Consider spaying/neutering your pets for their health

Everyone who owns a pet knows the love, joy and companionship that the pet brings.  

In return, we (as owners) are totally responsible for the health and well-being of our pets. This means that we must provide the nourishment, shelter, health care, training and companionship that our pets require.  

One of the decisions that we must make as a guardian is whether or not to neuter the pet.  We need to consider the intended place for the animal in our lives and the future health and well-being of the animal, as well as the effect on the people and animals immediately around us.

For the person who acquires a pet with the thought of some day breeding the animal, neutering is not an option. However, for the vast majority of us who acquire pets as companions, a spaying or neutring is a consideration for the animal’s health and for our own peace of mind.  As we project our own feelings into our pets, we are often reluctant to spay or neuter them because we feel that we are depriving them of the very basic need to procreate. This psychological need for fulfillment exists in man, but not in animals.

We find that pets are quite content to be an active member of their human household without raising an animal family of their own. We need only to see the grown offspring in vicious battles with the parent pets to realize that the animal “family unit” was designed only as a short-term entity to enable the species to carry on. 

Animals in the wild, as well as in the home, regard grown off-spring as competitors. This is why wolf cubs are kicked out of the den once they are mature. The pet animal feels the need for companionship (the need to be part of a “pack”) but this is provided by the owner. Cats are far less dependent on companionship than dogs, both in the wild and in the home.

Since the pet has no psychological need to remain fertile, we should consider the health and well-being of our animals. We know that a female dog is far less likely to suffer mammary cancer if she is spayed before her first heat. We know that a pet is far less likely to jump a fence and go wandering to an unknown fate if it has been neutered. Above all, we know that we will not be contributing to generations of unwanted orphan animals if we have our pets neutered.

Many people hesitate to have pets neutered because of the cost.  However, the cost is usually recovered just in the savings of the differential license fees over the lifetime of a dog. The cost of neutring is a very small part of what we must expect to pay for feeding and caring for a pet for 10 or 15 years or more.  Before we acquire a pet, we must consider the place that the pet is to have in our home and the changes that this will cause.  We need to be ready, willing and able for the responsibility before we take it on.