Everything You Should Know for Spay/Neuter Awareness Month
February is Spay/Neuter Awareness Month, and our veterinarians at Desert Paws Mobile Veterinary Care like to take this opportunity to educate pet owners and the community about the importance of spaying and neutering pets.
What Is Spay/Neuter Surgery?
Spay surgery and neuter surgery are two surgical procedures intended to sterilize cats and dogs. Spay surgery removes a female pet’s uterus and ovaries, and neuter surgery removes a male pet’s testicles.
4 Benefits of Spaying or Neutering Your Pets
1. Cancer Prevention
Removing a pet’s reproductive organs prevents testicular, ovarian, and uterine cancers. It also reduces the risks of cancers associated with reproductions, such as breast cancer.
2. Lower Disease Risk
Sterilized pets come into contact with fewer animals throughout their lives. As a result, they’re exposed to fewer contagious diseases.
3. Improved Behavior
Sterilizing animals reduces and eliminates a variety of undesirable and unsafe behaviors including:
- Aggression
- Territory marking or spraying
- Wandering
- Howling and yowling
These behaviors are unpleasant and can even be dangerous for your pet and people, and they can all arise as a result of an intact pet’s instinct to reproduce.
4. Fewer Unwanted Litters
According to the ASPCA, about 6.5 million cats and dogs enter animal shelters each year in the United States alone. Every year, about 1.5 million companion animals living in shelters are euthanized.
Spaying or neutering your pets prevents them from producing unwanted litters of puppies and kittens. This reduces the number of homeless pets that roam around and spread disease, wind up crowding animal shelters, strain community resources, and often end up being euthanized.
Additionally, preventing unwanted litters saves lives by increasing the number of shelter pets that are adopted every year.
Is Spay/Neuter Surgery Safe?
Among veterinary professionals, it’s well-known that the health benefits of spay or neuter surgery far outweigh any potential risks. Although every surgical procedure involves some degree of risk, spay and neuter surgeries are very safe. They’re performed all the time and considered to be routine surgeries.
Prior to all surgeries, our veterinarians thoroughly examine our patients to make sure they’re healthy enough to undergo the procedure at hand.
On-Site Spay/Neuter Surgery in Tucson
If your puppy, kitten, or adult pet still needs to be spayed or neutered, we encourage you to schedule an appointment right away. With our mobile veterinary clinic, our skilled and experienced veterinarians are fully equipped to provide spay and neuter surgeries on-site at our surgical suite. To learn more or to schedule an appointment for your cat or dog, we welcome you to contact Desert Paws Mobile Veterinary Care today.
