Neutering Can Help with Aggression

Not all dogs are the same and, unfortunately, some of them have problems with their aggression, nervousness or both. A lot of people think that neutering can help with aggression, but is that really the case?

It’s true that neutering can help to calm dogs down, just as it does with cats. However, it’s not always the solution. Let’s see some advantages and disadvantages of the process.

Disadvantages of neutering

First of all, we should mention that neutering is the term used for both sexes, whereas the more gender-specific terms for males is castration, and for females spaying.

We mustn’t forget that, even though it’s a quick procedure, neutering is still a surgical operation, so it can always carry risks. And, although your pet won’t experience as much pain as animals before him thanks to advances in antibiotics and analgesics, he’ll still have to recover from the operation. 

Even though our pets are animals, we still have to look at the operation for what it really is, an amputation of a part of our animal’s body. Let’s look at some other disadvantages:

Obesity

After the surgery, it’s normal for your pet’s hormones to go crazy and not work correctly since they were affected by the surgery. So, your pet might start eating more and gaining weight, which is another disadvantage of this type of procedure.

If you’ve neutered your dog and notice that he’s putting on some weight, make an appointment with the vet. She’ll suggest a low-calorie diet that you can give him. Although this is a disadvantage of neutering, it’s not impossible to solve.

Exercise will also prevent the animal from becoming overweight.

Sadness

In the same way as with humans when they have their reproductive organs removed, animals can also sink into deep sadness. This is because of the effect on their hormones. In addition to that, they won’t know how to make the depression go away.

Advantages of neutering

Of course, if so many people believe that neutering can help with aggression and other problems that dogs may have, it’s because it has worked on many occasions.

The first advantage of neutering is that it will help your pet with his nervousness when going through heat, or when there’s an animal in heat nearby. Here are some other advantages:

Increase in appetite

Your dog might have a better appetite, but he’ll also have lower energy needs, so he’ll eat less. Talk to your vet about which foods are best for your pet.

Advantages for females

Neutering is different for males and females, but both are equally difficult since the surgery is taking place in their reproductive organs.

In the case of females, there are many benefits of neutering (or spaying), such as:

• Avoiding unwanted puppies. If you aren’t ready to take care of four or five puppies, or you don’t have the means to, you should neuter your dog.
• Avoid tumors. If the neutering is done at an early age, the risk of contracting mammary tumors, infections, uterine diseases or ovarian tumors is greatly reduced.
• Prevents phantom pregnancies. 
• Helps you both avoid the inconvenience when she goes through heat.
• She won’t have the strange or nervous behavior she would have if she went through heat.

Neutering can help with aggression in male dogs

Castration can be especially helpful in dogs with dominance problems. These are dogs that need to feel like the leader of the pack at all times and, if they don’t get their way, they’ll react aggressively.

Here are some other advantages of castration:

• Your dog won’t feel the need to mark everything with his urine; he may even completely stop doing it
• Your dog won’t try to escape from the house
• Prevents prostate tumors
• It can eliminate different testicular or prostate diseases

As you can see, neutering can help with aggression, but it has good and bad sides to it. The best thing you can do is openly talk about the situation with your veterinarian. Remember, your vet is the best person to help advise you about what is best for your pet.

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