What are the benefits of spaying my 2 year old male Min Pin and neutoring my 1 yr old female Maltese?

Question

I have been told by my vet that spaying and neutoring my pets is a good idea but I am a bit afraid to. My male Min Pin has a very lively, spunky personality that I would hate to lose and my female Maltese has a very calm and peaceful nature. I would hate to lose those qualities. They are both great with other dogs, cats, children etc. and have amazingly perfect tempraments. My Min Pin hasn't been marking territory, humping etc. since he was 9 months old. He was housebroken at 11 months and my Maltese doesn't have any un-wanted problems. She was housebroken by 5 months of age so I am afraid they may start doing things in the house. What are the pros AND cons of spaying and neutoring my dogs? I need proper answers as anybody who has faced this deiema will understand my worries of fixing my dogs!
Regards,
Kianna.
"Worried Mom Of Two!"

Answer 1

Spaying and neutering does very little to change the personality of a dog. If anything, it calms them - although the difference may be slight.

For your male - it will completely eliminate any chance of testicular cancer, and virtually eliminate prostate problems (such as inflammation, enlargement, cancer, etc.)

For your female, it will completely eliminate any chance of ovarian and uterine cancers; and will greatly reduce the chance of mammary/breast cancer. It also eliminates the chance of pyometra - a uterine infection that can be fatal. If she is bred - you run the risk of her miscarrying the litter; the puppies could be stillborn; she could develop complications and not be able to feed the puppies or she could die; there are any number of problems that could happen if she became pregnant. Do an internet search for "risks of breeding my dog" and see what you find.

For both - it will eliminate the chance of any sexually transmitted diseases (in dogs, the most common one is called "brucellosis.")

The biggest risk is for your female. Some females will develop urinary incontinence - meaning they are not always able to hold their pee. This is fairly easily treated, and not a major concern (at least not in my opinion).

Neutering and spaying will NOT cause them to start marking in the house. What it will do is keep them healthy, make them (and you) happier, and as others have said - will eliminate the possibility of any unwanted puppies.

Answer 2

Very rare for spay/neuter to change personality- a heat cycle frequently does...
Many experienced hobby breeders with good facilities describe the every 6 month 3 week long heat cycle as Armageddon. Both dogs shrieking all day & night longing for each other, not eating , tearing the house apart, males forgetting they are not supposed to mark....
Your choice, and it isn't alway that bad (just often) but I'd seriously consider spaying the female at least

Answer 3

Spaying and neutering your dogs really don't have any cons. Spaying your Maltese will prevent things like mammary cancer and will give her certain health benefits once spayed. Neutering your male will make him calmer. Has your female gone through her first heat cycle yet? If not, he will be WILD once she is and they must be watched like an eagle so that they don't try to mate. Not only will fixing your dogs benefit them health wise, unless you want to create more mutts and homeless dogs, you'll get them fixed. We do not need more mutts in shelters. If anything, your dogs will be calmer, happier, healthier and more affectionate towards you. They will also live longer if they are fixed :-)

Answer 4

By spaying, neutering you reduce the risk of cancer and that is the biggest reason to do, the other reason is to prevent adding animals into a world where millions are killed already because their currently is not enough homes for,

It does not change the dogs behaviour or personality. other than calming both down when she goes into heat, and making the male mellow and less likely to want to fight other dogs to protect his territoy

Answer 5

I agree with the 1st answer....the benefit is that you won't have any puppies to care for. I have had all of my animals spayed/neutered (and believe me on the farm- domestic animals run amuck) anyway...as an adult I have had my 2 cats and 1 dog spayed and they have only become calmer and more affectionate. I cannot say I think it was cause your animal to react negatively in any way. Good luck.

Answer 6

The biggest plus here is that you will be preventing any unwanted litters in the future. Also the surgery for both dogs is very safe and it will only insure the health of both the dogs as they grow older.
May I suggest that you have them both go in to have the spray and nutering at the same time? This way one will not be bother the other as one recoperates.

Answer 7

Go to one of the following websites that explain all the benefits of spaying and neutering. There are no cons to doing this. You will improve the health of your animals by doing it. Check out the websites. You'll be amazed how beneficial it is to have the procedure done. Believe me, it will not affect your pet’s friendly personality.

www.cvm.umn.edu/vmc/
forclients/
spayneuterbenefits.html

www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/
why_you_should_spay_or_
neuter_your_pet.html

Answer 8

You won't have Minimalts.
Seriously it won't change your female's personality. Spaying will prevent her from cancers and having to go through a rough pregnancy. She can be bred by any dog, not just your MinPin. It will also end the mess of heat.

While your MinPin sounds excellent. He is still young. You can have a female in heat and all that will change. It will also prevent testicular cancer. It would also be nice that you won't have to worry about any "funny business" when you're not home to supervise.

I don't think there should be any down side. I would discuss this with your vet.

Answer 9

I have a 2 yr old Lab which I had thought of getting neutered but trust me, I don't think its a good idea. My vet told me it would act like the sky's fallen on it! Its really lively now and it'd be really low if you get it neutered. And coming to the money, its pretty costly to get a spay-neuter surgery. But there are chances or testicular cancer if you don't get your male dog neutered. Well, personally, I think its better off if you don't get them neutered cause you don't want a sad dog!

Answer 10

you will not get puppys but other than that nothing they might get a little fat