4 Reasons Why You Should Spay and Neuter Your Pets

People love pets and seem to enjoy welcoming new adorable new pets into their families when given the opportunity. When I was a kid, I used to beg my mother to let my one cat have kittens because I thought cats were the best things ever. My mother’s response was always, “we can’t. We got her spayed.” I always wondered why we decided to do this to all of our pets. Eventually, I found out that there are more benefits to spaying or neutering your pets than not.

Here are 4 reasons why spaying or neutering your pets is beneficial.

1. Improved Health: Pets are more prone to getting cancer if they are not spayed or neutered. For females, spaying them will eliminate the risk of mammary gland tumors, ovarian cancers, and uterine cancers. Neutering male pets eliminates the possibility of these pets getting testicular cancer or any prostate diseases. Therefore, getting you pet fixed will increase their chance of having a long, happy and healthy life. In fact, it is said that spayed and neutered canines can live 18%-24% longer and spaying and neutering felines can help them live 39%-62% longer.

2. Safety: Fixing your cat or dog reduces the risk of your pet roaming outside of the household. This reduces their odds of being hit by a car or contracting many of the diseases that hold danger for pets. Fixing your pet may also reduce their level of stress or aggression towards other animals and other people they may come across. Testosterone in pets can be become quite dangerous if you plan to have many pets in one household. Neutering male pets allows for the testosterone levels to deplete, helping to potentially reduce aggression.

3. Reduce Overpopulation: According to SpayUSA.org, “cats are 45 times as prolific, and dogs 15 times as prolific, as humans.”  Fixing your cat or dog will also decrease the population of stray animals. If every pet owner decided to spay and neuter their pets, it would reduce the animal overpopulation and reduce the amount of animals euthanized in shelters. Not every animal that is born finds a happy home, so by making sure your pets are unable to reproduce, you are saving lives.

4. Saves You Money: Pets are expensive, but having a pet who isn’t fixed can cost you even more money! First off, spending the one time cost of getting your pet spayed or neutered is much cheaper than continuously coming back to the vet to pay for potential surgeries due to testicular or ovarian cancers. Secondly, if you neglect to spay or neuter your pet you can end up with litters of kittens or puppies, which can become expensive. Finally, neutering your pet helps you avoid spending money on the repercussions of your male pet spraying around the house.

Are your pets spayed or neutered? What do you think the benefits of spaying and neutering are? Leave a comment and let us know!