Importance of Spaying and Neutering Your Pets
Posted: Thursday, November 17, 2011
by The Old Gray Mare
www.DressYourHorse.com
The numbers of unwanted homeless dogs and cats continue to be alarming. Despite the fact there are numerous humane organizations that have adopted the “no-kill policy,” an unbelievable number of animals are still euthanized on a daily basis. These unfortunate animals are vital, beautiful animals caught up in the brutality of too many animals for home available to adopt them.
In other words, when a female is “spayed” or a male is “neutered,” they are surgically sterilized. In females, the entire reproductive tract is removed. In males, the testicles are removed.
One of the primary reasons to spay or neuter our pet animals is to control numbers. We have countless unwanted pets destroyed daily, because there are no homes to adopt them. By altering our pets before they produce offspring, it is possible to maintain some sort of population control..
Many shelters and organizations provide spay and neuter surgeries to alter the excessive feral cat population. Surgery is done on an outpatient basis. Many communities work together and conduct fund raisers to spay and neuter pets in order to decrease the overall numbers of unfortunate homeless animals.
If feral populations or homeless animals are permitted to roam, these animals will continue to produce new generations and the problems will multiply. An associated problem is, of course, the possible spread of diseases.
A major motivation for spaying and neutering our pets when they are still young animals is for cancer prevention. Having our animals fixed decreases reproductive cancers and actually increases their life expectancy. Further, risks of mammary and prostate cancer decrease dramatically if the animals are sterilized.
Some pet behaviors, including excessive straying, are also avoided by spaying or neutering the animals.
Most often, adopting an animal from a rescue shelter means that we save one life at a time. The animals we choose will most likely also have been altered. The decision to adopt becomes very important to the overall numbers of pets waiting for homes.
I find that our altered pets are sweet and mellow, attentive, loyal and even more dedicated.
The Old Gray Mare writes for www.DressYourHorse.com and her Blog sites.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)For sure on Spaying and Neutering. Otherwise animals can populate so much faster than humans...Thank you. They can and do reproduce quickly, especially cats.
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