A snip in time saves lives

A NUMBER of readers have phoned me to express their disgust with that woman I wrote about last week, the one who felt it was okay to dump her dog’s puppies at the dog pound every time the dog had another litter.

“What’s the matter with this person?” one person asked me. “Has she never heard of taking responsibility? Sure, she can keep her female dog, but at least get her neutered!”

Some time ago, I discussed the excuses people use not to spay or neuter their cat or dog. Perhaps it’s time to review these excuses again, although some of you readers will already know what I’m going to say.

Here are some of the most popular excuses for not neutering your pet. (By the way, we use “spay” when we’re talking about neutering a female, and “neuter” for both males and females.)

1. “Since I never let my dog outside, he doesn’t need to be fixed.”

Common sense should tell you that it takes only one time outside for a female to get pregnant. Besides, whether a male or a female, during the times the female is in heat, she will do her best to find a boyfriend, and there will be lots of boys, who, although locked up, will do their best to escape and find that sexy girl.

Some people who are really cynical about this neutering concept simply laugh. “My dog’s a male. He’ll never get pregnant,” they grin.

Yeah, right, as if the owners aren’t contributing to the cat and dog overpopulation here in Thailand, just by letting their unneutered boys roam free.

2. “A female dog or cat should have at least one litter for health reasons.”

There is no medical support for this excuse. Your pet will not suffer physically from never having given birth. In fact, I’ll bet it’s the owners themselves who want to see their beloved pet have babies.

Perhaps they think their pet is so unique that she should produce babies just like her. Perhaps they just love the idea of their pet giving birth.If you think you’ll always be able to find homes for the babies, think again. The pounds in this country are full of unique, beautiful dogs and cats that no one wants.

3. “Neutering will make my pet fat and lazy.”

It’s true that neutered animals seem to get fat and lazy, but blame the owners, not the neutering. Without all the energy a sex drive requires, a neutered dog or cat doesn’t need as much food as an unneutered animal does. Reduce the amount of your pet’s food, give him the opportunity for more exercise, and your pet will not gain unwanted weight.

4. “Neutering is not natural.”

I don’t want to argue with religious reasons, but I do point out that your dog or cat is the result of thousands of years of human intervention - hardly a natural situation in the first place.

Putting down unwanted animals doesn’t seem very natural to me, either.

In addition to helping reduce the overpopulation of dogs and cats, neutering contributes to improving the health of your own pet.

In females, it greatly reduces the chance of breast cancer and eliminates the risk of uterine infections as well as ovarian and uterine tumours.

In males, neutering eliminates the risk of testicular cancer and reduces the risk of prostate infections and reproductive diseases.

For me, the most important reason (apart from reducing overpopulation) is what some researchers say, that by neutering your pets, you increase their lifespan by two or three years.

Our pets are with us such a short time, I’ll take any extension I can get. Given a choice, I prefer neutering any day.