Have you ever had to
hold a starving puppy that was licking your hand and staring into your eyes
while a veterinarian euthanised it? Or had to watch as a vet had to literally cut open a
dog’s neck to remove a chain collar embedded under the skin? I have had to do both, and it is something I
hope never to do again.
Both of the cases above were strays, pets no one wanted
anymore, so they had just thrown them out like so much garbage. I have been a
board member of the Animal Protection League of Southeast Iowa for 15 years, and have witnessed many cases like these. Spaying
or neutering your pet can prevent the above scenarios, as well as keeping your
pet healthier.
I’d like to explain what exactly spaying or neutering is,
debunk some of the myths surrounding fixing your pet, and let you know the
benefits of fixing your pet.
If the present conditions/ideas regarding spay/neutering
pets persists, more and more tax dollars will be spent on animal control,
including more and more homeless animals being put down due to lack of homes.
1 + 1 is 4,372. How's that? One female dog and one male
dog and their offspring can produce 4,372 puppies in 7 years; leading to many
more pets than there are homes for them. The solution to the problem of pet
overpopulation is for you to spay or neuter your dog... And pets produce at
very early age, less than year old.
Especially in this area (Rural Iowa), people tend to have a “farmer mentality”, meaning that
to them pets are only properties, easily replaceable, without feelings. Many
farmers don’t bother to fix a pet partially because of cost and partially because
coyotes/cars will take care of any excess pets.
People in cities think they can dump their pets on farmers
to give a home to them. Farmers usually have their own pets though, and often
shoot, or have county law enforcement officers shoot the pets, or just let them
starve.
How can you help prevent this? First, Spay or neuter your OWN pets.
What is spay/neuter?
1. You spay a female/neuter a male
2. Spaying removes the ovaries and uterus from female,
neutering removes the testes from a male.
3. The procedure is done under anesthesia /almost always
safe for your pet. Care must of course
be taken with very, very young, small, or older pets
Myths/Excuses people use not to fix pets and the truth
about why you should.
1. Pets get fat
and lazy. Not true…lack of exercise causes this, as in humans.
2. Want kids to
see birth. Wrong... most pets actually hide, and have their litters in
the dead of the night, making it very hard to witness live birth! It is better
to rent a video, it is also much less messy, and you don’t have to worry about
finding
homes for the babies later on.
3. Don’t want pet
to feel less of a male/female. Wrong…pets don’t think the
same way about sex that humans do.
4. Expensive etc. The expense often is offset
by the savings later on of not
having to find homes
for the babies, buying extra food after weaning…
running ads etc.
Unspayed/neutered pets get cancers and other diseases more often than
spayed/neutered pets, often costing money in vet bills down the road. If you
have trouble finding enough money to spay/neuter, there are
many local animal groups who often help with
the cost of the procedure.
Make spay/neuter mandatory when adopting from
shelters/humane org. Go to your City
Council Meetings and other government officials with this viewpoint. It has
proven to cut overpopulation of unwanted pets in areas where this is mandatory.
Still more work needs to be done, but in Iowa and other states where mandatory spay/neuter is done
when adopting from shelters etc, the kill rate is slowly dwindling.
Also, by
controlling the pet population, there are less dog bites, diseases spread from
strays, and reduced need for animal control officers, all of which save you,
the tax payer, money. It also lowers home insurance costs because altered pets
are less aggressive, while still being great watch-pets.
As you can see, when you spay or neuter your pet, you can
prevent the need to kill homeless pets, prevent many health problems, and save
tax payers money.
If everyone
reading this article spays or neuters their dog or cat, millions of lives and
dollars can be saved. Today, the kill-rate of homeless pets is at an all time
low, so please continue the trend and spay or neuter your pet today.
In closing, even though the starving puppy I mentioned at
the beginning of my article didn’t make it, I am very happy to report that the
dog, Amos, who had to have the embedded chain collar removed from his neck,
found a great home at one of our adopt a pets, and other than a scar which is
covered with hair now, seems to be living the life of Riley with his new,
responsible family who not only gave him a nice, loving home, but also neutered
him. If only all homeless pets had such happy endings!
