Neutering
Family planning
In most situations we would recommend neutering your pets and this is a service we provide for cats, dogs and rabbits.
We would recommend early neutering of all cats if they are not going to be used for breeding and can safely perform this from 12 weeks old. If you have kittens of the opposite sex (and don’t want any more!), earlier is better as females can become pregnant as early as 16 weeks old.
There are various factors to take into account when considering neutering of dogs and we would recommend discussing your individual pet with our team so we can decide what is right for them. As a guide smaller breeds can be done from 6 months old compared to larger breeds where we recommend delaying until they are between 12-18 months old. Females should ideally be done before their third season to reduce the risk of mammary tumours and the operation should be timed between seasons to reduce complications. Timing is less critical in males once they have matured but in some circumstances we may advise later neutering, for example, if they are nervous.
Rabbits can be neutered from 6 months old. In females spaying reduces the risk of uterine adenocarcinoma (a womb tumour) and in males castration can help reduce aggression.
We are aslo proud to work with the Cats Protection charity to help with neutering of strays and feral cats. The Cats Protection charity can sometimes financially support neutering of owned cats too so please ask one of our team for more details if you need help with this.
Did you know
Uterine adenocarcinoma is reported to affect up to 80% of unspayed female rabbits by the age of five.
Pyometra (infection of the womb) is very common in unspayed bitches and is life-threatening if left untreated. Treatment usually involves emergency surgery. Symptoms are usually fever, increased thirst, inappetence and vaginal discharge but can sometimes be less obvious.
Neutered male cats have been shown to live, on average, 62% longer than unneutered males. Spayed female cats, on average, 39% longer than unspayed female cats.
There are an estimated 100,000 dogs and even more cats without homes in the UK at any given time and neutering plays an important role in reducing these numbers.