Making Routine Vet Care A Priority

I have received dozens of questions about the hardest part of running an animal rescue. I think seeing abused and neglected animals is horrid. Honestly though the hardest part is seeing the needless deaths and suffering of puppies and kittens because someone did not spay or neuter their pet and then abandon the babies.

According to the Kindest Cut website, "Every day 70,000 puppies and kittens are born. More than 60 percent will be abandoned or taken to a shelter or rescue." I have heard on Animal Planet's "It's Me or the Dog," that "only one of four dogs born will live in a happy family home for their entire lives." I can tell you that you don't want to see what happens to the other three. Even those who are taken to shelters and humane societies run the risk of being put to sleep.

Here are the most common reasons that I have heard for not wanting to spay or neuter a pet:

1. I can't afford it.
2. I just never got around to it.
3. I don't want to change my dog's behavior or drive.
4. I wanted my children to see and experience at least one litter being born.
5. I wanted to make some money selling the puppies or kittens
6. My husband or boyfriend thinks it is cruel to neuter anything.
7. My dog is getting older and I really want a puppy instead of an older dog.

I want to take a moment to help explain why most of these reasons can be answered to allow for spaying and neutering. I have researched each and found collective data from Shamrock Animal Hospital, MNSNAP.org, the Humane Society of the United States, and multiple Twin Cities rescue groups and they all agree on the following:

1. Fixed pets are more loyal and stay closer to home.
2. Fixed females are less likely to have mammory cancer and fixed males need not worry about testicular cancer. In fact, fixed animals are healthier and happier over all.
3. Fixed pets are better behaved, calmer, and less likely to bite a human or another animal.
4. Spaying and neutering cost less than having a litter of puppies or kittens and raising them to the age of 8 weeks.  With low cost spay and neuter clinics it is a lot less than birthing a litter.
5. It reduces the number of unwanted animals that wind up abandoned or in overwhelmed shelters and rescues.
6. Their are now low cost and mobile units that spay and neuter all over the state of Minnesota and even in a neighborhood near you. You can drop your pet off in the morning and pick them up in the evening.
7. Rescues and even some vets would rather help get an animal fixed than have to find a foster home or space for an animal, pay for it's vet care, then find it a forever home.

All animals deserve routine veterinary care. Spaying or neutering should be part of that care. Some low cost options in the metro area include:

1. MN spay and neuter program (MNSNAP). Call 612 720-8236.
2. Kindest Cut. Call 763 489-7729.
3. Petco offers low cost vaccinations and a free exam by a veterinarian.
4. Green Veterinary Services in Brooklyn Park. Call 763 463-9391.
5. Cannon Falls Animal Health Services. Call 507 263-3929.
6. Free spays and neuters for pitbulls and rottweilers that belong to Minneapolis and St. Paul residents is availble by calling 651 649-4451.

For low-income families, it is possible to spay or neuter a pet and get vaccines for less than $100. Please make getting your pet fixed part of their routine care.