Your female pet will live a longer, healthier life. Spaying
helps prevent uterine infections and breast cancer, which is fatal in
about 50 percent of dogs and 90 percent of cats. Spaying your pet before
her first heat offers the best protection from these diseases.
Neutering provides major health benefits for your male. Besides
preventing unwanted litters, neutering your male companion prevents
testicular cancer, if done before six months of age.
Your spayed female won't go into heat. While
cycles can vary, female felines usually go into heat four to five days
every three weeks during breeding season. In an effort to advertise for
mates, they'll yowl and urinate more frequently—sometimes all over the
house!
Your male dog won't want to roam away from home. An
intact male will do just about anything to find a mate! That includes
digging his way under the fence and making like Houdini to escape from
the house. And once he's free to roam, he risks injury in traffic and
fights with other males.
Your neutered male will be much better behaved. Neutered
cats and dogs focus their attention on their human families. On the
other hand, unneutered dogs and cats may mark their territory by
spraying strong-smelling urine all over the house. Many aggression
problems can be avoided by early neutering.
Spaying or neutering will NOT make your pet fat. Don’t
use that old excuse! Lack of exercise and overfeeding will cause your
pet to pack on the extra pounds—not neutering. Your pet will remain fit
and trim as long as you continue to provide exercise and monitor food
intake.
It is highly cost-effective. The cost of
your pet's spay/neuter surgery is a lot less than the cost of having and
caring for a litter. It also beats the cost of treatment when your
unneutered tom escapes and gets into fights with the neighborhood stray!
Spaying and neutering your pet is good for the community. Stray
animals pose a real problem in many parts of the country. They can prey
on wildlife, cause car accidents, damage the local fauna and frighten
children. Spaying and neutering packs a powerful punch in reducing the
number of animals on the streets.
Your pet doesn't need to have a litter for your children to learn about the miracle of birth. Letting
your pet produce offspring you have no intention of keeping is not a
good lesson for your children—especially when so many unwanted animals
end up in shelters. There are tons of books and videos available to
teach your children about birth in a more responsible way.
Spaying and neutering helps fight pet overpopulation. Every
year, millions of cats and dogs of all ages and breeds are euthanized
or suffer as strays. These high numbers are the result of unplanned
litters that could have been prevented by spaying or neutering.
