​​​​​​Spaying and neutering are both surgical procedures that will prevent unwanted pregnancies and also decrease the likelihood of certain cancers and diseases as your pet ages.

We recommend all pets be spayed (female) or neutered (male) unless they are breeding or show animals. If you are interested in breeding, our doctors will be happy to talk with you about breed-specific screening tests that are recommended to rule out genetic diseases that may cause discomfort to your pet’s offspring.

We generally recommend spaying and neutering larger breed dogs after they are full grown and smaller dogs at approximately 6 months old. However, we will discuss with you the ideal time to spay or neuter your pet. For example, if your male dog is beginning to display any naughty boy behaviors (mounting, chasing females, and/or marking) we would recommend neutering them sooner.

Read more about spaying and neutering here.