Bayside Animal Hospital

Top 10 Reasons to Spay & Neuter
It Could Save Your Pets Life

1. Neutered males are less tempted to leave your property and cross that dangerous street looking for a mate. Of the male animals hit by a car and taken to Bayside Animal Hospital for treatment approximately 90% are not neutered.

2. Spaying your pet before she reaches her first estrus cycle will greatly reduce her chances of developing breast cancer and also eliminates the threat of uterine and ovarian cancer.

3. Having puppies or kittens is time consuming, demanding, and expensive. By four weeks of age a litter of four, eight, or possibly fourteen is active, messy, noisy, and potentially destructive. The cost of stud fees, veterinary care, advertising, and daily care and feeding of the litter consumes most of the "profit." Finding good homes for the kittens and puppies can be difficult and shelters are already crowded with unwanted pets.

4. Neutered males are less aggressive toward other males and are not distracted by females in heat. The threat of abscesses caused by bites and diseases (like feline leukemia) transmitted by fighting are greatly reduced.

5. An obese, lazy animal is the result of excess food and insufficient exercise, not spaying and neutering.

6. Dogs and cats do not give birth at our convenience; thus children are often in bed or in school at the time of delivery. If you think that letting your dog or cat have a litter would be educational for your children, contact your vet or library for other educational alternatives.

7. Neutered cats are less likely to spray. Neutered dogs are less likely to mark their territory with urine.

8. Spaying your female pet will eliminate the possibility of pyometra (uterine infection) which is a life-threatening condition that requires emergency surgery.

9. Neutering your male pet will eliminate testicular tumors, decrease the possibility of perianal tumors and hernias, and may prevent prostate problems.

10. Each year, millions of unwanted cats and dogs are euthanized (put to sleep) at shelters across the country. Many of these are the result of accidental breeding by free-roaming unaltered pets. The more pets spayed and neutered the fewer cats and dogs will have to be destroyed.