Spaying Bitches And Neutering Dogs – What Is The Process?

Spaying or neutering your pets before they reach the age where they are able to reproduce is part of being a responsible dog owner. In every breed early spaying or neutering will decrease the risk of virtually all types of reproductive system cancers and can also help prevent behavioral changes and aggression related to hormonal changes in both males and females.

Spaying for females and neutering for males is a simply surgery that is performed by a vet under either general anesthesia. Since both male and female procedures are different, each will be discussed separately. Spaying and neutering can be done any time after the puppies are 12 weeks old, although most vets prefer to wait until the puppy is six months or older to allow them to fully mature and develop. There is conflicted research about the necessity of this delay, however until the female comes into heat she will not breed anyway, which very rarely occurs before seven to eight months of age, even in small breeds. Larger breeds the female may not come into heat until closer to one year of age.

Neutering

The male dog is placed under anesthesia and secured to a surgical table. The area just in front of the scrotum and close to the midline of the belly is shaved and sterilized, then a small incision is made. The testicles are gently pushed forward until they protrude through the opening in the skin. The spermatic cord to each testicle is tied off and sutured to minimize bleeding. At this time the epididymus and surrounding small blood vessels are also tied off and sutured, then the testicles are removed on the outside of the sutures. This prevents almost all bleeding and, under sterile conditions, prevents almost all risk of infection. The sutures are checked for bleeding or seepage, then are gently inserted back through the incision into the scrotum.

Starting with the deep tissue the incision site is sutured in several layers, resulting in a very small, hard to see incision site. Typically most incisions in younger dogs will be only an inch or two at the very most unless there is some abnormality. Most dogs will recover completely in 8 to 10 days and just require confinement and low exercise for the first few days for the skin to fully heal.

Spaying 

Spaying is a bit more involved than neutering as both the uterus and the ovaries are removed through surgery. The female dog, like the male, is under general anesthesia for the process that starts by the vet shaving the lower mid abdominal region, sterilizing the skin and making an incision along the midline. The uterus is then located and brought out of the abdominal cavity along with the ovaries. The blood vessels from the body that connect to the ovaries are tied off and sutured, as are the blood vessels to the area of the uterus below the uterine horn. Once this is completed on both sides the uterus is surgically removed. The vet inspects all sutures for any bleeding or leaking, makes any additional sutures needed and places the remaining tissue back into the abdominal cavity. At this time the deep muscle layers are stitched together and so is the skin of the incision. Like males, females need to be kept inactive for about a week and then put on limited exercise to allow the incision time to heal completely.

Spaying and neutering, although involving surgery, are not considered high risk operations provided there is not another health condition present. Talk to your vet about spaying or neutering your pet as soon as possible, it is a surgery that is well worth the cost.