Why Sterilize your pet

Why Sterilize?
The decision to spay or neuter your pet is an important one for pet owners. It can be the single best decision you make for their long-term welfare.

The following reasons are the most common:

Reduces pet homelessness

Homeless animals enter animal shelters every year. Barely half of these animals are adopted. Tragically, the rest are euthanized. These are healthy, sweet pets who would have made great companions.

Spaying/neutering is the only permanent, 100 percent effective method of birth control for dogs and cats.

*The Animal Trust Fund is a no kill charity

Spaying/neutering is the only permanent, 100 percent effective method of birth control for dogs and cats.

Your pet’s health

Pets who have been sterilized also live the longest. Research has shown that neutered male dogs live 18% longer than un-neutered male dogs and spayed female dogs live 23% longer than unspayed female dogs.

Pets that are sterilized do not have the urge to roam, exposing them to fights with other animals, getting struck by cars and other mishaps.

Unsterilized female cats and dogs have a far greater chance of developing pyrometra (a fatal uterine infection), uterine cancer, and other cancers of the reproductive system.

Medical evidence indicates that females spayed before their first heat are typically healthier. (Many veterinarians now sterilize dogs and cats as young as four months of age.)

Male pets who are neutered eliminate their chances of getting testicular cancer, and it is thought they have lowered rates of prostate cancer, as well.

Curbs bad behaviour

Unsterilized dogs and cats are much more assertive and prone to urine marking.

Although it is most often associated with males, females may do it, too.

Spaying or neutering your pets should reduce urine marking and may even stop it altogether.

Other behavioural problems that can be ameliorated by spay/neuter include:

  • Roaming; especially when females are “in heat.”
  • Aggression; Studies show that most dog- bites involve dogs which are unsterilized
  • Excessive barking, mounting and other dominance-related behaviours.

Millions of pet deaths each year are a needless tragedy. By spaying and neutering your pet, you can be an important part of the solution.