Do you spay/neuter your pets?

[spc17]

My DH & I rescued 2 cats from adoption groups in 2000 and 2001. Our female cat was already spayed by the local SPCA prior to adoption. We took our male cat to the vet for neutering since he was too young at the time of adoption to have it done by his rescue group. Definitely enough animals available for adoption to not do this IMHO. I took extra food and coupons to our local SPCA 2 weeks ago and they had plenty of animals needing good homes. Only wish I had the space and money to adopt a couple more.

[QuadSquadMom]

All 3 of our girls are spayed & our boy is neutered. No way did we want puppies, or to put our girls through that.

[stacieinMS]

. We chose to take him in and get him fixed, even though he is an indoor only cat, we didnt want to deal with the spraying and him trying to get out this spring/summer. but I dont have any desire to fix my shi tzu there really isnt any reason too, unless the vet tells us that it is necessary for health reasons why else do I need to fix him?

Besides general overpet population, there are ALOT of medical reasons to spay/neuter. As a Veterinary Technician for 13+ years, we see lots of large and small breed "housepets" coming in at 5-7 years old with enlarged prostates or testicular cancer, as well as females with breast cancer or pyometras from false pregnancies. People seem more likely to leave males intact, I guess because they aren't messy like a female in heat.

It is a personal choice, but I have assisted on many tumor/ pyometra surgeries that could have been avoided if the pet had been fixed as a puppy or young adult.

[Timedess]

Originally Posted by twomoms Not all shelters force you to fix the animal when you get them we got our cat from the pound paid 10.00 and they handed him over, we only had to have our lease to prove that we put the pet deposit. We chose to take him in and get him fixed, even though he is an indoor only cat, we didnt want to deal with the spraying and him trying to get out this spring/summer. but I dont have any desire to fix my shi tzu there really isnt any reason too, unless the vet tells us that it is necessary for health reasons why else do I need to fix him?

I'll tell you why you need to have him neutered. Several years ago, we were given a dog (that was supposed to be a lab, but I know he wasn't full-blooded). Anyway, dh agreed to take the dog because he could tell that the home he was in was not treating him right. The dog was not neutered when we got him, and we never did find the money to have him fixed. It was just not there- we should have MADE it work. All the kids were in love with him. His name was Tex. One Fourth of July. Tex and our shelter-adopted Blackie (who came to us neutered) got out- scared due to the fireworks. Blackie came right back home; Tex did not. A day later we got a call from a lady who had taken him in. She told us she'd have gladly kept him, but didn't feel right about it because she knew we'd be worrying about him. We thanked her and brought him home. All was ok for another year....

Until the next fourth of July. Again, the fireworks scared the dogs- they had been brought inside, but let out to "do their business", and I guess someone left the gate open. Again, Blackie came right home- we found him huddled by the front door within the hour. Not so with Tex. "Entire" and ready to roam, he must have wandered around our neighborhood the whole night. The next day we got another phone call about Tex... not from the same lady as the year before. Tex had been hit by a truck, she said, and he was dead.

If he had been neutered, he would not have had that wanderlust, and he might still be with us today.

Of course, now we have our sweet Happy Girl, whom we found three years ago as a tiny puppy, apparently abandoned in our neighborhood, huddled under a fire hyrant trying to keep out of the rain. She is our wonderful sweet protector/companion, together with Blackie- and yes, she is spayed!

Even an indoor pet could get out once... and just once is all it might take to end up dead. I know that even a fixed animal might have that "wanderlust" (Our Sox cat was prone to wandering, but he came to us grown and entire, and even though we had him fixed, he still prowled- though he knew where home base was! He never did spray in the house, though), but not having that drive to find a mate can help considerably in keeping them home- and safe!

[faeryedark]

I can relate. We have 1 dog 2 cats (all "fixed") My Border Collie, Mandy is a mother hen without ever having had pups. She adopts kittens (2 so far and she's ten)
I've had a situation with my Dear (now departed...died of old age) Riff-Raff (cat) We got him as a kitten and at 9 mos. decided to have him neutered...well, he seemed to "know" when I had an appointment arranged and little "Houdini" would get out and dissappear for a couple of days. this happened 3 times. After I made the 4th appt. I locked him in the bathroom 2 days prior and he got "fixed" on Valentine's day (served little Romeo right)
We later found out the little brat had figured out how to work the latch on one of our doors and was leting himself out. He never completely stopped his wandering (he'd duck out around unsuspecting visitors) but after being neutered he never went far...mostly to the little old lady next door who'd feed him all sorts of treats and he'd come home a few hours later smelling of Lavender.

[vanessamarie]

Spaying or neutering decreases his chance of getting cancer. Dogs that are fixed live longer...

[8isenuf]

Absolutely they need to by spayed or neutered. I have eight cats and many of them have come to me as strays or from the humane society. We found a 5 week old kitten in a grocery store parking lot. He was sick and vomitting so we took him to the vet and he weighed one pound. He needed IV fluids and lots of TLC but he made it. The vet told us if we hadn't brought him in when we did he would be dead. He is large and in charge these days and has grown into his name of Titan. My point is that this kitten came to be from parents who were not spayed or neutered and he easily could have suffered a horrible fate. I have another story of someone coming around with a box of kittens so we took one. The kitten was with us for 5 months and then suffered a horrible death. He had FIP (feline infectious peritonitis) and his abdomen filled up with fluid and basically crushed all his internal organs. We rushed him to the vet when he started to struggle to breath and they diagnosed him with this moments before he died in our arms. The only way to catch this is from sexual contact or from his mother before he was born. We got him as a tiny kitten so we knew it couldn't have been from sexual contact so he must have got it from his mother. This means that whole litter of kittens had this disease and would soon die. It is not a treatable disease! No shots can prevent this, only responsible pet owner can by having their cat spayed or neutered so diseases aren't spread. Okay I will get off my soap box now!

[mytuesdays]

Our big baby is fixed!

[misse]

WELL IMAGINE FINDING THIS POST TODAY!!

MIL made me take her dog and my kitty today. Kitty panicked and broke the carrier and escaped and we could not find her. She had already clawed me twice trying to get her in the thing. Kitty got left behind.

MIL puppy vomited on me after we got to the clinic. I do not know how because she couldn't eat after 9pm lastnight. Carsick i guess.

Came home and kitty is acting like nothing happened. Purring and rubbing on my leg.

[druidessemily]

We got our kitties from the local animal shelter, and it's a requirement, but the cost was also covered in the adoption fee. (We paid $90 for 2 kittens) They go in on Dec 12th. :) One of them just went into heat!!