Neutered Surgery For Dogs

Neutering is a procedure that makes a male dog sterile so that it can not be the father of puppies. Perhaps you want to be responsible and keep your dog from fathering any puppies that may end up as strays or put down. That’s an important reason to get your dog neutered. But beyond that there are a lot of benefits of the operation.

Having your dog neutered is far more of a simple procedure than getting a female dog spayed. The dog is first put under general anesthesia, and an incision is cut in the front of the scrotum, and then the testicles are taken out through that incision. Then the testicles’ stalks are cut. After the removal stitches are sometimes added to the incision to promote healing.

What Are Some Benefits Of Neutered Surgery?

There are numerous benefits that go beyond not parenting unwanted puppies:

• Some diseases like testicular cancer and prostate diseases will be less likely to occur.

• His behaviour will calm down since there will be less testosterone in his body. This can reduce stress in the dog owner.

• He won’t mark his territory with urine as often, because neutured dogs have less reason to announce their presence.

• Lower testosterone levels can reduce or get rid of aggressive behaviour and roaming.

• If your dog is older, neutering can reduce the size of an enlarged prostate.

When Should I Get My Dog Neutered?

You can get your male dog neutered anytime after 8 weeks old. In the past many vets suggested that you wait until the dog hit puberty at around 8 weeks old, and some vets still recommend this.

Dogs that get neutered before reaching pubert tend to grow bigger than dogs neutered after the onset of puberty because testosterone’s effect on bone growth. Most dogs reach puberty at around 5 or 6 months old.

Some people think that they don’t have to have their dog neutered if his testicles don’t descend. This is false. Dogs without descending testicles generally have get tumors in the testicals than regular dogs.

Getting your dog ready for surgery

Prior to surgery, blood work is normally offered to check if your canine is healthy enough to undergo surgery, and that he doesn’t have any health problems that could influence what anesthesia should be used. Usually, young and healthy dogs don’t need this presurgical blood work, but it never hurts to have that information.

You should take the advice of your veterinary clinic over my advice, but generally speaking the dog shoud avoid eating for 8 hours or more before the surgery. This is because the anesthesia might cause nausea. Drinking water, however, is ok.

What Will Happen After The Surgery

• Your dog can usually go home the day of the operation.

• The canine may be a little nauseous and refuse to eat for a couple of days. There is no need to panic if this happens. He will eat when his body tells him to.

• Your dog will have a swollen scrotum for a few days after the procedure. Many dog owners see this and wrongly think that the dog still has his testicles and that there was some mistake. But really, that is just swelling. The swelling may be worsened by the dog licking the incision.

• If your pooch continues licking the stitches or pulling them out, you can use an Elizabethan collar (the big lamp shade-looking ones) around his neck to stop him.

• If stitches were used, they will have to be taken out after 7-10 days. The number of days depends on what kind of stiches were used.

• After the neutered surgery a puppy’s scrotum will become flat as he gets bigger. But adult dogs that get neutered will always retain the flap of skin that is the empty scrotum.

• A bit of light bruising can take place near the incision

What to Be Careful Of After the Surgery

If you notice some discharge coming from the incision, or if your dog seems to be in a lot of pain, get in touch with your vet. Dogs don’t usually need pain killers, but it sometimes happens.

Remember to use an Elizabethan collar to prevent licking of the incision and stitches if your dog continues to do so. The collar can cause some problems for mobility and cause some crashes into walls and furniture. But they are often a necessary evil.

One issue that never fails to strike up debate within the dog owners’ community is the issue of debarking surgery for dogs. Dog debarking surgery is a surgical procedure that drastically reduces the volume of a dog’s bark. It is commonly carried out on large and loud breeds of dogs, for example shetlands and collies. And dogs that bark non-stop tend to be the ones normally targeted by this procedure.

The operation involves putting the dog under with general anaesthesia and then cutting the tissue surrounding the dog’s vocal chords to reduce the dog’s ability to bark. The tissue is accessed either through the dog’s mouth or through an incision made on the neck.

Debarking surgery for dogs doesn’t completely get rid of the dog’s bark, but it will normally be replaced by a much quieter but somewhat disturbing wheezing sound when the dog attempts to bark. Some people call debarking “bark softening”, a euphemism for what many view as a gruesome procedure.

Experts and dog owners have very strong opinions of debarking. There are people who assert the necessity of debarking as a last resort for dogs who can’t stop barking, while others contend that debarking is unwarranted cruelty.

Those Who Are Tolerant of Debarking

People who tolerate debarking argue that it is acceptable because it is only used in extreme circumstances. Dog owners have already exhausted all other avenues of trying to reduce the dog’s barking, and the barking has become a true nuisance. They sometimes argue that after being debarked, the dog now has the freedom to bark without being scolded by its owners, improving the dog’s quality of life.

Another point people on this side of the debate make is that debarking can save dogs from being euthanized. Dogs that become a true nuisance for their owners and their communities might evenutally be abandoned or euthanized by the owners. Rather than getting rid of the dog, debarking can modify the dog’s unnacceptable behaviour and restore a positive role for the dog at hom.

Those Who Are Opposed to Debarking

People who are against debarking feel that it is cruel and inhumane. Since the dog can’t give his consent for the procedure, and indeed never asked to be a domesticated animal. To debilitate the dog’s body and one of its natural functions is a cruel punishment for doing what dogs are naturally meant to do: bark.

They also argue that debarking doesn’t address the underlying reasons for the dog’s barking. Maybe the dog is being left outside all day and is bored and lonely without any companionship. Perhaps you bought a large guard dog but your property is too small, so every 10 seconds the dog sees a passerby and barks in defence of your property. In such a case there is nothing wrong with the dog, only with the size of the yard. After being debarked, dogs usually continue to bark just as much as before, just at a lower value with a strange timbre. The owners have taken the easy way out without rectifying the real problem.

Those who oppose the surgery are also uneasy with subjecting the dog to the risk of a major operation under general anaesthetic. The minor benefits and lack of moral justification don’t permit the dog to put at such risk, according to the opponents of debarking.

Debarking surgery for dogs will probably always be the center of some debate amongst dog owners and vets. Though its benefits of convenience and the lessening of noise pollution and nuisance are easy to understand, it seems hard to morally justify a procedure that limits the dog’s natural ability to use its own voice, when the dog has done nothing wrong and is simply behaving like a dog. My position is quite firmly against the procedure, except perhaps with extenuating circumstances. But basically, I think people need to be educated about the kinds of dogs they are buying, what role they play (ie. guard dog, comfort dog, etc.), how much they tend to bark, and how suitable they will be for your home and property. If you live in an apartment or small property and you have a large loud dog that disturbs the neighbours, that shows the owner’s own misbehaviour rather than the dog’s.