VETERINARY SERVICES
Pet Desexing
For a Happier and Healthier Pet
Enfield Veterinary Hospital have performed thousands of desexing procedures over many decades. Together we have almost 100 years of veterinary experience.
Desexing or neutering involves removing part of a pet’s reproductive system so that they can’t reproduce. Usually this procedure is performed on dogs and cats, but other animals like rabbits and ferrets can also be desexed. In female animals it is called a “spey” and in males it is referred to as “castration”.
We recommend that all dogs, cats and rabbits are desexed as part of their routine health and wellbeing. Desexings can be done on any weekday, however we do require a booking usually around a week in advance. Please call the hospital on 9747-3999 to arrange the appointment, or if you would like to discuss anything further. Please see below for more information about the benefits.
Advantages of Desexing Your Pet:
- A far happier, healthier and content family pet
- No unwanted puppies or kittens adding to the already existing feral population
- Reduced risk of prostate disease
- No chance of testicular, ovarian or uterine cancer or disease
- A pet less likely to roam in search of a mate (with a good chance of getting into fights, killing our wildlife, getting stolen or getting hit by a car)
- A pet less likely to annoy the neighbours and/or their pets due to unacceptable behaviours triggered by circulating hormones or due to the frustration of being confined
- Less chance of territorial behaviours such as marking territory and aggression.
- Reduced NSW lifetime registration fee
Common Questions About Desexing:
Desexing does not change your pet’s personality at all. If anything, your pet will be easier to handle and train, as it will be healthier, happier and more focused on you and your family. You will not be competing with hormones when training your pet to behave in an acceptable manner.
Weight gain in your pet is caused by it eating too much food for the amount of energy it is using. If an animal is putting on weight, decrease the amount of food and increase the amount of exercise. Ideally you should be able to feel the ribs with slight pressure, but not see the ribs. Feel free to ask a nurse to calculate your pets daily energy and feeding requirements.
Male and female dogs are equally good guard dogs. The tendency to protect the owner’s property is not related to the sex of the dog, so desexing makes no difference. Many professional guard dog trainers desex their dogs so they are less distracted by other dogs when working.
Allowing your female pet to have a litter will not improve her behaviour or level of maturity. She will not become happier or more content. Providing both mental (training, toys) and physical stimulation (exercise) along with some TLC will result in a happy contented pet.
The best time to desex your pet can be discussed with one of our vets. Recommendations will be based on the most up to date information available. We currently rely on the following publications from a study looking at 40,000 dogs in the USA. These studies consider both joint disease and cancer risks when advising on the best time for desexing:.
httpss://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2020.00388/full
httpss://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2020.00472/full
The operation is performed under a general anaesthetic. A sedative and pain relief injection is given to your pet shortly after admittance to our hospital. This ensures that by the time the anaesthetic is given your pet is quite relaxed and stress free. Pain relief is given prior to surgery as well as prior to going home, as well as a few days afterwards. This ensures your pet is comfortable and pain free during the recovery period.
At Enfield Veterinary Hospital, we believe best practice should be recommended when using anaesthesia. Intravenous fluids are used to support blood pressure whilst your pet is under anaesthesia. Blood tests can be run on the morning of the procedure to ensure your pet is healthy and well for his/her anaesthetic.
To ensure good rest and to enable us to assess your pet the day after her procedure we recommend for female dogs and cats to stay overnight with us following their surgery.
Most desexing procedures can be completed with sutures that are under the skin and dissolve on their own over a few weeks. Cats or dogs are require to go home with an Elizabethan collar to stop them licking at their sutures. Pets will not go home with a bandage covering their wounds. Sutures are removed at the 10-14 day mark by a nurse.
Young animals tend to recover from surgery remarkably quickly. The effects of the anaesthetic wear off by the following morning and most pets are back to being bright and happy.
You will need to limit heavy physical activity, eg, no off leash running, no laser pointer play, ball or toys throwing etc, for at least 7-10 days. Gentle lead walking is absolutely fine, just avoid dog parks and rough play!
We have access to the NSW Pet Registry and can update your pets desexing status on your behalf. Please note we cannot change this status if we did not desex your pet here at Enfield Vets, or if we did not sight a desexing certificate from another clinic.