Today is World Spay Day. If you, like so many quarantiners around you, have recently adopted or are considering adopting – please make spaying and neutering your pet a non-negotiable. It simply must happen. With statistics showing adoption currently on the incline (hooray!) we must remember that a decade ago, “Dallas Animal Services euthanized nearly 28,000 dogs and cats in a year, 75 per day on average.” And that was just Dallas. At one point it was guesstimated that approximately 800 dogs (just dogs – not including cats!) per day, per State were euthanized for “lack of homes” aka because people cho0se to buy pets instead of adopt them. We could easily be back there if people do not continue to spay and neuter their companion animals, and if adoption goes out of favor as the mind-numbing doodle trend grows, touting an irrational hyoallergic standard (allergens come from dander and saliva too!)
The nonprofit Friends Of Animals is on the forefront of spay/ neuter campaigning. Friends Of Animals offer low-cost spay and neuter certificates at top vets all around the country. I have recommended this program to numerous people for years, and used it myself for at least 7 pets over the years to great success.
They say;
Although there are an estimated 100 million cats and dogs kept by responsible and caring people in the United States, there is also a tragic number of these animals who suffer horrid cruelties associated with abandonment. Pounds and shelters in the U.S. kill over 3 million such abandoned pets each year. And uncounted millions more suffer sickness, exposure, starvation and death on the streets of the nation’s cities and towns, and in the fields and forests of the countryside. From its beginning in 1957, FoA has assumed a leadership role in advocating low-cost spaying and altering as the most effective means of preventing the births of dogs and cats, and their subsequent abandonment, suffering and mass killing. For more than six decades, we have operated the only nationwide breeding control program in the United States facilitating more than 2.8 million spay/neuter procedures. Pet owners may purchase a certificate from Friends of Animals that can be used for a routine spay or neuter surgery at any of FoA’s participating veterinary hospitals. Click here to learn more about our spay and neuter ad campaign featuring prominent billboards urging people to help keep pets off the street. The recommended age for spay/neutering is 2-6 months of age. Female animals should be spayed before their first heat (estrus cycle). They do not need to have a litter before spaying.
Lysa DeLaurentis of the New Jersey rescue group All Humane Animal Rescue says;
There are so many reasons to spay and neuter your pets – but number one would be to prevent unwanted puppies and kittens. Sadly, 8 out of every ten births will end up in a shelter. Preventing over population is so important, with animals dying and suffering on the streets and falling into the hands of abusive people and dog fighters. People often don’t realize it – but unspayed females and unneutered males will wander off during a heat cycle searching for a fe/male, they then risk being hit by a car. Every heat cycle a female goes through ups their chances of getting uterine cancer and pyometra. Not neutering also increases their risk of testicular cancer. There are absolutely no cons to spaying and neutering your pets – only pros!
LA Animal Services makes it easy and convenient for pet owners to ensure their furry family members get spayed or neutered. By simply going online at laspayneuter.com, Angelenos can complete the application, and their free or spay/neuter vouchers will be emailed directly to their inbox.
How you can help:
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- Spay & Neuter your own pet and encourage others to do the same.
- Share this article, promoting low and no cost options to families who cannot afford the mainstream price of spaying & neutering.
- Adopt – never shop! Foster, promote adoption, and raise money and collect supplies for your local animal rescue or shelter.
Photo by Ilse Orsel on Unsplash