Why Spay/Neuter is Important

There are many reasons you should spay or neuter your pet. The reason you probably hear about the most is to prevent pet overpopulation. This chart from the Unicoi County Animal Shelter in Tennessee shows how quickly pets can reproduce:

As you can see a couple of dogs can turn in to more than 300 dogs in just four years. Cats are even more prolific. In addition to keeping unwanted animals from being euthanized in shelters, spaying and neutering animals improves their health.

According to Humane Society International, animals who have been sterilized at an early age tend to live longer, potentially increasing their lifespans by an average of one to three years for dogs, and three to five years for cats. There are several diseases that intact animals can get such as reproductive cancers. Many people mistakenly believe that sterilizing their pet will make them fat and lazy; however, just like with people, animals get fat when they eat too much and exercise too little.

On the financial front, spaying or neutering your dog is cheap compared to taking care of litters of puppies. Intact animals also tend to roam or get in fights, and the veterinary care for that is also very expensive. Therefore, it makes sense for you and your pet to have your animal spayed or neutered.