How Spaying Helps Your Dog Stay Healthy

Here are some tips from the Dog Age website about the health factors in spaying your dog:

If you could do one thing to help your precious little Lucy stay healthy, you'd do it in a heartbeat, right? So if you haven't done so already, ask your vet about spaying your pet.

Here are the ways it could help your pup's well-being and give you some peace of mind:

* No worries about reproductive cancers. Since the ovaries and uterus are surgically removed, there's no chance of tumors growing in the reproductive tract.
* Your dog won't be in heat. "Heat," or estrus, is a female dog's mating period. During this time, which occurs every 3 to 6 months and lasts up to 4 weeks, dogs will have vaginal bleeding -- that's something you'll have to deal with. And because your pet wants a ready-and-willing male, she may wander off in the neighborhood to find one. If the thought of your pooch on the prowl makes you squirm, picture frisky hounds howling at your door!
* A much lower risk of breast cancer. Animals spayed before their first heat cycle (usually at 6 to 9 months of age) have substantially lower odds of developing breast cancer.
* No uterine infections. Spaying a dog at any age eliminates infections of the uterus, which can be quite serious.

Spaying also helps to reduce pet overpopulation.