Most dog owners admit that there is a serious dog population explosion, but when it comes to spaying or neutering the family pet, that decision, as it’s now personal, is much harder to make.

“Should I have my older female dog spayed since we don’t want to have any more puppies?”

“My older female dog, Maggy, has been around for almost 10 years, has had 25 healthy puppies, and even earned her AKC niche. She has even made us enough income to have totally covered all of her dog food expenses and veterinarian care. Now that she’s retired, wouldn’t it be better to leave her baby-making-machine intact?”

“Wouldn’t it be cruel to take away her femaleness? Could it make her mean, or let her get fat? I don’t want her to suffer through an operation!”

Most of us have had thoughts like these when considering neutering of any of our pets. But the human psychological factors should not be the most important ones here. Think about it from the health standpoint of your dog.

Just what are the advantages of having an older dog spayed?

Many veterinarians and dog specialists agree that there are dozens of reasons for spaying your non-producing female aged five years or older. Here are a few great arguments for this decision:

Physical harm could result from accidental breeding

Remember that female dogs never have a change of life or menopause as humans do. A very old female dog of 14 years could still bear puppies. Such unfortunate and accidental breeding could result in severe physical problems for the female.

By spaying an older female, especially one who has served her time as a producing unit in a kennel, the danger of indiscriminate breeding is eliminated as a physical reality, and as a worry for the owners.

Spaying can stop health defects

Spaying is an effective tool to stop congenital defects before they can be passed on through inheritance. Any severe physical problems such as hip dysplasia, undershot jaw, overshot jaw, deafness, blindness, hairlip, cleft palate, in a female, should be stopped in that generation.

If the female is not destroyed at birth, early spaying can stop the continuing procreation in that line. If your family pet has any of these characteristics or others which should not be reproduced, and the female is not spayed, such action should be considered at once.