So why should people care about altering their dog or cat? According to the Humane Society of the United States, annually 3.5 million dogs and cats are euthanized because there are not enough homes for them. These are perfectly good animals who are adoptable but the fact of the matter is there simply aren’t enough places for them to live, pet overpopulation. In El Dorado County there are an estimated 37,000 dogs and 44.000 cats and at least 50% of these animals are not spayed or neutered causing a multitude of animals to land in the El Dorado County Shelter looking for new homes.
What is PAWED doing to solve the problem of Pet Overpopulation?
PAWED offers coupons to defray the cost of altering your pet. Stop by the El Dorado County Animal Shelter or Animal Outreach to receive your free coupon.
Animal Outreach offers low cost Spay and Neuter Services (Cats $25 males and $35 for females, Dogs range from $85 for a dog under 30 pounds to $135 for dogs over 100 pounds). Use a PAWED coupon and save even MORE!
El Dorado County Shelter staff began altering shelter animals in PAWED’s Mobile Spay/Neuter Clinic in 2009. From January 27,2009 to September 30, 2011, 2481 shelter animals were spayed or neutered in the PAWED Mobile Clinic. In the summer of 2011, PAWED volunteers (including a volunteer veterinarian, vet tech and vet assistant) began altering privately owned pets in the Mobile Clinic in the Georgetown Divide area. 70 dogs were spayed or neutered in five clinics. For more information on how to get PAWED’s Mobile Clinic into your community, click here for requirements.
Spay/Neuter Myths:
- MYTH: We can sell puppies or kittens to make money. TRUTH: Even “well known breeders” are lucky to break even when raising litters. The cost of stud fees, vet care and quality food consumes most if not all of the profit.
- MYTH: My children should witness the miracle of our pet giving birth. TRUTH: Pets often have their litters in the middle of the night or in an isolated area away from the family. Pets need privacy while giving birth and any intrusion can cause the mother to become very stressed and they could possibly reject the young or injure the owners.
- MYTH: My pet will get fat and lazy. FACT: Pets that become fat and lazy are usually overfed and do not get adequate exercise.
- MYTH: I am concerned about the risks of anesthesia. FACT: 80% of dogs and 90% of cats killed by vehicles are un-neutered. There is a risk to anesthesia but the benefits far outweigh the statistically minor risk of anesthesia.
Other considerations: Pets live longer and healthier lives. Spaying eliminates the risk of uterine or ovarian cancers and reduces the risk of breast cancer by 4 fold if done before the dogs first heat cycle. And while neutered males have an increase in the risk for bladder and prostate cancer they are far more likely to live to be old enough to have these diseases because they did not get hit by a car, shot by a rancher or die from a ruptured prostatic abscess. Pets are also less likely to mark, bite, or stray away from home and are typically more affectionate.
