Spaying or neutering your furry family member might seem cruel at first, but it is a necessary procedure. Right now, there is a pet homelessness crisis in the United States. Every year, shelters euthanize pets because there aren’t enough homes to take them.
Spaying and neutering also have many health benefits and help ensure that your loved one lives a whole and happy life.
Health Benefits
The ASPCA goes over the importance of spaying or neutering for your pet’s long-term health. Some of the health benefits they list are:
- Spaying helps prevent malignant or cancerous uterine infections and breast tumors in about 50 percent of dogs and 90 percent of cats. Your pet gets the best protection if you have it done before your pet’s first heat.
- Neutering your male companion prevents testicular cancer and some prostate problems.
Preventing Overpopulation
Another primary reason is that in the United States, we have a massive overpopulation of pets. With July being peak kitten season, this issue is more prevalent than ever right now.
Approximately 6.5 million animals are taken into animal shelters every year. Roughly 3.3 million are dogs, and 3.2 million are cats.
About 1.5 million of those end up euthanized. So, you can see the problem with that. By spaying or neutering, you are taking responsibility and not contributing to that problem.
You should know that those statistics are improving quite significantly. In 2011, just ten years ago, there were approximately 2.6 million animals euthanized annually.
Los Angeles County has made great strides by becoming 90% “no-kill” in 2021. However, there were still over six thousand animals euthanized so far this year. Best Friends is campaigning to make California “No-Kill” by 2025 and you can find out from them ways you can help.
Another thing that you can do is shop for a new pet at your local shelter. You could be saving their life.
A great website you can use when you’re looking to adopt a new family member is petfinder.com. They have an amazing array of search options so that you can specify the breed, sex, age, temperament, etc. And, they are hooked up to many animal rescues all over the United State to help you find the pet you want and save a life.
Other Benefits
There are other possible benefits to having your pet spayed or neutered, such as lowered aggression levels in males. Females won’t go into heat, which means less yowling and urination.
The procedure is certainly much cheaper than suddenly having to care for many more extra mouths one day.
Animals are also much more inclined to roam around while searching for a mate, which increases the chances of getting lost or injured somehow.
Myths
Beware of myths about spaying or neutering.
One of them is that it will make your pet fat. Pets do not gain weight because they have been spayed or neutered. With correct diet and exercise, spaying or neutering has no impact on your pet’s weight.
Spaying and neutering are not a magic cure for all behavioral problems. As mentioned above, it can help, but there may be more that you need to address. If you are having behavior issues with your pet, consult your veterinarian.
Summary
We want your animals to be healthy and happy and we want to do whatever we can to stop unnecessary animal deaths.
We offer spaying and neutering procedures and are happy to discuss any questions that you might have about them.
Feel free to contact us, and we will work together to find the best solution for any problem.
Jaimie Ronchetto, DVM
Cinema Veterinary Center
Santa Clarita, CA