Neutering Spaying

Neutering/spaying are procedures that quickly, easily, and effectively ensure that your pet will not be contributing to the pet overpopulation that is currently being experienced everywhere in the United States. The call to spay and neuter your pet is not new. As a matter of fact, spay & neuter posters have been hung in veterinary offices for decades with the urgent plea to not condemn entire litters of puppies and kittens to death simply by forgetting to commit to neutering/spaying your pet.

Sure, you might believe that your pet will be different. After all, you are planning on keeping you animal inside at all times, on a leash when outside, and does the notion that spaying and neutering are a good idea really do not seem to apply to your and your living situation. Yet you must agree that neutering/spaying will take the panic out of realizing that Fluffy got off the leash or dashed through the door while you had briefly turned your back. Similarly, if you own a male dog, you may be surprised how much easier he is to get along will if you will have him altered. Female dogs, too, will exhibit much more pleasant behavior patterns once altered.

Sure, while the behavioral benefits available from neutering/spaying your animals are tangible and well documented, there is a number of a selected few who will consider spay and neuter programs to be bordering on barbaric. Claiming that an animal needs to have access to its sexuality for the sake of being whole, these men and women – usually men – shudder at the thought neutering/spaying. Spay and neuter grants are eyed with something akin to the notion that they are little more than state or government sanctioned cruelty to animals, while spay/neuter advocates are fixed with glacial stares.

A trip down the seemingly endless aisles of the local animal shelter with its meowing and yipping occupants caged and waiting for a compassionate soul to come by and help them out of their misery may help those who see no reason to alter their animals to see reason. Furthermore, a talk with a shelter advocate who will be able to explain just how many of these animals will not live out the day due to euthanasia may put a damper on the spirits of those who want animals to retain their sexual identities.

For those who need help with the financial aspects of the treatments, spay/neuter assistance programs abound and low-cost spay and neuter programs are advertised by almost all veterinarians and big box animal supply stores.