Plenty of pet owners are nervous about spaying and neutering their animals. After all, it’s a surgery, and lots of people have a hard time making what they think of as a personal choice for their animal. However, making this choice is one of the most important ones for your pet’s long term well being.
Sterilization reduces pet homelessness and euthanization.
Pet overpopulation is a huge problem, and sterilizing your pet keeps pet populations under control. This lessens animal homelessness and takes pressure off shelters so fewer animals are put down.
Sterilization reduces bad behavior.
Pets looking to breed act differently than pets who aren’t concerned with procreating. Unneutered dogs are more assertive and prone to messy urine marking, and unneutered cats tend to spray. The need to breed also causes roaming in males and females, which leads to lost pets and possibly unwanted litters. Aggression, and excessive barking, and potentially dangerous dominance related behaviors are also side effects of not being “fixed.
Snip now, not later.
The longer you wait to neuter your animal, the less behavioral impact surgery will have. The reason? Your animal will have already learned these behaviors. If you spay and neuter early, your pet won’t learn the negative patterns of fighting, roaming and spraying.
Sterilizing saves money.
If you spay and neuter, you don’t have to worry as much about reproductive system cancers, which require treatments that can cost thousands. You also don’t need to worry as much about animals fighting, which can cause expensive injuries. Getting pet licenses is also more expensive for non-sterilized animals, since many counties require those owners to pay higher fees.
Pets in states with higher sterilization live longer.
A recent USA Today article spotlighted a prominent veterinarian’s report that showed pets in certain states live longer. States with the healthiest, longest living pets also have the highest neutering and spaying rates, which equaled more animals living inside and a lower spread of infectious disease among overpopulated feral animals.
At LazyPaw Animal Hospitals, we strongly believe in spaying and neutering pets because it’s best for their long term welfare. We are educated, experienced animal surgeons who have created an animal hospital with a culture of genuine care, and we are happy to talk to anyone in need of a Frisco vet about cat neutering, cat spaying, dog neutering or dog spaying.
