The importance of pet sterilization
Say hello to Ares. He is a stray cat that my husband and I took in last week. My husband found him pawing at our front door last Friday night, and he returned to our back door on Saturday afternoon. When I brought him in (he wanted to come in on Friday night, but our children, two of the cats and our dog crowding at the door scared him off), he was cold, dirty, matted with a bit of road grunge, and his fur was infested with flea feces, a few live fleas, and general outside debris. I isolated him in our bathroom while my husband and I decided what to do with him. Obviously, we decided to keep him. The next day I bathed him, picked off the few semi-alive fleas that I found on him after his bath, cleaned out his ears, applied a bit of Neosporin to a small wound on his ear, clipped his nails, and put a flea collar on him.
Obviously Ares was a stray, but I dutifully put up a few signs around our neighborhood. Surprise surprise, those signs will have been up for a week tomorrow, and not one person has called to claim him. Meanwhile, he has settled in nicely in our home, and gets along with the other four cats and our dog. He’s outgoing, friendly, and is very affectionate to my husband and I, and our two children (who are three and five). He sleeps in our daughter’s room or with us most nights, though he usually heads into the kitchen and lets out some random meows and howls in the middle of the night.
Anyway, the point I’m getting to is that Ares is most likely the result of stray cats, or pet cats that have been let out of doors (something I don’t agree with; but that’s another blog entry altogether). When he came to us, he wasn’t neutered (something I intend on rectifying this week), and clearly wasn’t owned. He’s also young; I’d say no more than a year old.
SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS, PEOPLE. Even if your pets are indoors-only, you should still have them sterilized, because there is always a risk of them getting out. I have unfortunately seen the firsthand results of unfixed cats reproducing, and it isn’t pretty.
From The Humane Society:
Related posts:Stopping pet overpopulation starts with you!
Spaying or neutering your pet is an important decision for pet owners. As animal lovers who value our pets, it is important to understand the impact of this decision.
In every community, in every state, there are homeless animals. In the U.S. as a whole, there are an estimated 6-8 million homeless animals entering animal shelters every year. About half of these animals are adopted, and tragically, the other half are euthanized. These are healthy, sweet pets who would have made great companions.
The number of homeless animals varies by state—in some states there are as many as 300,000 homeless animals euthanized in animal shelters every year. These are not the offspring of homeless “street” animals—these are the puppies and kittens of cherished family pets and even purebreds.
Many people believe that their pet’s puppies or kittens would never become homeless shelter animals. But the reality is that every time the dog finds his way under the fence to visit the neighbor’s female dog, or the indoor/outdoor cat comes back home pregnant again, the result is a litter of dogs or cats. Even if they are placed into homes, it is still possible for them to end up in shelters once they become “hard to handle,” or for them to reproduce further and for the next generation of puppies or kittens to wind up homeless.
Many people are surprised to learn that nationwide more than 3 million cats and dogs are euthanized in shelters. Spay/neuter is the only permanent, 100-percent effective method of birth control for dogs and cats.
Niki
Oh man…I read your journal about the kittens, and of course I cried. I don’t know if I would have been strong enough to do what you did. *hugs much tight*
I’m happy to hear beautiful Ares is getting fixed! Good to know! All three of my beloveds have been fixed ^_^
I hope Ares brings even more love into your home! Congrats (in a way) on your new fur baby!