Allyson Wiles
VET 102-099WB
Prof. Esformes
21 December 2017
The Importance and Benefits of Spaying and Neutering You’re sitting on your sofa watching The Price is Right and you hear their signature sign off, “have your pets spayed or neutered”. Have you ever wondered why we spay or neuter, or what benefits there are from either procedure? To most obvious reason for spaying or neutering your pet is to help control the number of homeless pets. In the United States millions of homeless, dogs and cats and other companion animals are being euthanized each year because there aren’t enough homes for all the homeless pets ("Spay/Neuter Your Pet"). Besides helping to control the pet population and number of homeless pets there are other benefits
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Pets that have been altered live longer. When altered, a canine will increase its life an average of 1 to 3 years, while felines increase their average life by 3 to 5 years. Altered animals have a very low to almost no risk of mammary gland tumors and cancer, perianal tumors, and prostate, uterine, ovarian and testicular cancers (“Spay/Neuter Benefits”). Lifespans of females increase from being spayed as it helps prevent uterine infections and breast tumors. Many of these tumors are malignant in about 50 percent of dogs and 90 percent of cats ("Spay/Neuter Your Pet"). Spaying also eliminates possible complications associated with mating, pregnancy and birth. Similar to females, males also have health benefits associated with neutering. Neutering male pets helps to prevent testicular cancer and some prostate problems such as benign prostatic hyperplasia ("Spaying and Neutering"). Neutering also reduces the risk of feline AIDS, feline immunodeficiency virus or FIV, in male cats ("Benefits of Spaying and …show more content…
Almost every country has a surplus of companion animals and they are forced to euthanize or completely disregard them which subjects the animals to great suffering. Japan is known for having Rabbit Island and Cat Island but there are more places like these where the overpopulation of companion animals is completely out of control. The United States alone has a surplus in the millions. It comes as no surprise considering cats are 45 times as prolific, and dogs 15 times as prolific, as humans and we can’t forget about rabbits, there’s a reason why the phrase “multiple like rabbits” exists (“Spay/Neuter
For the mass population of pet owners, pets are considered a treasure, so the conversation of how much is to be spend on them is a hot debut. I do agree with Burkhart Bilger's Argument that, “Our love affair with pets our pets has gotten out of control.” but I contend with the ideal that it is a widespread problem. I still insist that owners should show attention and love to their pet but so without the overspending in regards to your income. This topic is brought up in Bilgers’ article “The Last Meow” where he uses different facts, examples, and stories that back up my position.
Have you ever wondered how much it costs to have and maintain a pet? Burkhard Bilger, the author of “The Last Meow”, explains how Americans spend a lot of money on their pets and that people's “love affair” with their pets has gotten out of control. An observation I have made is that in many movies dogs are treated very well. When I was younger, I watched a movie called Bratz and one character would always have her dog inside a dog purse and they would even get manicures and pedicures together. The dog always had shiny clothes on and it was always very clean. Therefore, I agree with Bilger's argument that Americans “love affair” with their pets has gotten out of control.
The exotic pet trade is a booming industry, raking in millions of dollars every year. Everything from harmless leopard geckos to hyenas can be found in 30 of the 50 states. Of those 30 states, only 21 require permits to own these animals (Webber 2010). Indiana has just recently withdrawn its own requirement for permits, making 10 states that allow any kind of exotics without documentation (Kelly 2015). It is estimated that 15,000 big cats are being kept as pets in the United States alone, with more captive tigers in Texas than there are in India. Approximately 15,000 primates and 7.3 million reptiles are also being kept in the US (Webber 2010). What does all of this mean and, more importantly, what can be done about it?
One of the many problems that we seem to be having is the amount of No Kill Shelters in America. No kill Shelters are shelters in which the animals there are not treated like the “pound” or “dog house.” These shelters do not kill healthy or treatable animals and even if they are not treatable they reserve euthanasia for them as the last resort to trying to save the animals. However, many understand that these some of these dogs can be a menace to society, but every single animal should be able to live. We do not have many of these in this country or if we do we are use the animals for the testing of some of our products. One of the many benefits of No Kill Shelters is the promotion of adopting dogs. Many people do not adopt dogs but they go to breeders which is not a bad idea, but we have many dogs that get killed in pounds every day. Why do we Americans have the say so in when an animals wants to die? With everything there are pros and cons and some of these cons can be the overpopulation of animals , but we do not kill humans if one race/gender is becoming overpopulated. The
Thousands of animals are put to sleep each year due to not having any available homes for them to be adopted. According to Jennifer Sexton and Tom Warhol in Domestic Animal Overpopulation, “The average female cat can produce two litters of six kittens per year, a female dog can produce one litter of six or more puppies per year, making pet overpopulation a significant problem.” Animal overpopulation is costing money and you can help the pets with spay and neutering programs. A new solution is mandatory contracts for breeders and spay and neuter programs. This paper will talk about spay and neuter programs, contracts for breeders, and why some people don’t think animal overpopulation is a problem. Thankfully there are solutions to this issue of animal overpopulation.
The lack of awareness programs attributes to animal hoarding greatly. The Robinson Rescue is an organization that “educate[s] pet owners about the importance of spay/neuter as a means of ending pet overpopulation.” ( ). This organization shows children how they should think of animals so that they do not abuse their animals like a case in which the defendants argued “that pets are classified as personal property…” and that they have feelings too (Donaghey 2011) (Gunnarson). Few people realize that 354 animals are eutha...
More than half of American households have a pet and this trend is just spreading more and more. The main reason people are keeping pets is for the companionship that pets offer. Normal household pets, such as dogs and cats, offer people the attention and the feeling of always having a companion by one’s side that people may not get from other humans. Pets nowadays are often treated as a regular member of one’s family and people will spend a lot of money for their pets. In 2014, Americans has spent an estimated $58 billion on their pets along with hours of care for them (Yuhas, 1). Regardless of the type of pets people may choose to have there is always a common emotional bond that ties the human with the animal between all loving pet owners. This emotional bond benefits humans in various ways.
A pack of dogs is playing in a ditch which is in the middle of a busy road. Some people in the cars look to see if the dogs' owner is nearby and wonder why anyone would allow their dogs to play so close to danger. Some drivers seem oblivious to the motley assortment romping in the water next to the road. They all keep driving without another thought for the safety or lives of those poor creatures. Unfortunately, this is a common scene in many areas. Unwanted dogs and cats are dumped to fend for themselves because there just are not enough homes for all of them. Where have these unwanted animals come from? The huge population is attributed to out of control breeding due to irresponsible owners, breeding by owners solely for profit without care for the health of their animals and the pet population, and puppy mills or commercial breeding.
Countless lives locked away in cages and forgotten about have overwhelmed our society, it has left blood stains on our history as a species and if history has taught us anything, it’s that we have a choice to change our ways of adjusting to situations. A war which was fought in pursuit of ending such criminal means, yet we as human beings do little to nothing to end the horrific crimes of animal deaths in shelters. It is no secret that this world has become infused with problems that have extended from one side of the globe to the other. Amongst these problems lies a terrible truth: nearly every year, sums of almost eight million cats and dogs have been placed in shelters around the world. Out of these vast numbers, half will be euthanized; that equals to one animal being put down every 8 seconds. Animals that are not adopted are kept in shelters until they find a home. Most of these shelters do not have enough space or resources to care for the animal. Only 15% of dogs and 2% of cats that enter animal shelters are reunited with their owners. The majority of pets are obtained from acquaintances and family members. Twenty-six percent of dogs are purchased from breeders, 20 to 30 percent of cats and dogs are adopted from shelters and rescues, and 2 to 10 percent are purchased from pet shops. In addition, only 56% of dogs and 71% of cats that enter animal shelters are euthanized. The 10% of the animals received by shelters have been spayed or neutered, while 78 percent of dogs and 88 percent of cats are not spayed or neutered, in 2009 Statistics from animal shelters in 55 counties in WV (West Virginia) shows that nearly 54% of all animals entering shelters are euthanized, The euthanasia rates ranged from the lowest at 5% to the highe...
"Pet Overpopulation : The Humane Society of the United States." RSS. The Humane Society of
Have you ever wondered, how it feels to be in a place where is overcrowded, and you are next in line to be euthanize? This is the life of the shelter animal when no one adopts them for a certain period of time. According to American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or known as ASPCA, each year, approximately 2.7 million animals are euthanized, which are 1.2 million dogs and 1.4 million cats. I am sure; most of you have some point in your life, owned a dog or a cat. Whether you are an animal lover or not, you don’t want to see innocent animals losing their lives. I personally have adopted a dog from a local shelter. There is no doubt that pet adoption from a shelter is a satisfying decision that will save innocent
In dogs, when they are spayed or neutered, the risk of developing cancer later on in life is decreased (Root, 221). Male dogs have a reduced risk of testicular cancer as they age if they have been neutered at a young age. For female dogs this is a reduced risk of cancer in the mammary. Therefore if the animals have been spayed, both sexes have a reduced risk of cancer development. Spaying and neutering does not only help lower the chance of cancer, but also reduces wandering in male cats (Finkler, 125). Wandering will be reduced because the male will not be looking for a mate. Not only do male cats benefit from this, but female cats benefit from this too, and it also helps the male cat not to go in the road and possibly be injured or killed by a car. Also, for spayed outdoor female cats, there will not be an unexpected litter due to unplanned mating. However, any spayed animal will not have an unexpected litter. Spaying and neutering also reduces the hormonal levels in animals(Finkler, 126). The animal will also not have to go through the strain of giving birth to a litter.
"The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Development Program: The Health Benefits of Pets." NIH Consensus Development Program. Web. 30 Oct. 2011.
Because there are some irresponsible breeders, animals are born with disabilities and perfectly good pets are filling humane societies. These animals could ...
Pets are a common sight in many households today. In fact, according to the APPMA National Pet Owners Survey, 63 percent of U.S. households own a pet. At the top of this percentage are dogs and cats. One of the most important decisions an owner of a dog or cat has to make is whether or not to get them spayed or neutered. There are various reasons why people choose to not have this done, but all those reasons can be proven invalid. Many factors come in to play as why this is such an important thing to do. The effects of dogs and cats not being spayed or neutered has become such a major issue that it should be a law that all pet owners have to get their pet spayed or neutered.