Topics
covered on this page:
Introduction
Surgery
costs: are they too high?
Responsibility
Introduction:
The truth
is if what you are looking for is a full time companion and
pet, altering your dog is better on you and safer for them.
When
male dogs are neutered, they have less desire to roam, to
mark territory . They are also healthier pets: no testicles
means no testicular cancer, which is not uncommon among aging
intact male dogs.
Females
also tend to be better pets if they do not experience estrus
every six-to-nine months. Heat cycles bring hormonal changes
that can lead to personality changes {ever heard of PMS? Dogs
are NOT immune! : > ) }. Repeated heat cycles subject the
reproductive system to uterine and mammary cancers and uterine
infections. Some bitches experience false pregnancies that
can be a bother to deal with and uterine infections that can
be fatal.
Dogs
and bitches do not get fat simply as a result of sterilization
surgery. Like other mammals, they gain weight if they eat
too much and exercise too little or are genetically programmed
to be hefty. Weight gain that seems to follow spay or neuter
surgery is most likely a result of continuing to feed a high
energy diet to a dog that is reducing his need for energy
as he reaches his adult size. Excess energy in the food becomes
excess fat on the body
Spay
and neuter surgery to sterilize dogs and cats has been hailed
as an expedient method of pet population control. The idea,
obviously, is that sterilized pets can’t breed and produce
puppies that end up in animal shelters to be adopted or euthanized.
Surgery
costs: are they too high?
To build
a confinement pen costs about $100 and 6 hours of labor.
To keep
a female from breeding to the wrong dog, you must be conscientious
and responsible, writing down dates, keeping good records.
This again takes valuable time.
They
female and the male must be supplemented and fed a good diet
for their breed, this cost between around $60 a month. Then
for the 4 months she is pregnant and nursing you must give
her more food and vitamins, make sure she doesn’t get
fat (or expect complications), while nursing she will eat
about 2 x’s her normal amount so while pregnant you will
spend about $80 a month and while nursing $120 just to keep
your female in condition. Then at 10 days the puppies start
eating, they go from 1-2lbs at birth to 30-40lbs at 3 months
to 75-95lbs at 6 months, so at 4 weeks they can be eating
as much as a grown dog, at 8 weeks they may eat more than
an adult! So for each puppy you need to figure you will spend
about $50 each IF you sell them by 8 weeks.
Now your
total cost for your first litter if you have 8 live puppies,
not including any labor costs, or medical needs, will be about
$600, plus the cost of feeding your male and female.
Now if
you haven’t penned her for her first 2-3 seasons and
she bred to the wrong male. Or you have to try to raise pups
she was too young to raise herself. You will spend even more!
~ It is hard to place ~ in good homes, even for free mix bred
puppies.
So to
pay even $150 to Spay and neuter is very reasonable!
Responsibility:
Pet owners
who decide not to spay their bitches and neuter their dogs
certainly have the right to make that decision. However, they
bear a responsibility to prevent their intact pets from adding
to the population of pets that wind up in animal shelters.
So, if there is a pregnancy, owners must be prepared to
