10 Reasons to Spay or Neuter Your Pet

Are you wondering whether or not you should spay or neuter your pet?  You might be thinking the cost is too high or maybe you just don’t see the over-all benefits to spaying or neutering your pet.  If you’d you’re interested in learning how sterilizing your pet benefits your pet as well as society, keep reading.  Below are 10 Reasons to Spay or Neuter Your Pet:

Why should I have my pet spayed or neutered?

Benefits to Spaying:

  1. Sterilizing your female will eliminate the drive to mate. During breeding season, a female will urinate frequently, and yowl too!  This is her attempt to attract a mate.  Sometimes this urination will happen inside the house!  The female’s heat cycle can be a major inconvenience.
  2. Your female will behave more calm, gentle and affectionate.  More cuddles for the pet parent!
  3. Removes the inconvenience and uncleanliness of the dog’s female cycle.
  4. Uterine infections cancer can be drastically reduced if the ovaries and uterus are removed before a female’s first heat cycle.
  5. Sterilizing your female is cost effective in the long run!  It is very costly to bring a litter of puppies into the world.

Benefits to Neutering:

  1. Your male pet will do almost anything to get out to find a mate!  Some of your best efforts at keeping him at home will be thwarted.  Little escape artists!
  2. As with the females, neutering will prevent unwanted pregnancies!  Responsibility doesn’t fall on the female’s shoulders!
  3. Your male will be less aggressive.  You won’t have to worry about fights on streets when he escapes or aggression towards other family pets or even family members. Early neutering can completely eliminate this problem.
  4. Your male will be less likely to mark his territory (especially indoors).  No worries about destroyed furniture, carpets and other belongings.  The strong smelling urine these animals spray when marking is extremely hard to clean up after.
  5. Just as with the females, neutering your male early is a major health benefit.  Doing so will help prevent testicular cancer.  Cancer is a death sentence in a majority of pets.

What if I can’t afford to spay or neuter my pet?

If you jumped into pet ownership without fully considering the cost of responsibly taking care of your pet and find yourself unable to afford sterilizing your pet, there are options.  There are many shelters and other reputable organizations that offer a low cost spay/neuter program.   Listed below are some resources that can help you research reputable, affordable spay/neuter options in the area.

Remember…..

The mass overpopulation of unwanted pets is not only a local, community issue ,but also a global issue.  You can help do your part by sterilizing your pet.  It may seem insignificant to you but, if every pet owner sterilized their pet, there would be no need for as many shelters and rescues across the world.  What happens to pets in shelters?  I’m glad you asked.  About half of them are adopted and other  the other half are euthanized.  It is senseless killing.  Do your part, spay and neuter your pets.