Your pet’s reproductive hormones can actually do them more harm than good. The high production of testosterone and estrogen can often cause behavioral problems, infections, and even cancer. Alii Animal Hospital highly recommends spay/neuter surgery for your pet if you do not plan on breeding them. The recommended time for this surgery is prior to sexual maturity and before the first heat cycle for a female. With a safe, effective procedure, we can help your pet live their best life.
Why Spaying And Neutering Matters to The Greater Community
While the surgery has a lot of personal benefits for your pet (we’ll get to that in a second), the positive effects are far-reaching. Spaying and neutering reduce the number of unwanted litters. Many of those puppies and kittens would likely end up in shelters, become feral, or be euthanized due to shelter crowding. When you choose to spay or neuter your pet, you’re giving pets already in shelters a better chance at being adopted and helping to take a stand against the serious problem of pet overpopulation in Hawaii.
Benefits to Your Pet
As we mentioned, your pet will receive a wide range of benefits. Surgery reduces and even eliminates many undesirable behaviors as well as serious conditions including:
- Urine spraying (males)
- Mounting behavior (males)
- Heat cycles (females)
- Roaming (both)
- Aggression (males)
- Prostate disease(males)
- Testicular disease (males)
- Mammary gland tumors (females)
- Pyometra, a uterine infection (females)
- Ovarian, cervical, and uterine cancers (females)
Timing for Surgery
The timing of your pet’s surgery is important and varies based on their gender, breed, and health. While the general timeline is 6 months of age, that can fluctuate to a later or earlier surgery. When you welcome a new puppy or kitten into your home, make sure to make an appointment with us soon so we can assess their health and schedule a properly-timed surgery.
