MANY people chose to take on a new pet during lockdown, which can be so beneficial.

Having a dog has allowed us to go for walks and have socially distanced conversations with fellow dog walkers. A cat or rabbit in the house has given many people companionship they would not otherwise have had – but pets require lots of love, attention and care to ensure they are kept in the best of health.

At Dunedin Vets, we are now seeing many lockdown pets who are adolescents and maturing. This is now the time to consider if you are going to have your pet neutered.

This may sound very dramatic when your pet is still young but, in this world, where there are so many unwanted pets that often end up having to be destroyed, it is surely worth considering preventing this.

In fact, there are also many health advantages to neutering your pet.

This is especially true for female dogs. It prevents the messy situation of your bitch in season, which generally will be every six months. It also prevents the advances of the local male dog population, who can be very determined.

I have heard of dogs scaling six-foot fences and chewing through doors to reach a bitch on heat. The determination of true love!

Neutering (spaying) at an early age can prevent bitches developing life-threatening mammary tumours in later years. It also prevents the occurrence of a pyometra (womb infection), which we see commonly in older, entire bitches. This condition generally requires emergency spaying, altogether a more traumatic procedure than spaying at an early age.

Neutering females at the age of around six months (before they ever come into season) is a fairly routine procedure and most owners are pleasantly surprised how quickly their pet recovers after the surgery.

If bitches have been in season already, the best time to spay is three months after their season.

This means the uterus and surrounding blood vessels will be at their smallest, making the operation less traumatic for the patient and the vet. If they are approaching their next season, we recommend postponing the operation until after the season to reduce the likelihood of complications.

Sometimes, after a bitch has been in season, she will produce milk and show nesting behaviour, even though she is not pregnant. This is a perfectly normal phenomenon, a throwback to wild dogs, when some bitches without pups would produce milk to help feed the pups in the pack.

We cannot, however, spay bitches during false pregnancies as they can continue producing milk indefinitely and be prone to mastitis and other conditions. If your bitch is in a false pregnancy when due to be spayed, hormones can be prescribed to dry the milk prior to neutering.

When I spayed my Labrador Lucy at six months, I could not believe that she was wanting to chase a ball and play with her toys the following day. We do not advocate exercise for a few days post-operation, though.

We ask for post-op photos to be emailed to us so we can assess the healing process. We usually provide collars to prevent animals interfering with their wounds; I have to say, my Lucy chewed her collar and was not interested in the wound, but everyone is different.

All animals before, during and after neutering are given suitable pain relief to ease their discomfort.

We generally advocate neutering male dogs at around nine months of age. This allows them to mature and develop more male characteristics prior to castration.

If you have a large breed dog, we would not advocate castration until at least 18 months of age, as they take much longer to mature.

Some male dogs have only one descended testicle. If this is the case, we recommend neutering at the earliest age possible, as the abdominal or retained testicle can develop a cancer.

Sometimes these can be quite tricky to find, as the ‘missing’ testicle can be anywhere between the kidney (near which they develop) and the groin area. I have even found one down a back leg!

If you have a show dog or are reluctant to neuter your male dog, there are hormone implants which can be injected into your dog every six months. This is a pretty painless procedure and it allows you to monitor how your dog would respond to neutering should the operation go ahead.

When it comes to cats, both male and female cats can be neutered from around six months of age.

There is no definite time nor age when they should be neutered.

It does prevent tomcats from spraying to scent mark their territory and from wandering far from home. They are therefore less likely to get into fights and accidents, and become more biddable and loving.

My colleague Chris’s cat Marnie was up to mischief playing with his big brother Watson in the evening after his operation, with no ill effects whatsoever.

An entire female cat can literally be the source of thousands of kittens over her lifetime. Female cats (queens) come into season from about six months of age and will keep coming into season every few weeks, especially over the summer months, until they are mated. It can therefore be difficult to spay them when they are not in season. Female cats should be at least 2kg in weight prior to their operation. This is known to reduce anaesthetic risks.

The sutures are buried in the skin, but collars are recommended to prevent cats licking their wounds.

Male and female rabbits can also be neutered from around six months of age. This prevents female rabbits from developing uterine cancer, which is relatively common in the older doe rabbit.

Neutering male rabbits can help prevent some dominance and aggressive tendencies. It is best to consider neutering rabbits in the winter months, when their ovaries and testicles are least active. Rabbit anaesthetics do carry slightly more risk than with dogs and cats, but with careful monitoring and support they do very well and recover within a few days.

It might not have been everyone’s first thought when they acquired a new pet, but neutering generally makes animals more home-loving and biddable, and definitely prevents many problems in later life.