If you’ve ever hesitated about spaying or neutering your pet, you’re not alone. And that hesitation usually comes from a good place – wanting what’s best for your pet.

“That feeling comes from love,” says Dr. Witting, a veterinarian at HSSV. “You’re imagining how you would feel if someone made that decision for you. That’s empathy – and it’s a good instinct.”

But here’s what Dr. Witting has learned after years of working in veterinary medicine: animals and humans experience reproduction very differently. And when it comes to health and quality of life, that difference matters more than most people realize.

Early in her career, Dr. Witting worked at an emergency clinic in New York City that served low-income families. She saw patterns – unspayed animals coming in with conditions that could have been prevented. Pyometra. Breast cancer. Birth complications. Dog attacks linked to territorial behavior. Emergencies that cost thousands of dollars – or ended in euthanasia when the disease had progressed too far.

“It hurt me to see, and it’s a large reason I came to Humane Society Silicon Valley. It shaped how I talk to pet owners now,” she says. “Not with fear, but with honesty.”

So here’s the honest truth.

The numbers are more serious than most people think. 

Pyometra is a life-threatening uterine infection that can strike any unspayed female dog – not just dogs who have been pregnant. Roughly one in four unspayed dogs will develop it before the age of 10. It comes on suddenly, and the early signs can be subtle. Without emergency surgery, it’s fatal. That surgery costs $10,000 or more in the Bay Area – and that’s before hospitalization to stabilize a critically ill patient.

Then there’s breast cancer, which dogs develop at nearly twice the rate as humans do. In unspayed female dogs, about one in four will develop mammary tumors. Spaying before the first heat cycle drops that risk to under one percent. Even between the first and second heat, the lifetime risk is still only around eight percent. Cats benefit too. Spaying before six months reduces mammary cancer risk sevenfold, and spaying at any age still cuts the risk by 40 to 60 percent. Treatment, when it comes to that, is expensive and hard: often radical surgery and chemotherapy, and even then it may not be curative. Prevention is simpler.

“It feels like not an if, but when,” says Dr. Whitting. “Those aren’t odds I’d want to bet on – and a routine spay costs a few hundred dollars, not thousands.”

For male dogs, the health benefits include preventing testicular cancer, prostate issues, and a condition called perineal hernia that can require expensive specialized surgery. Neutered males are also less likely to roam, fight, or get hit by cars – behaviors driven by hormones, not personality. These health benefits explain why spayed/neutered animals live longer, with fewer medical expenses.

But what about the concerns you’ve heard? 

Dr. Witting hears the same hesitations from pet owners all the time. She doesn’t dismiss them – she understands where they come from.

“I want her to experience motherhood.”

“Dogs don’t experience parenthood the way humans do,” Dr. Witting explains. “The attachment to puppies is hormonally driven – nursing stimulates it, and once that stops, the mother is typically ready to move on. They don’t have the same lifelong bond with their offspring that humans do. When you remove the hormones by spaying, you remove the drive. And though I won’t pretend to be a pet psychic, I’d swear they don’t miss it.”

“I don’t want his personality to change.”

“Core personalities don’t change,” she says. “What changes are the hormonally-driven behaviors – the urge to roam, to mark, to fight. Think of it this way: nobody’s their best self when they’re under the influence of surging hormones. The dog you love is still there. They’re just not as moody.”

“I wouldn’t want that done to me.” 

“We do a lot of things for our dogs that we wouldn’t want for ourselves,” Dr. Witting points out. “We feed them the same food every day. We decide when they go outside. Your relationship with your body is different from your dog’s – and that’s okay. This thought comes from love. But reproduction affects animals very different than it affects us, and the health benefits of spaying and neutering are significant. Studies show spayed and neutered pets live 1.5 years longer on average – some data suggests even more, up to six years.”

Here’s something that might help if you’re still on the fence. 

There are benefits and risks to every medical decision. Veterinarians see both: the extremely rare surgical complications and the preventable deaths from pyometra, cancer, and other conditions. They weigh those risks constantly, with firsthand experience. And overwhelmingly, they make the same choice for their own pets.

“I would risk my own life for my dog, Jax, and my cat, Meep. They’re both neutered and spayed,” says Dr. Witting. “I don’t know a single vet who doesn’t spay or neuter their own animals. That tells you something.”

But there’s one more thing Dr. Witting wishes more people understood – and it’s not just about their physical health.

“I’m passionate about animal behavioral health. Our world is a confusing place for dogs,” she says. “There’s so much they don’t understand and can’t control. When hormones are involved, they feel driven to do something – find a mate, for example – and they don’t know why. They can’t pursue it. That creates frustration. Anxiety.”

Spaying and neutering removes that tension. Hormone levels stabilize. Moods even out.

“It’s not just about avoiding disease,” Dr. Witting says. “It’s about giving them peace.”

Not everyone can spay or neuter their pet tomorrow. Cost is real. Schedules are complicated. Life gets in the way. We understand – and we’re working to meet people where they are. But if you’ve been on the fence, wondering if it’s worth it or whether it’s the right thing to do, here’s what we’d offer: every veterinarian who sees both the risks and the rewards makes this choice for their own pets. Not out of fear. Out of care. That’s all this is – one of the quietest, most lasting ways to take care of an animal you love.

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This is just one part of our Spay/Neuter Awareness Month series. Follow along all February on Instagram and Facebook as we answer common questions, bust myths, and share stories from our community.