Benefits of Spaying or Neutering Your Basset Hound

We all know that we should be spaying or neutering our pets, at least the ones we don’t want to use later on for breeding purposes. The reasons for doing so are obvious when you look at how many unwanted pets there are and how many dogs have to be euthanized at humane shelters nationally each week. But aside from population issues, spaying or neutering your Basset Hound could have several positive effects for the life of your dog and may improve how well you can live with him or her.

In essence, spaying and neutering are surgical techniques used to sterilize your Basset Hound. Aside from preventing your pet from mothering or fathering a litter of puppies, these techniques alter the hormonal balance of your pet. This can eliminate some problem behaviors and has some health benefits as well.

Neutering or castration of the male normally takes place at puberty or a little before puberty begins. Neutered males are less likely to roam, mark territory with urine, become aggressive and to mount people and other dogs (also known as humping). Neutering also has several health benefits including no possibility of testicular tumors, lower incidence of prostate disease, and an overall decrease of the possibility of problems involving the sexual organs.

Since the female Basset Hound is less likely to engage in the annoying behaviors associated with the male, spaying does not have as many immediate and gratifying benefits as does neutering of the male. But there are still several benefits of having your female spayed.

Spaying your female Basset Hound will eliminate all of her heat cycles. These cycles are especially bothersome if you have a male dog or if there are other male dogs anywhere in the vicinity of your Basset Hound when she is in heat. During this time, you may find your home under attack by dozens of willing canine suitors just waiting for a chance to mate with your Basset Hound. As you can imagine, it is extremely difficult to keep an eye on your dog at all times, and chances are that one of the would-be fathers will penetrate your defenses and leave you with a litter of pups. Since heat periods last for three weeks, preventing this from happening could get a little more than annoying.

Spaying also has medical benefits for the female including the prevention of pseudopregnancy, uterine infection and a reduced chance of developing mammary cancer.

It should be mentioned, though, that neutering does not eliminate all of these problem behaviors. Many it will wipe out altogether, but in the case of male humping, for instance, even neutered males have been known to continue on with this bothersome behavior even when the hormone that induces it is nonexistent.

Another thing that these surgical sterilization procedures have going for them is that they are extremely inexpensive. You can normally get these procedures completed for less than $100 to $200 depending on whether you have a male or female. Many veterinarians even charge by the weight of the dog.