The Importance of Desexing

Desexing has many important benefits to dogs and cats - it prevents the production of unwanted puppies and kittens and also prevents various serious diseases.

At SDVC, we advise desexing your pet between 3 and 6 months of age, depending on the breed and the weight of the animal.

Entire dogs and cats are more likely to roam, become involved in car accidents, display aggressive behaviour and fight with other animals.  Also, a desexed animal will require about 80% of the food of an entire animal - so it is important to decrease their daily food intake to prevent obesity.

Entire cats are more likely to fight - therefore are at higher risk of developing cat fight abscesses and contracting feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) which is spread through saliva.

Entire females have a greater chance of developing illnesses such as pyometra (infection of the uterus - an emergency!) as well as mammary, ovarian and uterine cancer. It is best to desex females before they ever come into season, to greatly reduce the chances of getting the aforemention diseases.

Entire males are more likely to become aggressive, develop testicular cancer, prostatic disease and perineal hernias. Again, the earlier the male is desexed, the lower the chances of developing these diseases.

Desexing your animal will help prevent offensive behaviours such as mounting, urine spraying (in males) and bloody vulval discharge when female dogs are on heat.

Lastly, desexing your pet reduces the number of unwanted animals that are euthanased in pounds and shelters every day.

If you are not planning to breed your pet, call the clinic on 3288 1574 and book in for a desexing appointment today!