Did you know? The average lifespan of cats and dogs is about 12 years old. According to expert statistics, a female dog and her offspring can produce a total of 67,000 puppies in 6 years; a female cat and Her descendants can produce 420,000 kittens in 7 years! What an amazing reproduction rate! So pet sterilization has begun to rise among pets, and it is also the main reason for neutering pets. Of course, there are other reasons. , so what are the reasons for neutering pets?

Tibetan Hound

Four reasons to neuter your pet

1. You can make your quality of life better: too many animals make your life quality-less. No one can keep a large group of pets and still treat them consistently.

2. Eliminate some troubles caused to yourself or others due to animals in heat: for example, female cats cry when they are in heat, and female dogs in heat attract many amorous male dogs to defecate everywhere, fight and cause trouble... which is very annoying.

3. There are already too many unwanted pets. All we can do is not to let the number increase:

Some people say that there are already many cats and dogs, and I am the only one who needs them. However, thousands of cats and dogs are born every year. If they cannot find suitable owners, they may eventually become stray animals. Who is to blame for the serious problem of stray animals today? If everyone takes a responsible attitude and does not let their pets breed, the fate of existing animals will be different. Love them, care for them, and please don't give your pet the chance to give birth to an animal you didn't want it to be born with.

4. Sterilization is good for animals: Sterilization can prevent animals from creating various problems due to sexual frustration. Owners will not dislike their pets because of those problems, and then have the idea of ​​abandoning them. Therefore, sterilization is definitely good for animals. OK In addition, surgery can also prevent the occurrence of certain diseases, such as: pyometra, diseases caused by ovarian cysts, sexually transmitted diseases, prostate enlargement and other problems. Surgery before one year old can also prevent the occurrence of breast tumors. Sex hormones can cause anxiety in animals, and sexual frustration is a common psychological maladaptive condition, including consequences such as biting, damaging furniture, or bad temper. Neutering can help animals overcome these problems. Neutering certainly has more advantages than disadvantages for animals.

General animal owners’ excuses for opposing sterilization

1. Think that your pet is very well-behaved or has a good pedigree, and you want it to preserve its good pedigree - in fact, animals that are valued by their owners and pampered in every possible way, regardless of their pedigree, are kind and considerate children. On the contrary, if the offspring of a famous champion family are not well cared for, they will also breed rebellious people who are disliked by everyone. What's more, genius parents can also give birth to idiot sons, and genetic inheritance may not always be as expected.

2. Male dogs will not give birth to puppies, so there is no need for sterilization - the trouble caused by male hormones will not be less than the trouble of childbirth. Male dogs will continue to look for someone to mate with and problems will arise. For example, they get jealous and fight with other male dogs, they are prone to car accidents or injuries when staying on the road, they attack other weak animals when they are emotionally unstable, etc. If you keep an impulsive male dog in the house, he may destroy furniture or bite people. In addition, barking or losing his temper are common symptoms of sexual frustration. Sexual urges can turn a cute dog into a nasty one.

3. I think it is enough to take good care of the pet when it is in heat, and there is no need to sterilize it - a female dog will go into heat twice a year after becoming sexually mature, and each time lasts for about 3 weeks. If not sterilized, this heat phenomenon will last for about 10 years. Not only are female dogs dirtying the environment when they are in heat, but there are often groups of male dogs outside the door, and they can get pregnant if they accidentally sneak out. A wise saying passed down from word of mouth by friends who care about animals is, "Finding a suitable adoptive family for a puppy is more difficult than finding a parking space on the streets of Taipei." To avoid the birth of unnecessary little lives, surgery is safer. Leaving aside the problem of pregnancy, female dogs have various strange phenomena of false pregnancy after menstruation, and problems of pyometra and breast tumors in old age. These problems are all problems that can be completely avoided after birth control surgery.

4. Think sterilization is against nature - Yes. But keeping them as pets is just as unnatural. For example: teaching a dog to sit down, telling a cat to stay at home and not allowed to go out, or artificially breeding special breeds, etc. These are also unnatural things.

5. Want to make money by breeding puppies - It costs a lot to raise pets, such as breeding fees, medical expenses for dystocia, etc. In addition, puppies are difficult to care for and may die young. Even if they have gone through a lot of hard work to raise them until they are big enough to be sold for money, most people don’t have the channels to raise them until they can no longer be sold. This is the reason why many livestock owners have too many pets. Unless you are engaged in breeding, I advise you not to use your brain to make money from small animals. Generally, you will lose more than you make.

6. Believe that sterilization will make animals fat - it is not the sterilization surgery that makes animals obese. The main cause of obesity is overfeeding and lack of exercise by livestock owners. However, neutered animals are generally lazy to move around. It is recommended to feed them less food than before and take them for more exercise. For example, guide dogs must be neutered during formal training, but none have ever been overweight.

7. Worry about big changes in temperament after sterilization - female animals will not change at all, while male animals will have some good changes, such as becoming docile.

8. Worry about the dangers of the anesthesia process or postoperative infection - this is a routine minor surgery, performed by doctors with professional surgical training and under complete anesthesia. The animals will not feel pain and the wounds will not be large. The animal will fully recover in 2-3 days and the damage will not be serious.

9. Some people think that female animals should be allowed to have childrenSecond, it's better for animals - just nonsense. There is no reasonable reason why it should be better for animals to have one child. Besides, pregnancy and childbirth involve unnecessary risks, so why is it better to have one child?

10. The pet is pregnant and thinks the operation is inhumane or unsafe - whether sterilization during pregnancy is humane or not is the same as whether abortion is humane or not. It all depends on people's ideas and there is no final conclusion. Some veterinarians are also reluctant to perform this surgery. But I personally think that rather than leaving the animals unable to be taken care of after birth and letting these little animals become a neglected group or possibly become stray animals, it is better to choose surgery which is more humane. This kind of surgery only requires the doctor to be very careful when tying blood vessels to prevent bleeding. It is not particularly unsafe, so there is no need to panic.

11. There are some animal conditions that owners think are not suitable for surgery, such as those that are too young, too old, too fat, frail, or in heat. Current medical research believes that early neutering of dogs does not cause hormonal imbalances, affect bone development, or easily Formation of skin disease, therefore youth is not a reason for inoperability. Older, frail or obese animals require special attention during anesthesia, but surgery is not impossible. Animals in heat are more likely to bleed, but the ovarian ligaments are loose and the operation is relatively easy, so there is no saying that surgery cannot be performed.

12. Some people think that male animals will lose their virility after sterilization, dogs will no longer guard the door, and cats will no longer hunt mice. This is nonsense. These qualities of animals are innate and are used by people. Male dogs have their territorial nature, so they will guard the door; cats regard mice as prey, so they will hunt mice. It has nothing to do with sterilization or not. Many working dogs in Europe and the United States have been neutered, which does not affect their functions.

Common diseases of unneutered animals:

1. Pyometra: It mostly occurs in old dogs over 7 years old, and the incidence rate in unneutered old female dogs is quite high. When this disease first occurs, there are often only symptoms of frequent thirst and frequent urination. If it is not an open type with a large amount of secretions, the owner will not pay much attention. If it is delayed for a long time, the body tissues will be damaged due to the absorption of bacterial endotoxins, and in severe cases, it may lead to kidney failure, which cannot be treated. Atretic pyometra that cannot drain out will cause peritonitis when the uterus ruptures due to collision or excess pus, which can quickly lead to death. In addition, the risk of anesthesia for old and sick dogs is high, and the cost of surgery and postoperative care is much higher than that of normal sterilization. Therefore, animals that are not intended to be bred are best sterilized as soon as possible.

2. Endometritis: After estrus, due to hormonal factors, the uterus is prone to infection. A small amount of secretion can be seen clinically, which can be controlled with medication. However, animals with this type of system can easily become cases of pyometra infection. Surgical removal is a once and for all solution. Method.

3. Breast tumor: a common disease in unneutered elderly animals, and more than 50% of dogs are malignant tumors. Once it occurs, the chance of recurrence after removal is quite high. According to the textAccording to reports, the cause of this disease is related to hormones, and animals sterilized before one year old have almost no chance of it.

4. Ovarian cysts: Animals will have persistent estrus, and some animals will have vaginal hyperplasia. Surgery to remove the ovaries can solve the problem.

5. Sexually transmitted diseases: Most are infected through mating. Sexual organ infection caused by mating, oral infection caused by licking diseased tissue, skin infection caused by wound contact, nasal infection caused by inhalation of tissue, and even brought into the abdominal cavity by surgical contamination... The animals have a bloody stench and are extremely uncomfortable.

6. Prostatic enlargement: A common disease in elderly male dogs, manifested by abdominal pain, difficulty urinating, and even hematuria. The treatment is to sterilize to block male hormones and allow the glands to shrink naturally. Prevent the occurrence of this disease and eliminate the possibility of prostate tumors.

7. False pregnancy: Some female dogs will lactate and make nests after going into estrus, and they seem to be pregnant and about to give birth. This is a pathological reaction of hormonal abnormalities. If it happens frequently, only sterilization can prevent it.

8. Testicular tumors: When unneutered male animals with cryptorchidism get older, the testicles that have not dropped to the testicle often turn into tumor tissue, and cryptorchidism itself is hereditary, so it is recommended to sterilize such animals. .

Sterilization methods and precautions

1. Male animals: removing the testicles is called castration surgery

2. Female animals: Complete removal of the uterus and ovaries (OHE)

3. Appropriate time for sterilization: But as long as the immunity is complete and the body is fine, the operation can be performed.

4. If you have already decided, please contact a reliable animal hospital in advance;

5. Arrange a time to perform the surgery on your pet when your work is not stressful and you have time to take care of it after the operation;

6. Fasting of food and water for 6-8 hours before surgery is required to avoid foreign matter choking into the respiratory tract during or after vomiting;

7. Don’t be eager to let him eat after surgery. Gastrointestinal motility is slow after anesthesia, and symptoms of gastroenteritis may occur if he is eager to eat;

8. After surgery, you should limit excessively strenuous exercise, climbing stairs, and overeating. Do not take a bath until the wound is completely healed (which takes about 10-14 days).

9. During the wound healing process, if you find blood oozing out of the wound, it may be that the wound has collapsed and you should go to the hospital for follow-up consultation.