HEALTH BENEFITS
OF SPAYING OR NEUTERING YOUR AKITA

Some Akita owners are not aware of the advantages of spaying or neutering their Akita. A spayed or neutered Akita does not become fat or lazy. Their metabolism may slow down abit but all you have to do to keep that trim look is cut back a little on the food. In addition to the obvious advantage of preventing unwanted pregnancies, there are health and behavioral benefits:

1) Spaying or neutering is foolproof birth control that lasts a lifetime.

2) Spaying or neutering provides relief from such hormone driven urges as:

• Aggression toward other dogs, particularly for males.
• Territorialism, that is, the tendency to be overprotective of the dog's home ground.
• Wanderlust, that is, the desire to escape from the yard and seek sexual adventure inthe outside world.
• Dominance.
• Marking territory with urine/feces.
• Unwanted sexual behavior such as riding, sniffing, licking, arousal.
• Frustration which occurs when the behaviors dictated by hormonal urges cause thedog to behave in a way that is undesirable to the owners.

3) Protection (either partial or complete) from such hormone-induced conditions as:

MALE AKITAS

• Testicular cancer
• Benighn prostatic hyperplasia
• Acute and chronic prostatis, prostatic abscess
• Perianal gland adenomas
• Orchitis (infection of the testicles)
• Venereal tumors
• Perineal hernia (abdominal organs bulging out of rectum)
• Inguinal hernia with potential organ strangulation

FEMALE AKITAS

• Breast cancer
• Cystic endometrial hyperplasia and pyometra
• False pregnancies
• Mastitis (can occur during false pregnancy)
• Transmissible venereal sarcoma
• Ovarian and uterine tumors
• Cystic ovaries and hyperestrogenism
• Chronic endometritis
• Vaginal hyperplasia and prolapse
• Uterine torsion or uterine prolapse

(Some material by Bonnie Wilcox, D.V.M.)

A public service announcement from Raritan River Akita Club Inc.