Don't Litter - Spay and Neuter ~ Pawprints and Purrs, Inc.

Each year thousands and thousands of cats and kittens, dogs and puppies are euthanized due to overpopulation. Statistics show that 10-12 million pets are euthanized annually in the United States. Using the lower figure of 10 million, that's 192,308 per week or 27,473 pets euthanized every 24 hours, 365 days a year.

Seventy thousand (70,000) kittens and puppies are born every day just in the US...every hour 415 children are born...3,500 cats are also born. Twenty-five percent (25%) cats - one out of every four - are destroyed daily. The majority of these cats and kittens are bright-eyed and healthy, with no physical or mental deformities.

Why are they being killed? Because their care givers, the ones who have sworn to love and protect these animals are not spaying and neutering. Just because a pet is pure-bred, exotic or declawed or cropped does not mean that this type of pet won't end up on the street or in a shelter. Shelters are full of pure-breds, exotic, declawed and cropped unwanted pets. As many as 25% (twenty-five per cent) of all pets in shelters are pure-breds. Too many pet owners are grossly uneducated on this issue. Not only does spay/neuter ensure longer, healthier lives, but it prevents unwanted litters and homelessness.

Unwanted cat litters create the feral colonies of cats. There's no such thing as a stray cat, any more than there are native ferals - ferals are simply unwanted, abandoned domesticated house cats. The stray cats were once owned by human beings. Those newborn kittens belong to humans who dumped little Tiger and Princess because they "couldn't stand the thought of them being euthanized if taken to a humane society or shelter" because they are moving, or determined they are allergic to cats, or the new boy/girl friend doesn't like cats, or a human baby is on the way, or a thousand other excuses. Go ahead, just take a LOOK at actual excuses given to shelters and humane societies.

In the meantime, the unwanted Tiger and Princess have grown to love and trust their care giver, depending on them for their very lives. The caretaker turned deaf ears to the pleas of spay/neuter - for Tiger needs to be a "man" and Princess is so lovely - just think how "adorable" her kittens will be. The first step to abuse long ago began with the decision to not spay/neuter. And the viciously cruel fate of pain, hunger, homelessness, and illnesses Tiger and Princess are now experiencing since being dumped is passed on to their tiny, helpless offspring. The ludicrous idea that cats, kittens, dogs and puppies can survive on the streets is better than taking them to a shelter or human society for euthanization is simply unbelievable.

Too many people are under the impression spaying/neutering can only be done after a pet reaches the age of 5-7 months. Early age altering of pets has been practiced for over 25 years in North America. Early age altering means spaying and neutering pets between the ages of 6 and 14 weeks. By tradition (due to years by-gone anesthetic techniques that weren't available at the time) waiting until a pet was older increased survival rate during surgery. However, with modern technology, there is no need to prolong spaying and neutering as a medical reason. Susan Little, DVM of the Cat Fanciers' Association Health Committee states:

Over the years, the safety of early altering has been questioned, mainly by veterinarians who may be unfamiliar with the surgical and anesthetic techniques required for pediatric patients. As well, concerns that early altering could increase the incidence of feline lower urinary tract disease, could affect skeletal development, and affect behavior have been voiced. These concerns have largely been laid to rest by many studies, and early altering is becoming more widespread and available. A study recently published by researchers at the University of Florida found no significant differences in the physical and behavioral characteristics of cats altered at 7 weeks of age compared to those altered at 7 months of age.

For additional information on early altering, check this article published by Alley Cat Allies. In order to read the article, you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader®, a free program. (This is a very useful program to view and print documents in their original formats.)

Shelters are filled with too many "rescued" animals, only to be euthanzied because there simply aren't enough good, safe homes to go around. Rescue workers are fatigued, overworked and seldom paid for the tremendous load they have undertaken. An emotional and heartbreaking job - seeing so much death because they can't save them all, turning away needy ones because they have so many during the spring and fall "kitten and puppy" seasons.

Ok, so you still say none of the above pertains to you ... did you permit your pet to mate so the children could see the beauty of birth or because you just adore cute kittens or puppies? It's too bad that you won't hang around to see the tragedy of The Longest Walk.