Do you have a pet dog at home that has so many offspring at this time? Or does your pet dog often go out of the house during the mating season? It sometimes does not return home for days because of that. Due to the hassle and worry of taking care of your dog and its abundant offspring or confusing behavior when mating, you often look for solutions to control birth and behavior. One of the preferred solutions for animal lovers now, they tend to choose to neuter their pets. The main reason some people do neutering to their pet dog in order to control the population of these pets.
The word ‘neutering’ has a definition as a treatment to eliminate the function of the genital organs to multiply. The term of neutering means general. This term can be used in male and female animals. However, in its use, neuter refers to male animals. People know it as castration. Castration is a procedure for taking testicles of male animals so that they cannot fertilize female animals. A spaying term refers to female animals. This action is a procedure to separate the ovary and uterus of the female animal so that it is unable to reproduce again.
However, have you understood the side effects of neutering your pet dog? It is strongly recommended that you need to consider it carefully before taking your dog to neuter. For those of you who have neutered your dog, don’t worry, this article will provide information that you should know in order to pay more attention to the effects after the procedure. For you who have not done it at all, it can help you to make a decision whether or not to do it. 5 side effects of neutering your pet dog (important to know!) provide you valuable information before deciding to neuter your pet dog. Here are they:
1. Changes in Hormone Metabolism
Your dog will experience changes in hormone metabolism after the neutering surgery. Dogs will have a lower metabolic rate than before. They will need approximately 25% fewer calories to maintain a healthy weight. Dogs will not become fat just because they have been neutered. The fact is, most animal owners tend to feed dogs with the same or more normal food calories after surgery. By not taking into account the metabolic rate and number of food calories, it is likely that your dog will become fat. The solution to these side effects is the need to pay attention to your dog’s diet and take him to exercise more often. One of the benefits of this side effect is that you can save money in a long time for feeding the dog. This is because a neutered dog will be less likely to be fed than normal dogs.
2. Behavioral Effects
A study by Paul McGreevy’s team from the Sydney School of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney focused on the effects of neutering on male dogs. The research team conducted a survey in the form of a questionnaire that found various types of neutered dogs behavior. There are four 36 negative behaviors in neutered male dogs. The most serious effects of neutering dogs are they show aggression to strangers or other animals approach or pass their owner house. In addition, neutered dogs had a lot of fear behaviors, such as responses to loud noises; when exposed to unfamiliar situations or objects; when barked at by others or unfamiliar dogs. The younger the dog is neutered, the greater the effect of those fear. Another problem found in neutered dogs is to eat their own feces or other animals, stealing food, and even barking persistently when excited.
3.Loss of Sex Hormone Production
Another side effect of neutering is the loss of sex hormone production. The loss of estrogen (especially at an early age under 8 weeks) can lead to the development of characteristics of dogs that is not yet emotionally mature. How did this happen? For example, the female dog’s ovaries usually produce progesterone and estrogen which develop the dog’s body characteristics, such as an increase in maturity or emotional development and sex drive. If the ovary is removed, this female dog will retain a lot of the playfulness and curiosity of its puppy-hood. It can be a serious issue when the neutered dog is meeting other adult dogs. A neutered dog with overly-playful puppy characteristics pouncing up to this adult dog will likely to be misread by that dog and bitten.
4. Causes Urinary Incontinence
In addition to playing an important role in the development and maturation of characteristics of dogs, estrogen also plays an important role in the development and maturation of the bladder. Neutering at an early age is at risk of making a weak bladder so that it is prone to urinary incontinence. A neutered dog that experiences this effect will unconsciously remove urine. This can be a problem for dogs and their owners. If your dog usually stays in your house, probably it can take pee automatically at the carpet, bed or sofa. This problems occurs usually for females dogs. For those neutered dog early can be controlled by daily medications.
5. Long Term health risks
In the fact, early neutering can lead to both positive and bad health effects on dogs. There was study such as those carried out by Clare Palmer of Texas A & M University stating that recent reviews suggest that the neutering effect on dogs has negative health effects compared to their positive effects. Laura J. Sanborn found some findings in her study which enrolled 9 health conditions brought on by neutering, such as Increased risk for osteosarcoma (bone cancer) when neutered before 1 year of age, Increased risk for cardiac hemangiosarcoma, Increased risk for hypothyroidism, Increased risk for progressive geriatric cognitive impairment, Increased risk for obesity, Increased risk for prostate cancer, Increased risk for urinary tract cancers, Increased risk for orthopedic disorders, Increased risk for adverse reactions to vaccinations.
The initial purpose of neutering dogs is to reduce the number of unwanted dogs. Neutering itself is simply an alternative choice. You need to set the goal of neutering your dog and how good it is to you and your dog. Even, there is no easy answer to the decision. There are the risks of neutering, however, the overpopulation of dogs also can be serious problems. If you decide to neuter your dog, do more intensive research in this matter. At least this article will give you 5 side effects of neutering your pet dog which is important to know.