Ovariohysterectomy versus ovariectomy for elective sterilization of female dogs and cats: is removal of the uterus necessary?

both pro-mote elective sterilization of female dogs and cats as in-tegral to reducing euthanasia of unwanted dogs and cats.Sterilization of female dogs and cats can be ac-complished by removing both the ovaries and uterus (ovariohysterectomy) or by removing the ovaries alone (ovariectomy). Ovariohysterectomy has historically been recommended in the United States and Canada and is currently emphasized at schools and colleges of vet-erinary medicine in these countries. To our knowledge, only one of the most frequently used surgical textbooks in the United States and Canada describes ovariectomy,