Part of being conscientious pet owner is considering the importance of spaying or neutering your dog or cat.  If you’ve ever visited an animal shelter, you’ve seen some of the thousands of pets each year who are homeless.  You can’t save them all, but you can help prevent pet overpopulation by spaying or neutering your own pet.  Need more reasons to “fix” your pet?  Besides preventing unwanted litters, spaying or neutering helps prevent many life-threatening diseases and can head off some irritating behaviors. Although it’s commonly referred to as a spay, this surgery is actually a complete ovariohysterectomy, or the removal of both ovaries and the uterus.  Spayed dogs are at much lower risk for mammary gland tumors (breast cancer), and their chances of developing ovarian…