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Life-saving op for dog savaged by pitbull terrier
ic Wales, United
Kingdom - 2 hours ago
A DOG called Scooby was left needing
life-saving surgery and 60 stitches after a savage attack by
another dog. Owner Peter Dillon, 72, and his daughter Lisa ...
Shoes to protect police dog paws
CBBC Newsround, UK -
6 hours ago
Police dogs in Germany are being trained to
wear shoes to protect their paws when they're on patrol. Officers
in Dusseldorf say their team of 20 German and ...
Spaying and neutering of dogs is a highly
emotive but very important subject, especially if you don’t
want to breed the dogs and however, these activities need to
be carried out by qualified veterinarians specialized in pet
care and management. Anesthesia is required along with due
surgical procedures for carrying out the spaying and
neutering. Everyone I have ever met has a view on whether it
should be carried out, whether its just to prevent breeding or
its to solve another problem entirely. I’m not about to take a
position either way , all I’m going to do here is outline
what’s involved in case you have no previous experience of it
and need to consider it for a new dog in your life.
One has to understand first the terms like spaying or
neutering. Both are related to the surgical approaches of
sterilization in case of females and males respectively.
However, the term neutering is also related to such procedures
in both sexes. Accidental pregnancies are avoided by such
procedures.
Spaying and neutering helps to prevent pyometra, which is a
common reproductive disorder-giving problem to the dog owners.
In male dogs, the neutering helps to prevent the occurrence of
prostate enlargement or cancer. Hence, these help to minimize
the incidences of reproductive disorders in dogs.
By spaying and neutering, the male dog’s desire to search for
a female dog in heat is highly minimized and hence, wandering
of male dog is reduced. Some animals will also become calmer
as an after effect of this procedure, so its often suggested
as a way of calming down a particularly excitable or
aggressive dog. You really must understand that there is
absolutely no guarantee that it will calm the animal down –
all it is guaranteed to do is avoid unwanted pregnancies – and
that’s all. The territorial behavior of such animals may also
be minimized but again there is no guarantee. My dog is as you
know, a rescued Briard. I had so much trouble with him at the
start (he was a year old when I got him) that I did have him
neutered – I hoped to calm him down a bit, but I never saw an
appreciable difference. It was all the training and time I
spent with him that finally calmed him down, but it took ages
so I know it really wasn’t the surgical procedure that
provided most of the desired result. I’m not trying to
convince you either way, I am simply stating my own
experience; and that also doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t try it
again with another dog because after all, they are all
different, just as we are.
Spaying of your dog before the occurrence of first heat is the
best one to avoid the incidence of breast cancer. If the dog
is spayed after the first heat, the chances of occurrence of
breast cancer in them is more and has been proved by research.
The younger the dog when they have the operation the fewer
complications you may get in the future, but Vets opinions
will vary.
Many veterinarians prefer the spaying and neutering of dogs
only at the age of five to six years. However, these can be
performed even at the age of three to five years.
Postoperative care needs to be followed meticulously to avoid
the occurrence of infections by microbial organisms.
Spaying of the Female dog
Spaying of the female dog is primarily undertaken to avoid
unwanted pregnancy. The spaying of the female is also thought
to reduces any aggressiveness, but again there is no
guarantee. By spaying, one can reduce the incidences of the
commonly encountered reproductive diseases like pyometra.
Spaying also helps to control the population in case of stray
animals and many nations are doing these operations by
removing the ovaries from the female animals. Experienced
veterinarians are required to do the spaying in case of female
dogs and the postoperative care is to be given more emphasis.
If proper control measures are not taken after the surgical
operation for the removal of ovary, then the infections may
start setting in and the animal may end up in development of
peritonitis and then toxemia sets in, causing unwanted health
problems.
This operation is to be taken seriously - death of the dog may
finally occur if the dog is not provided with effective and
proper veterinary care. A female dog that is spayed before the
occurrence of first heat will have almost a zero chance of
development of mammary cancer, which is more common in the
dogs that are not spayed.
A female dog generally comes to heat once in eight months or
so. During the heat there is bleeding from the vagina so this
is the sign you are looking for. At this time she must be
protected from male dogs if you do not want her to breed. In
case of aged dogs, the dog may often get signs of increased
thirst, anorexia, vomiting etc. that are so common with
pyometra.
Pyometra means the presence of pus in the uterus. Once
pyometra occurs, it involves many discomforts to the animal in
addition to the cost factor involved for the therapy also.
Such pyometra is totally prevented by spaying because in the
case of spaying, you are removing both ovaries and the uterus.
Surgical neutering of the male dog
Surgical neutering of the male dog is considered important by
some in helping the dog owners to control the male dog’s
aggressive behavior – we covered this earlier. Some Vets and
owners consider that it becomes possible to control the dog’s
restlessness, which might have caused so much agony for the
owner and hence, neutering corrects such activity to the
benefit of the dog owner. They no doubt have personal
experience of this, so as I say, its up to you whether you do
it but the result cannot be guaranteed. If you are going to
have it done then its best to do so when the dog is younger.
The surgical neutering of the male dog helps to prevent the
incidences of prostate gland diseases. Generally, in case of
male dogs, the prostate enlargement is more common. For dogs
which have been neutered the incidences of such prostate
enlargement are totally minimized.
Prostate cancer can sometimes lead to difficulties during
defecation. However, before you consider that it may be cancer
you need to make sure that the dog isn’t simply constipated
due to a poor diet, lacking in insufficient fiber and
roughage. If his constipation is due to cancer this is because
of the increased size of the prostate gland. Neutering results
in shrinkage of the prostate gland. In surgical neutering, the
incision is placed in front of the scrotum and the testicles
are removed in a surgical manner using aseptic techniques.
The wound need not be closed except the tying up of the cord
after cutting of the testicle. However, in two to three days
time, as a routine tissue reaction, some swelling may occur in
the scrotum. However, once you administer the broad spectrum
antibiotic that the Vet will provide, the condition will
disappear and good healing will result – if it doesn’t then
get back to the Vet asap. Septic shock may occur if the
surgical site gets infected with some microbial infections and
in these cases, the wound needs a thorough dressing procedure
and the patient needs to be continuously monitored in a
clinical environment.
Many animal rescue centers now perform surgical neutering when
stray male dogs are captured by them.
