Why neutering is important
Most of the people in Bulgaria hesitate to neuter their pet, fearing that it’s painful or even degrading to the animal.
What is neutering
Spaying is the surgical removal of the reproductive organs of female dogs and neutering is the surgical removal of a male dog’s testicles. Both operations are performed while the dog is under anesthesia. Your veterinarian may want to keep your dog under observation for anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days. Certain procedures will require that you bring the dog back in a week to ten days for suture removal.
Why spaying or neutering is good for your dog
- Spaying and neutering helps your dog live a longer, healthier life.
- Spaying and neutering reduces, or can eliminate, a number of health problems that are difficult and/or expensive to treat.
- Spaying greatly reduces the chance of mammary cancer, especially if your dog is spayed before her first estrous cycle, and also eliminates the possibility of uterine or ovarian cancer.
- Neutering will decrease the possibility of prostate disease and eliminates testicular cancer.
Why spaying or neutering is good for you
- Spaying and neutering makes your dog a better, more affectionate companion.
- Spaying a dog eliminates her heat cycle, which lasts an average of six to 12 days, twice a year.
- Dogs that are not sterilized often have more behavior and temperament problems than dogs that have been spayed or neutered.
- Neutering makes dogs less likely to wander looking for females or get into fights.
Fighting the myths against neutering
- Altering doesn’t adversely affect the personality of your pet. Any changes brought about by spaying/neuterinf are generally positive. Neutered male cats usually stop territorial spraying. Neutered dogs and cats fight less and are less likely to become lost due to straying from home in search of a mate. Spayed animals do not go into heat or need to be confined indoors to avoid pregnancy. All altered animals remain protective and loyal to their guardians.
- There’s absolutely no truth to the myth that it’s best to let a female pet give birth to a litter before getting her spayed.
Solving pet overpopulation starts with you
Pet Overpopulation is a great issue in Bulgaria and we witness the problems it creates on the daily basis – personally on the street or through the media. What it really comes down is that pet overpopulation means diseases, dog attacks, hunger, dog imprisoned in isolators, and mostly: euthanasia. As a community we are used to respond to euthanasia with denial, much like any other fatal ending. To protest its existence doesn’t dissolve it. Laws were being changed, but this doesn’t solve the problem with pet overpopulation. To look the other way doesn’t halt its progression.
Our spaying/neutering is a solid, effective defense against overpopulation as it places fewer and fewer offspring in dog isolators and kill-centers. Another contributing factor to pet overpopulation is the “throw-away” society we’ve become. We seem to give much more thought on the breed rather than on the care that needs to be provided afterwards. In any case street dogs have no other origin but the pets surround to shelters or those who have been outright abandoned. Here are the general statistics:
- On average, it costs approximately $100 to capture, house, feed and eventually kill a homeless animal. This comes out of the taxes we pay.
- ‘Purebreds’ account for 10% of all the animals in Bulgarian shelters. Yes, at least one of your pet’s offsprings has a high chance ending in a shelter.
- Pets that spend most of their time separated from the family, either in crates or in the yard, are at greater risk of being surrendered to shelters. Consider this: While our world consists of interests outside our pets, we are their ENTIRE world and depend on us.
- An unspayed female cat, her mate and all of their offspring, producing 2 litters per years, with 2.8 surviving kittens per year can total 11,606,077 cats in 9 years.
- In 6 years one unspayed female dog and her offspring, can reproduce 67,000 dogs.