Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, East Doncaster, Bulleen, Eltham, North Balwyn and Warrandyte.
Vets on Parker recommends that dogs and cats be de-sexed between five and six months of age. We perform castration and speying procedures in a sterile environment and provide your pet with high quality pain relief and human grade anaesthetics for maximum comfort. Pain relief is administered before and after your pet’s de-sexing surgery and can usually be taken home to be given on the days following the surgery.
The pet de-sexing procedure
On the morning of your pet’s procedure you will have a consultation with one of our trained nurses. They will go through the admission forms and discuss with you Vets on Parker’s safety protocols such as:
- Pre-anaesthetic blood testing
- Intravenous fluid therapy; and
- Anaesthetic monitoring equipment
Read our preparing your pets for surgery page to learn more about your pets care requirements before and after surgery.
Castration and speying operations are day procedures. Your veterinary nurse will organise a discharge time for your pet upon admission.
Your pet needs to rest for the next 7- 10 days (no walks). Stitches need to be removed at the free recheck visit 10 days after surgery.
Why de-sex your dog?
De-sexing of male and female dogs is recommended before they reach sexual maturity. Some vets recommend early de-sexing at 12 – 16 weeks of age. At Vets on Parker we recommend performing the operation at an older age of 5 to 6 months. Female dogs that are de-sexed will not have unwanted puppies or come into season twice a year (heat periods with bleeding and attractiveness to male dogs last about 2 weeks), and if they are de-sexed before their first season, the risk of mammary tumours (breast cancer) is virtually eliminated (this effect is lost if you wait until after the second season). Male dogs de-sexed before puberty will not tend to urinate on everything in sight, will wander less and are usually less aggressive towards other dogs and people than males who have not been de-sexed; they also don’t develop prostate, testicular or perineal hernia problems later in life.
Why de-sex your cat?
Entire (not de-sexed) male cats develop masculine traits, such as urine marking and defending their territory. The urine of male cats has a particularly strong odour and they mark their territory by spraying. Spraying is different from urination – cats stand and emit small amounts of urine onto (usually) vertical surfaces, while shaking their tail and treading with the front feet. To establish and defend their territory, cats will fight for dominance. They can sustain wounds that become infected and which often form abscesses that require veterinary attention. They are also at risk of contracting viruses such as Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (feline AIDS) and Feline Leukaemia Virus, both of which can result in fatal illness. As they successfully establish their territory, they seek to enlarge it, roaming further away from home, and are therefore more at risk of being hit by cars, or other misadventures.
Cats are very good breeders. During most of the year, female cats (queens) show signs of being on heat for about one week in every two to three weeks. Signs of being on heat (or ‘calling’) include miaowing constantly, rolling around on the floor and restlessness. A lot of young cats are presented to the veterinarian for the operation because this behaviour is very annoying! The medical reasons for speying before puberty, at around five to six months of age, include avoiding infection of the uterus (pyometra) that can become a surgical emergency and it also significantly reduces the incidence of breast cancer (mammary neoplasia). Speying your cat also prevents unwanted litters.
