Spaying and Neutering: What Actually Happens

Spaying and neutering are the most common operations in veterinary practice, and among the most misunderstood. These are the questions owners actually ask, answered plainly, including the ones that feel awkward to raise in a consulting room.

What the operation is

Spaying (females) removes the ovaries, and usually the womb, through a cut in the belly. It is major abdominal surgery under general anaesthetic, usually taking under an hour in an uncomplicated case.

Neutering (males) removes both testicles through a small cut. It is quicker, less invasive and has an easier recovery.

Both are done under full anaesthetic, with pain relief during and after. A good clinic monitors the animal throughout and sends it home with several days of pain relief.

What it prevents, beyond puppies and kittens

In females

• Pyometra, a pus-filled infection of the womb that is common in older unspayed females. It is life-threatening, and the treatment is emergency surgery on an already sick animal: riskier, and far more expensive, than a planned spay.
• Breast (mammary) tumours. The risk drops substantially when spaying is done early, and about half of these tumours in dogs are cancerous.
• The seasons: the bleeding, the confinement, and the male dogs that gather at the gate.

In males

• Testicular cancer, removed as a possibility entirely
• Prostate enlargement and its complications
• Roaming, which is how many dogs meet cars
• Some hormone-driven fighting and marking, though not all

The honest objections

"It will change his personality"

It changes hormone-driven behaviour: roaming, marking, mounting, some fighting between males. It does not change how affectionate, playful or confident a dog is. A dog that is anxious or badly trained before surgery will be the same afterwards, because those things were never hormonal.

"He will get fat"

A neutered dog needs less food. Weight gain follows when the feeding does not change to match. It is a feeding decision, not an inevitability.

"She should have one litter first"

There is no health benefit to this, and it removes much of the protection against breast tumours that early spaying gives. It is a widely repeated belief with nothing behind it.

"It is cruel" or "it is unnatural"

Reasonable to feel, and worth weighing against the alternative: repeated seasons, the risk of pyometra, unwanted litters that are hard to place, and the roaming that kills male dogs on roads. Very few owners who have nursed a dog through emergency pyometra still feel the operation was the cruel option.

"It is expensive"

It is a planned cost you can get a quote for. Emergency pyometra surgery on a sick animal, or a caesarean at 2am, is neither.

When to do it

The right age differs by species, breed and size. Cats are usually done young. Small and medium dogs are often done at around 6 months. Large and giant breeds, the Boerboels, Caucasians and German Shepherds common in Nigerian homes, may benefit from waiting until they are closer to fully grown, because sex hormones affect how their bones and joints finish growing.

Anyone giving you one age for every dog is oversimplifying. Ask your vet about your own dog, its breed and its size.

Recovery

• Home the same day in most routine cases
• Quiet for 10 to 14 days: no running, jumping or rough play. This is the part owners underestimate, and it is where most complications come from
• Keep the wound dry and stop the pet licking it. A cone collar for two weeks costs far less than repairing a wound the pet has opened
• Check the wound every day for swelling, discharge or gaps
• Give the pain relief as dispensed, all of it, not just until the pet seems comfortable

Call the clinic for a wound that is opening, bleeding, hot or discharging, for vomiting or refusing food after the first day, or for a pet that seems in pain despite the medicine.

Questions to ask before the day

• Who gives the anaesthetic, and how is the animal monitored during it?
• Is a blood test before the anaesthetic available, and is it advised for this animal?
• What pain relief comes home, and for how many days?
• What does the quoted price include, and what would be extra?
• What complications should bring me back, and who do I call at night?

Spaying and neutering are covered, within the surgery limit and after a waiting period, on the Cublings Plan for puppies and kittens under 12 months and on the Purrfect and Infinity plans, at any vet clinic in Nigeria. So the decision becomes about timing and your vet's advice rather than about the month you can afford it.