Birth Control for Pets

According to The Humane Society of the United States… “About 2.7 million healthy, adoptable cats and dogs—about one every 11 seconds—are put down in U.S. shelters each year. Often these animals are the offspring of cherished family pets. Spay/neuter is a proven way to reduce pet overpopulation, ensuring that every pet has a family to love them.”

My sister Dixie went to the vet on Tuesday to get spayed.  I did a Google Search and found out that spaying is an operation that makes it so girl dogs can’t have puppies.  I’m a girl dog so I asked my Mom how come she didn’t take me to the vet to get spayed and she said I was already spayed when she adopted me. I was really little so I didn’t remember.

Mom and Dad love us, and they loved all of the dogs that lived with them before and they made sure all of them were spayed or neutered.   Mom said it wasn’t a difficult decision because she did lots of research and believes the good that comes from “fixing” her dogs, out-weighs the bad that could possibly happen to them.  Yes, she said sometimes bad things happen but the odds or on our side.  Whatever that means.

Spaying not only stops dogs from having puppies when there aren’t enough homes for all of them, it can be good for the mental and physical health of the dog.  Spayed dogs have less of a chance of getting sick with uterine, ovarian or breast cancer which are all very, very bad sicknesses to get. Spaying also makes dogs act nicer.  Believe me, when Dixie first came to live with us, she was in heat and she was a major witch with a “B”. She tried to get out of the pen all the time.  She was moody and so bossy and when we would play fight, sometimes she would try to bite me for real.  I hope they are right when they say spaying will help her not be so witchy.

Like any operation, bad stuff can happen but she has been home for couple of days she seems to be okay.  Neither of us is happy that she can’t jump on the couch or bed or play fight with me.  She has to be in her crate a lot during the day and all night. Mom says we have to wait a couple of more days and then we can play all we want.  Some people say girl dogs get fat after they get spayed.  Maybe that’s why I tend to be a little on the chunky side but we do watch my diet and exercise and I’m sure Mom will do the same for Dixie.

There are lots of different opinions about what is the best age to spay or neuter a dog but I think most responsible dog owners will agree that spaying and neutering is the right choice for their pets. After all, if I had a litter of puppies, we could never give any away and we would have too many dogs in our house.

Are you spayed or neutered?  Is so how old were you when you had your operation?

To your health!

Your friend,

Zeva

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