Desexing of cats and dogs

Desexing or neutering your pet is a surgical procedure that prevents them from being able to reproduce. In male pets it is commonly referred to as “castration”, and in female pets as “spaying”. This is the most frequent surgery performed by our vets. It is a day procedure and your pet is home by the evening of the surgery.

There are some considerations about what age we recommend desexing. We would like to take into consideration the breed and what age they will be mature and finished their bone growth. The most common age to desex your pet is from 6 months.

There are many benefits to desexing your pet.

 They include:

  • Preventing unwanted litters, which can be very costly, and may add to the already overwhelming number of stray animals that are put down each year
  • Prevention of testicular cancer and prostate disease in males, and it can help prevent pyometra (infection of the uterus) and mammary tumours (breast cancer) in females
  • Stopping the “heat” cycle in females 
  • Decreasing aggression towards humans and other animals, especially in males
  • Being less prone to wander, especially in males
  • Reduction of council registration fees

What to do before and after surgery

Before surgery:

  • Make a booking for your pet's operation, a day when you can be easily contacted and collect your pet early if it is too stressed. We generally need a minimum of  2 weeks to book these procedures.
  • If your dog is coming in for surgery, you can wash them the day before surgery as they are then unable to be washed for a minimum of 10 -14 days after the surgery.
  • You must fast your dog/cat from 10.00pm the night before, so no food after 10.00pm. They can have an evening meal as normal the day prior to surgery, but do not leave food out overnight.
  • If you only feed ONCE daily please ensure that your pet has two meals the day prior to the surgery.
  • Water should be freely available to your pet until 7am on the day of surgery.
  • YOUR DOG MUST BE TAKEN FOR A WALK BEFORE COMING INTO SURGERY TO ALLOW THEM TO EMPTY THEIR BOWELS.
  • For every surgical procedure, we always recommend offering blood tests to be performed prior to surgery. This allows us to check vital organ function, such as kidney and liver function.  
  • The vet will perform a thorough physical examination before administering an anaesthetic.
  • In most surgical cases, the pet will be placed on Intravenous fluid therapy for the procedure.
  • To ensure your pet is as comfortable as possible, all pets receive pain relief as part of the desexing procedure, and we will prescribe medication for you to administer at home for a few days after the procedure.

After Surgery:

  • Keeping your pet warm and quiet is also essential the night of the surgery. (Do not leave them to sleep outside)
  • Food and water should be offered on arrival home from surgery.
  • Allowing them the opportunity to go to the toilet quietly.
  • Ensure all post-surgical medications (if any) are administered as per the label instructions.
  • Check the incision daily for any signs of redness, swelling or discharge). Contact the vet immediately if any of these occur. 
  • Prevent your pet from licking or chewing the wound. This will introduce bacteria into the wound, and it could end up being infected.  We can provide special cone-shaped collars to help with this problem. A single chew can remove the careful stitching with disastrous effects.