Let’s FIX Animal Homelessness!

Let’s FIX Animal Homelessness!

The single most important thing that we can do to save cats and dogs from all the suffering and death that their overpopulation causes is to spay and neuter them. Spaying and neutering are routine, affordable surgeries that can prevent thousands of animals from being born, only to suffer and struggle to survive on the streets, be abused by cruel or neglectful people, or be euthanized in animal shelters for lack of a loving home.

Spaying and neutering makes a big difference: Just one unaltered female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 puppies in only six years. In seven years, one female cat and her offspring can produce an incredible 370,000 kittens!

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A HEALTHY DECISION

Sterilized animals live longer, happier lives. Spaying eliminates the stress and discomfort that females endure during heat periods, eliminates the risk of uterine cancer, and greatly reduces the risk of mammary cancer. Neutering makes males far less likely to roam or fight, prevents testicular cancer, and reduces the risk of prostate cancer. Altered animals are less likely to contract deadly, contagious diseases, such as feline AIDS and feline leukemia, that are spread through bodily fluids.

HOW BREEDERS KILL DOGS

As long as there are animals dying in shelters, there is no such thing as a “responsible” breeder. The millions of births and deaths of homeless animals could be decreased and even prevented altogether through spaying/neutering, but because of breeders, countless puppies are born every day. Many of these animals end up on the street. Others occupy homes that could have taken in homeless animals, who instead will be killed.

PUPPY MILLS: WHO IS THAT DOGGIE IN THE WINDOW?

The adorable puppy we find eagerly greeting us at the local pet store probably came from a “puppy mill,” a breeding kennel that raises dogs in cramped, crude, filthy conditions. Dogs raised I puppy mills are constantly confine and deprived of adequate veterinary care and socialization. In addition, the government rarely inspects puppy mills, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture dog not have enough inspectors to monitor the estimated 4,500 dealers in the United States.

SPAYING/NEUTERING SAVES MORE THAN LIVES

FIX ANIMAL HOMELESSNESS

Communities spend millions of taxpayer dollars each year coping with problems that a failure to spay and neuter causes. The one-time cost of spaying or neutering is far lower than the expense involved in rounding up strays, feeding and housing abandoned animals, and euthanizing those for whom homes can’t be found.

Cities and counties all over the country are aggressively addressing the animal overpopulation crisis, requiring everyone who chooses not to spay or neuter to pay a hefty breeder’s fee. Areas with mandatory spay-and-neuter laws have reported a significant reduction in the number of animals who are taken to their facilities and subsequently euthanized.

Many communities have low-cost or free spay-and-neuter clinics that make it easy for everyone to do the right thing and have their animals sterilized. Feel free to contact us if you need help finding your nearest low-cost spay-and-neuter clinic.