What are the effects of Spaying your pets?

LAYLA: What are the effects of Spaying your pets?
I understand WHY you should spay or neuter your pets, but what emotional changes does it bring if any?

We made the decision to get my 9 month old kitten spayed because she is having all sorts of problems when she’s in heat (it lasts for days, is frequent, etc.) — Originally I didn’t want to, but I figured I have to do it at this point.

Does it change their personality? Will it mellow her out or make her more agressive?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Abby
There are multiple reasons we recommend altering (spaying and neutering) pets. They basically fall into two categories, medical and behavioral. Most owners are familiar with the behavioral reasons.

Neutered males will:
– not roam as much
– not chase females in heat
– tend to be less aggressive
– be less likely to “hump” or masturbate on people and inanimate objects
– mark their territory less

Spayed females will:
– not roam as much
– not exhibit “nesting” behavior
– not have episodes of bleeding when they go through their heat cycles
– be less likely to “hump” or masturbate on people and inanimate objects

Not as many people are as familiar with the medical reasons that we are so adamant about altering pets.

Spayed females:
– Have a markedly reduced rate of breast cancer. The earlier you spay the females, the greater the chance of eliminating this completely.
– Cannot have a “pyometra”, which is a terrible uterus infection that necessitates emergency surgery.

Neutered males:
– Do not get testicular cancer
– Have markedly reduced rates of enlarged prostates, prostate cancers, and are much less prone to hernias.

How will neutering my pet change their personality?

Finally, one of the big concerns we have in neutering our pets is the effect it will have on their behavior, activity level, weight, etc. Here are the facts:

– There is no statistical data showing that neutering pets makes a significant impact on general personality, other than to decrease some aggressiveness.
– There is no statistical data showing that neutering our pets makes them lazy or fat.
– There are LOTS of statistical data showing that our pets get fat and lazy because we feed them too much and exercise them too little.

Finally we are always trying to decrease the number of unwanted or poorly bred pets in the world. Sterilized pets cannot reproduce, it is medically impossible. Pets that are not sterilized can reproduce at the following rates:

· One unspayed female cat, and her particular offspring, can produce 420,000 kittens in seven years. · One unspayed female dog, and her particular offspring, can produce 67,000 puppies in seven years.

Need More Convincing?

**Some 70,000 puppies and kittens are born every day in the U.S.

**Between four million and six million pets are euthanized every year because they are homeless.

**That means between 11,000 and 16,000 pets are euthanized every day simply because they are homeless.

**An animal in a shelter is killed every 1.5 seconds.

**Only one animal in 10 born in the U.S. gets a good home that lasts a lifetime.

Answer by bailie28
it helps them live a longer life..because having litter after litter is hard on a cat…and it tends to make them more calm..i have never owned a cat that wasnt fixed..its unresponsible to own a cat and not make sure it isnt churning out thousands of other cats in its life time..kittens are cute and so sweet..but the outgrow that really fast

Answer by Michael P
Not going into heat is the big change for females.
Males are less likely spray (they can) and are generally less aggressive towards other cats, less territorial.

That’s my experience.

Personally – I think cats should be licensed, like dogs, with a $ 100 “sin tax” for not having your cat neutered or spayed. That way, only the serious breeders working with high end breeds will neglect to do so – there are just too many cats having kittens, it is a very serious problem.

The proceeds from the sin tax could then subsidize spaying/neutering for low income families.

Thank you for having your cat spayed.

Answer by Perth Rat Rescue & Rehab
Generally speaking (and there are exceptions to every rule) your female will calm down. All those hormones that were once controlling her every thought (going something like “I must mate”) will be slowly getting out of her system and she will be more focused on you and food.

It also reduces the risk of cancer in her later years.

Answer by Tammy C
I don’t think it changes their personalities at all,except to make them more relaxed,as they are not going into heat all the time.I just had a 6 month old kitten,and a 9 month old kitten spayed,and a 6 month old male neutered ( they were all abandoned by my neighbors,they are moving ,thank God!) This was on Thursday,and they act just the same as they did before,as have all of the cats I have ever had. It certainly makes males much more mellow,though.Congrats on getting her fixed!

Answer by webgirl
Weight gain, and in male cats their aggresive tendencies will drop off. Also on both males and females expect a slight drop in activity. If you have a male cat that typically stays outside be warned that his drop in aggresion may result in him being bullied by other no neutered males.