February is nationally recognized as Spay and Neuter Awareness Month to educate and bring awareness to the benefits of spaying or neutering your pet.
In the United States, there are more than 6 million homeless animals brought to animal shelters annually. Often, these healthy, well-behaved animals are euthanized due to shelter overpopulation. By making the choice to spay or neuter your pet, you will help to reduce the homeless animal population and increase the longevity of your pet’s health.
While not widely discussed, spaying and neutering has been shown to increase your pet’s lifespan because it decreases the risk of certain types of cancers. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, spaying females prior to their first heat cycle decreases the risk of uterine and breast cancer, and also prevent uterine infections. Neutering males prevents testicular cancer and the enlargement of the prostate glands. By fixing your pets at an early age, you can provide them with a long, healthy life.
Additionally, spaying and neutering pets can curb bad behavior. Unneutered dogs can be more assertive and aggressive than neutered males, and unneutered cats are much more prevalent to spray than fixed cats.
It is a common misconception that sterilizing your pet is expensive. There are many veterinarian clinics and local shelters that provide these services at an affordable price. Additionally, many communities provide financial assistance to help offset the cost to spay or neuter your pet.
For more information about financial assistance programs in your area, contact your local Humane Society or local animal shelter.
To ensure your animal family member has a healthy, long life, and to help save millions of unnecessary homeless animals each year, please remember to spay or neuter your pet.
For more information or to find a spay/neuter clinic in your area, use the spay/neuter locator here: petsmartcharities.org/adopt-a-pet/find-a-spayneuter-clinic
Sen. Bill Monning represents the 17th State Senate District, which includes all of San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz counties, and portions of Monterey and Santa Clara counties.
