put thousands of healthy, loving animals to death every day because the pet population is so great.

There are many health benefits, particularly decreased or eliminated risks of certain cancers and common infections.

Neutered pets don't have to overwhelming urge to roam in search of a mate. Intact dogs will do just about anything to get to a female dog in heat. They can smell her up to 7 miles away. They will dig under fences, hop over fences, knock people down to get past them, and run in front of cars or get lost in the process.

Spayed and neutered cats don't spray, or their spraying is greatly decreased and much less smelly.

Intact female cats cry loudly when they are in heat (and rub up against things) because they are cramping severely. Basically only sex can cure that cramping. They will also slip outside if at all possible or males will try to slip in so they can mate. Their crying is almost constant (because they are in pain) and it attracts neighboring male cats which spray smelly urine on plants, fences, walls, etc. Your home will stink and the yowling can become unbearable.

Neutered males are much less aggressive, especially toward other males of their species. They are still perfectly loyal and capable of hunting and fighting; it's just that their desire to win a mate isn't driving them. They can focus on other things.

Female dogs are at high risk of contracting uterine infections as they get older. It is called pyometra, and these infections can be life-threatening. This is eliminated by spaying, as is uterine cancer and ovarian cancer. Breast cancer is almost completely avoided if a pet (cat/dog) is spayed before it's first heat. Males also are at reduced risk for Breast cancer when they are neutered. Breast and other cancers are fed by hormones which are eliminated when the animals are spayed and neutered. Even if they have breast cancer, the chances of survival are increased because the hormones that cause the cancer to spread are eliminated.

Neutered males suffer fewer prostrate problems than intact males. Testosterone makes the prostrate grow as males age, and neutering removes the testicles which produce testosterone, so the prostrate stops growing. Enlarged prostrates can obstruct the urinary tract, causing infections which can become life-threatening or preventing the bladder from passing urine.

Most dog bites, stray dogs, and dogs that cause traffic accidents are intact male dogs searching for a mate.

There are SO many websites dedicated to addressing this very issue because it is so important for so many reasons! There are only two legitimate reasons to consider not spaying/neutering an animal. The first is if the animal has a health issue that would greatly increase the risk of surgery. The other, which is controversial, is that the animal is such an ideal specimin in perfect health that breeding it would improve the breed. Still, shelters and rescues are full of purebred dogs because the number is greater than the desire.

Answer 2

Spaying and neutering removes all possibility of accidental pregnancy, but there are several other benefits as well.

Spayed females do not get grumpy and air-headed twice a year when they are in season. They do not leave smelly bloody droplets all over the house. They don't need "panties". They don't attract stray dogs to beat your door down. They don't have to be segregated from other dogs. There are important health benefits as well. Ovarian and uterine cancers are impossible in the spayed female and the risk of breast cancer is significantly reduced.

Neutered males do not become idiots every time a bitch in season is in the neighborhood. They are less likely to get into fights. They are less likely to wander or run off. Testicular cancer and prostate problems are impossible in the neutered dog.

Additionally, statistics clearly show that spayed and neutered dogs are much less likely to bite inappropriately (ie to bite friends or family members).

Answer 3

I'm an animal rescue volunteer. It wouldn't be necessary for me or anyone else to do this if it weren't for irresponsible people (and this INCLUDES BREEDERS) who don't spay/neuter their animals. MILLIONS of animals die in shelters every year because people allow their animals to reproduce. Not spaying/neutering amounts to unspeakable cruelty. Here's what one shelter manager wrote about what happens:

"I think our society needs a huge "Wake-up" call.

As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all...a view from the inside if you will.

First off, all of you people who have ever surrendered a pet to a shelter or humane society should be made to work in the "back" of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would stop flagging the ads on Craigslist and help these animals find homes. That puppy you just bought will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little puppy anymore. Just so you know there's a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it's dumped at? Purebred or not! About 25% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays", that come into a shelter are purebred dogs.

The most common excuses: "We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat)." Really? Where are you moving too that doesn't allow pets? Or they say, "The dog got bigger than we thought it would". How big did you think a German Shepherd would get? "We don't have time for her". Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! "She's tearing up our yard". How about making her a part of your family? They always tell me, "We just don't want to have to stress about finding a place for her. We know she'll get adopted, she's a good dog".

Odds are your pet won't get adopted & how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off. Sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn't full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don't, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose.

If your dog is big, black or any of the "Bully" breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just don't get adopted. It doesn't matter how 'sweet' or 'well behaved' they are.

If your dog doesn't get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn't full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed it may get a stay of execution, but not for long. Most dogs get very kennel protective after about a week, and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles, chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because the shelter gets paid a fee to euthanize each animal, and making money is better than spending money to take this animal to the vet.

Here's a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put-down".

First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk happy, wagging their tails. Until they get to "The Room", every one of them freaks out and puts on the brakes when we get to the door. It must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, it's strange, but it happens with every one of them.

Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 shelter workers depending on the size and how freaked out they are.

Then a shelter worker who we call a euthanasia tech (not a vet) find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the "pink stuff".

Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerk. I've seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood and been deafened by the yelps and screams.

They all don't just "go to sleep", sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves.

You see shelters are trying to make money to pay employee pay checks and don't forget the board of directors needs to be paid too, so we don't spend our funds to tranquilize the animal before injecting them with the lethal drug, we just put the burning lethal drug in the vein and let them suffer until dead. If it were not a "making money issue" and we had to have a licensed vet do this procedure, the animal would be sedated or tranquilized and then euthanized, but to do this procedure correctly would cost more money so we do not follow what is right for the animal, we just follow what is the fastest way we can make a dollar.

Shelters do not have to have a vet perform their euthanasia's so even if it takes our employee 50 pokes with a needle and 3 hours to get the vein that is what we do. Making money is the issue here not loosing money.

When it all ends, your pet's corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed, waiting to be picked up like garbage.

What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? Or used for the schools to dissect and experiment on? You'll never know and it probably won't even cross your mind. It was just an animal and you can always buy another one, right?

I hope that those of you who still have a beating heart and have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head, I deal with this everyday.

I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and start educating the public.

Do research, do your homework, and know exactly what you are getting into before getting a pet.

These shelters and humane societies exist because people just do not care about animals anymore. Animals were not intended to be disposable but somehow that is what they are these days.

Animal shelters are an easy way out when you get tired of your dog (or cat), and breeders are the ones blamed for this. Animal shelters and rescue organizations are making a hefty profit by keeping this misconception going.

Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters."

If this doesn't convince you, then you are impervious to both logic and compassion.

Answer 4

Male cats and dogs are usually fixed, or neutered, in order to prevent unneeded pregnancies to deal with overpopulation and avoid extra animals who could be abandoned, or sent to overcrowded shelters.

Answer 5

It is actually very important because if you do not spay a female dog then they may live a shorter life than if spayed and with all the puppies how would you take care of them? With males there is nothing like that but I have 2 dogs a male and female the female has not been spayed but the male has been neutered and he still humps the girl. So the male could impregnate another persons dog and make you keep the puppies. (yes I am worried about the girl).

Answer

Three quarters (75%) of shelter animals end up getting euthanized (killed). There are so many abandoned and unwanted animals in the world. Not spaying/neutering your pets just makes the problem worse, by creating more unwanted puppies and kittens. Dogs and cats can get pregnant at a very young age (female cats can get pregnant at 4 months old, and it's probably similar for female dogs), so don't wait. Cats and dogs can be spayed/neutered at as young as 8 weeks of age.

A lot of people think that, since their pets are indoor pets, they don't need to get them spayed/neutered. But a pet only needs to get out once to make 8 puppies/kittens. Even if you are able to find homes for all the puppies and kittens your pet has, all those people who adopted the puppies/kittens might have gotten their pets at a shelter instead. In effect, your pets' puppies and kittens will be taking up homes that could have been occupied by adopted shelter animals.

And, as the above answer states, cats and dogs live longer, healthier lives when they are spayed/neutered (see the Related Question below for more information about the health benefits of spaying/neutering).

Some people decide to let their pets breed because they want their children to experience the miracle of birth firsthand. But all they are really teaching their children is that animals are disposable objects that can be created and destroyed at whim.

Answer 6

to keep her from having puppies

Dogs are spayed to stop them from going into heat and/or having puppies.

In the longer run, spaying also keeps the dog healthier by removind/reducing the risk of several hormone-related diseases and cancers.

Spay is for the female. Neuter is the male. You do it so the dog will not have puppies.

* A spay's technical term is: ovario-hysterectomy. It means that you are cutting out the ovaries and the uterus in the bitch. It is considered a major surgery because the animal is under anesthetic and cutting into the abdominal cavity requires lengthy recovery times - (even though the incision is very small).

Answer 7

So they dont babys