How does my pet benefit from being altered?

Your pet will be healthier, happier and easier to live with after it has been spayed or neutered. Neutering male pets reduces the chance of prostate cancer, as well as the urge to roam and fight. It also reduces territorial behavior. Spaying your female pet reduces her risk of mammary and ovarian cancer, and eliminates the chance of pyometra (an infection of the uterus commonly found in unspayed female animals).

At what age should my pet be altered?

Dogs and cats can be altered at six months of age or older. Ideally, female animals should be altered BEFORE their first heat cycle or pregnancy. It is NOT true that your pet should have one litter before being altered. Altered animals do NOT become lazy and overweight.

What does spay/neuter really mean?

Spay and neuter are forms of preventing unwanted litters by surgically removing the internal reproductive organs from your pet. The operation is done painlessly while your pet is under an anesthetic, and is performed by a licensed veterinarian. After the operation, with a little special care and attention from you, your pet will soon resume its normal activities.

How can I spay/neuter outside pets?

People who own outside pet cats that are not used to frequent handling can borrow humane box traps from People for Animals. This type of trap will enclose the pet without harm, enabling it to be transported to our clinic. Please refer to www.alleycat.org for more information regarding trapping of outside cats.

How will spay/neuter prevent animal suffering?

The tragic fact is that 13 million puppies, dogs, kittens and cats are "put to sleep" (euthanized) by shelters each year. Over 3,000 dogs and cats are born every hour in the United States. There are simply not enough homes for them. Untold thousands of unwanted cats and dogs, left to fend for themselves in the streets, will most likely die at young ages from starvation, injury or disease. Some strays are picked up and sold illegally to laboratories, becoming victims of painful and unnecessary experimentation.

Prevent unwanted pets through spay and neuter, and YOU prevent these animals from suffering and death.