When is the best time to have my dog neutered?
Most dogs can be neutered at around 6 months old, but it’s important to discuss the timing with your vet because it should always be based on the following:
For male dogs:
We recommend cats are neutered at 4 months old as this is the age when they can get pregnant. Waiting until they are 5 or 6 months of age could result in an unwanted litter of kittens.
If you have more than one cat it’s really important to get them neutered, even if they’re related. Many people dont know that brothers, sisters and parents will produce kittens if they live together unneutered.
The other benefits of neutering your cat include:
How much does neutering cost around the UK?
Where you live in the UK can make a huge difference to how much you’ll pay to have your dog neutered.
The areas in the UK with the highest cost of living tend to also be the areas with the highest neutering costs as veterinary care is more costly in these areas.
That means that dog owners in London and the Central Region (including the Home Counties) pay the most for neutering, while pet parents in the North and South West pay the least to get their dogs done.
London was the most expensive area overall for neutering a male dog. On average it costs £235.03 to castrate a small dog, £277.03 for a medium dog and £323.86 for a large dog.
The cheapest area for neutering a male dog was the North of England, where it’s £175.05 on average to neuter a small dog and £201.91 for a large dog.
The North wasn’t the cheapest area to castrate a medium dog though – it’s a little cheaper in the South West at £188.41. The South West was the second cheapest area overall for neutering costs for male dogs.
Here are the average costs by area to castrate a male dog:
| Small dog | Medium dog | Large dog | All sizes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | £235.03 | £277.03 | £323.86 | £278.64 |
| South East | £216.01 | £249.31 | £287.69 | £251 |
| South West | £177.01 | £188.41 | £221.25 | £195.56 |
| Central Region | £199.99 | £238.65 | £264.30 | £234.31 |
| North | £175.05 | £190.45 | £201.91 | £189.14 |
| Scotland | £196.86 | £215 | £231 | £214.29 |
| Wales | £198.74 | £216.73 | £237.09 | £217.52 |
Neutering female dogs was significantly more expensive than males nationwide. The Central region, including expensive counties like Berkshire and Hertfordshire is the most expensive place to have your bitch spayed, closely followed by the South East.
The cheapest area to neuter a female dog was the North. That makes the North the cheapest region for both spaying and castration. The South West is the second cheapest area to get your dog spayed in.
These are the average costs in different regions to spay a bitch:
| Small dog | Medium dog | Large dog | All sizes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | £292.75 | £332.25 | £350.83 | £325.28 |
| South East | £302.89 | £350.40 | £412.22 | £355.17 |
| South West | £239.61 | £247.71 | £286.60 | £257.97 |
| Central Region | £307.39 | £377.25 | £425.90 | £370.18 |
| North | £235.56 | £249.84 | £267.97 | £251.12 |
| Scotland | £252.80 | £279.60 | £308.80 | £280.40 |
| Wales | £257.50 | £280.47 | £303.62 | £280.53 |
Euthanasia – Making The Difficult Decision To Put Your Pet To Sleep: PDSA Petwise Pet Health Hub
I read with great interest Dr. Carlton Gyles’ editorial in the April 2018 issue of the Canadian Veterinary Journal, titled “Challenges for the veterinary profession” (1). Dr. Gyles discusses 4 of 7 challenges that are common in both the US and Canada. These areas for concern were originally identified by Dr. Patty Khuly in Veterinary Practice News in her article, “The 7 top challenges facing veterinary medicine in 2017” (2).
I am especially interested in Dr. Khuly’s and Gyles’ comments regarding the challenges of providing veterinary care for low-income pet owners, the so-called “Money Gulf.” Dr. Khuly writes:
As a Canadian veterinary profession, we should ensure that systems are in place to support access to veterinary care for all domesticated animals regardless of owners’ income and geographic circumstance. Dr. Froma Walsh, when Co-Director of the Center for Family Health, University of Chicago, detailed the literature supporting broad evidence that interactions with companion animals contribute to good health, psychosocial well-being, and recovery from serious conditions (3,4). As examples, children living with pets are more empathetic than those living without (5) and seniors with dementia become less anxious and confused when sitting with and stroking a pet (6). Pets have been found to influence the course and optimal functioning of persons with mental health disorders including schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (7,8). Mental health patients become more involved in their environment in nonthreatening ways with a companion animal (4). Therefore, aiming to support pets, both medically and behaviorally, provides great benefits for society, including citizens of all socioeconomic groups.
Across Canada, many veterinary practices and veterinarians offer reduced rate services and payment plans to impoverished Canadians in times of emergency, especially for their long-term clients. Furthermore, many non-profit animal rescue organizations, community foundations, and veterinary outreach efforts regularly fund veterinary care at hospitals of their choice for pets owned by low-income clients and by women seeking refuge from domestic abuse situations. In Ontario, the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association’s Farley Foundation (9) and Community Veterinary Outreach (10) are notable examples. However, all of the generous goodwill efforts nationally are unable to provide widespread, consistent, and comprehensive assistance to low-income pet owners because of the overwhelming need, notably for working age adults, persons with disabilities, children in single-parent families, seniors, and indigenous people (11).
An exceptional veterinary hospital structure model that aims to ensure access to veterinary care for pets of low-income citizens is the United Kingdom’s Registered Charity “Peoples Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA)” (12). Per their website: “Founded in 1917 by animal welfare pioneer, Maria Dickin CBE, PDSA is the UK’s leading veterinary charity. Operating through a UK-wide network of 48 Pet Hospitals and additional mobile services, PDSA provides low cost and free veterinary care to the sick and injured pets of people in need and promotes responsible pet ownership.” Animals are also cared for with the same accessible rates in one of nearly 400 collaborating clinics during weekends, holidays, and after-hour periods. The PSDA network is one of the largest corporate veterinary employers in the UK, with nearly 500 full- and part-time veterinarians. The organization offers free emergency veterinary service for 1 pet per household and low-cost preventative services for all additional pets for eligible pet owners on social assistance. Their outreach programs run active fundraising campaigns and volunteer programs, as well as provision of Pet Insurance and educational resources.
Our East Village Animal Hospitals (EVAH) (13) in London and Kitchener, Ontario, are “beta-testing” the PDSA type of charitable veterinary clinic model in Canada. Both hospitals are College of Veterinarians of Ontario “Companion Animal Hospital” facilities devoted exclusively to providing veterinary services of pets cared for by low-income citizens and animal rescue organizations. The hospitals house ASPCA/Humane Alliance-partnered High Volume Spay/Neuter clinics (14), with grant support from Pet Smart Charities of Canada (15) and funding from the Registered Charity Animal Outreach (16), as well as many other charitable organizations and individuals. EVAH-London opened in January 2014 and EVAH-Kitchener became operational in July 2017. Both hospitals also offer comprehensive general medical and surgical care. Since opening, we have worked to derive price-points for all products and services as low as possible to ensure sustainability in the long-term, assuming the hospital is situated amongst a human population of at least 1 million persons within a 100-km radius. EVAH employs approximately 15 full- and part-time staff in each clinic and as well are fortunate to welcome dozens of volunteers, including student veterinary externs, pre-veterinary/technician students, high school co-op seniors, and disadvantaged youth. To help ensure widespread access to veterinary care, notably in more remote regions, EVAH runs mobile clinics on First Nations communities throughout the province. In collaboration with the London-Middlesex Housing Corporation, our staff and volunteers provide veterinary visits in pet owners’ homes in local geared-to-income housing units. EVAH is officially partnered with a Registered Charity [Animal Outreach (16)], which is a mandate for an ASPCA/Humane Alliance Spay/Neuter clinic (14) and unofficially partnered with many animal rescue and community service organizations, including local women’s shelters. Through donations and volunteer efforts of our staff and partner non-profit organization, Progressive Animal Welfare Services (PAWS) (17), a “micro-loan” program is often available, which supports a loan of up to $200 to $300 per client, to cover the costs of emergency veterinary care performed at our EVAH clinics.
A network of charity clinics across Canada, similar to the PDSA or EVAH structure, would help provide comprehensive assistance for low-income pet owners on a national scale. Currently, Registered Charities are not allowed to own and operate veterinary clinics in most Canadian provinces. EVAHs are each their separate Professional Corporations; however, they are unofficially designated and operated as non-profit corporations (Matthew Veterinary Consulting Inc, personal communication, 2016). Concerted efforts to work alongside provincial colleges to update veterinary regulations and with provincial legislatures to expand business corporations acts, which would allow both professional AND non-profit corporations to own and operate veterinary practices accessible to the low-income community would be a giant leap forward. These latter endeavors would ensure the legacy of current non-profit veterinary hospital initiatives, and their associated funding support systems, while addressing “The Money Gulf ” issue identified by Dr. Khuly (2).
We welcome the opportunity to continue to work with provincial colleges, veterinarians, veterinary technicians and other interested staff members, animal rescue organizations, volunteers and donors to assist in the creation of additional non-profit veterinary clinics, such as the EVAHs, and collaborating after-hour clinics across the country that would mirror the network of PDSA clinics in the UK. As such, the veterinary profession will become truly invested in the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association’s Canadian Veterinary Oath (18), which in part declares that “I will strive to promote animal health and welfare, prevent and relieve animal suffering, protect the health of the public and the environment…”, for all Canadians, regardless of the pet owner’s socio-economic status.
Use of this article is limited to a single copy for personal study. Anyone interested in obtaining reprints should contact the CVMA office (gro.vmca-amvc@nothguorbh) for additional copies or permission to use this material elsewhere.