View Single Post
  #2  
Old 12-19-2008, 09:27 AM
lynielime's Avatar
lynielime lynielime is offline
PetFinder Guru
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Bukit Prima Pelangi, KL
Posts: 672
Rep Power: 16
lynielime is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Benefits of Spay/Neuter for Dogs and Cats

Taken from:
http://www.rainanimals.org/spayneuterbenefits.html

Why You Should Spay or Neuter your Pet
Did you know?

Each day 10,000 humans are born in the U.S. - and each day 70,000 puppies and kittens are born. As long as these birth rates exist, there will never be enough homes for all the animals. As a result, every year 4 to 6 million animals are euthanized because there are no homes for them.

What can you do to stop the suffering?
Spay and neuter your pet! In addition to saving lives, spaying and neutering can also drastically improve your pet's health and life expectancy. The idea that pets become fat or lazy when they are spayed or neutered is a myth. Sterilized pets lead healthier, longer lives. Spaying a female eliminates the possibility of uterine and ovarian cancer and greatly reduces the risk of breast cancer. Neutering a male reduces the risk of both prostate enlargement and prostate cancer. Neutering also will make your pet more affectionate and less likely to roam, get in fights, or become lost.

Good for You, Your Pet, and the Community

Prevent A Litter - It's Good for You
Spayed and neutered pets are better, more affectionate, companions.
Neutered cats are less likely to spray and mark territory.
Spaying a female dog or cat eliminates its heat cycle, which can last twenty-one days, twice a year, in dogs, and anywhere from three to fifteen days, three or more times a year, in cats. Females in heat often cry incessantly, show nervous behavior, and attract unwanted male animals.
Spayed and neutered pets are less likely to bite. Unaltered animals often exhibit more behavior and temperament problems than those that have been spayed or neutered.
Prevent a Litter - It's Good for Your Pet
Spayed and neutered dogs and cats live longer, healthier lives.
Spaying female dogs and cats eliminates the possibility of uterine or ovarian cancer and greatly reduces the incidence of breast cancer.
Neutering male dogs and cats reduces the incidence of prostate cancer.
Neutered animals are less likely to roam and fight.
Prevent A Litter - It's Good for the Community
Communities spend millions of dollars to control and eliminate unwanted animals. Irresponsible breeding contributes to the problem of dog bites and attacks. Animal shelters are overburdened with surplus animals.
Just the Facts:
Kittens and puppies can be spayed or neutered as young as 8 weeks of age. All sterilization surgery is performed under general anesthesia by a licensed veterinarian.
Female dogs and cats can be spayed when in heat or pregnant. This can usually be done up until a few days before delivery. These surgeries can take longer, and can therefore cost more.
Spaying before having a first litter or heat cycle is usually a simpler procedure. The heat cycle for dogs is once or twice a year starting as early as 6 months of age. Duration is 3 weeks. Heat cycles in cats start as early as 6 months and occur every 3-4 weeks during spring through early fall.
The gestation period for both dogs and cats is 63 days. Female cats can become pregnant again as soon as 10 days after giving birth (while still nursing the first litter).
Health Benefits of Spaying and Neutering
Spayed and neutered animals no longer feel the need to roam to look for a mate. The result is that they stay home and have less chance of being involved in traumatic accidents such as being hit by a car.
Spayed and neutered animals also have a much lower incidence of contracting contagious diseases, and get into fewer fights.
In males, neutering decreases the chances of developing prostatic disease and hernias, and eliminates the chances of developing testicular cancer. It also reduces problems with territorial and sexual aggression, inappropriate urination (spraying) and other undesirable male behaviors.
In Females, spaying decreases the incidence of breast cancer (the rate goes down to almost zero if the spaying is done before the first heat cycle!). It eliminates the chance of developing a serious and potentially fatal infection of the uterus experienced by many mature unspayed animals (pyometra).
Spay surgery also eliminates the heat cycle and associated mood swings and undesirable behaviors, messy spotting (in dogs) and the attraction of all available males to your yard.
The simple fact is that spaying and neutering greatly increases the lifespan of your pet and increases quality of life as well!
Spaying or neutering increases your pet's chances for a longer, healthier life.

Spaying your pet before her first estrous cycle (that is, before she reaches sexual maturity) greatly reduces her chances of developing breast cancer and completely eliminates the threat of uterine and ovarian cancer and uterine infection, which are common occurrences in unaltered females.
Neutering your male dog or cat prevents testicular tumors and may prevent prostate problems. Neutering also decreases the possibility of perianal tumors and hernias, which are commonly observed in older, unaltered dogs. Because neutered cats are less likely to roam, the threat of abscesses caused by bites and diseases transmitted by fighting are greatly reduced.
An altered dog or cat is a better pet for your family.
Males neutered early in life are less aggressive toward other males and are not distracted by females in heat. Therefore, a neutered male will be less tempted to leave your property and cross that dangerous highway searching for a mate. Neutered males also are less likely to mark every one of your (or your neighbor's) expensive shrubs with his urine as well as inside the house.
Spaying your female pet eliminates the problem of stray males camping in your yard and decreases her desire to roam and breed.
No family wants to cope with an unwanted pregnancy.
While you may find friends or family to take the puppies or kittens, they may not spay or neuter them and more animals will be born, unwanted.
Spaying prevents your pet from giving birth to unwanted puppies or kittens.

Spaying results in a cleaner female dog and home.
Because female dogs pass bloody fluid for about ten days, twice a year, as a part of their estrous cycle, constant care must be taken to avoid carpet stains in homes with such animals. Spaying your dog eliminates this problem.

You are helping to alleviate the dog and cat overpopulation problem.
Each year, millions of unwanted dogs and cats are euthanized (killed) at shelters across the country. Although pet behavioral problems are the main reasons animals are given to shelters, many orphans are the result of accidental breeding by free-roaming, unaltered pets. The more pets spayed or neutered, the fewer dogs and cats will have to be destroyed.

Please don't breed or buy, while shelter animals die!
__________________
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Reply With Quote