Neutering is a good thing for your dogs for several reasons and microchipping will help ensure your dog will be returned to you if lost and found.

Dogs Trust Malta offers free neutering and micro-chipping packages to people on benefits, farmers and hunters to help them keep their dogs healthy and keep up to date with the law.

Neutering prevents many health problems, especially if done early. The earlier you neuter, starting at four months, the more effect you’ll have on preventing mammary cancers in females and prostate cancer in males, which form due to hormone fluctuation.

On the other hand, removing the reproductive organs will completely eliminate chances of cancers of the uterus, ovaries and testicles, as they will no longer be there. It also eliminates chances of potentially fatal pyometras, which are infections of the uterus that often go undetected until it is too late. In the case of these illnesses, part of the treatment will include neutering. However, done later on in life, the operation can be more risky for the dog’s health.

Hormones also have an effect on mood and behaviour, often causing dogs to run away to look for a mate, become aggressive due to competition for a female and pay less attention during training or when asked to come back.

If allowed to carry on, this kind of behaviour will become a habit and be more of a problem.

Your sweet, little, cuddly puppy may very quickly become frustrated and start acting out, just like a pubescent teenager. If you don’t want that to happen, consider neutering, especially if you also have an issue with territory marking.

If you still need one more reason to neuter, here’s another. Two dogs (male and female) and their puppies left to reproduce unchecked will become 66,000 dogs in six years. You may think that can never happen but very often we hear about people having puppies when they never even knew their bitch had been on heat.

Why risk it? It is very easy to miss unless you have a certain level of experience.

If you receive financial assistance such as social benefits or are on a pension, you can call us for a list of participating vets with whom you can book an appointment.

If you are a farmer or a hunter, you can call us to book an appointment directly.

Call 2142 1500 or 7771 1100 for more information or to book your free neutering and chipping package.