Health Benefits
Dogs and cats have a greatly improved chance
of long life, good health, and contentment if
they are sterilized. The most reliable cure for
numerous health and behavior problems,
sterilization also acts as a powerful preventative.
Male Cats
As with unneutered male dogs, an urge to
breed increases the chances that a male cat
will slip out of the house in search of a mate
and suffer fight wounds and other injuries. By
far, most serious cat fights occur between
unneutered males. The resulting wounds
frequently develop into abscesses that must be
surgically drained and treated with antibiotics.
Worse, even a single bite can transmit deadly
diseases - most often, Feline Immunodeficiency
Virus (FIV) or Feline Leukemia (FeLV) - from
one cat to another. FIV, for which no vaccine
or cure currently exists, causes fatal failure of
the immune system.
Female Dogs and Cats
Spaying removes the ovaries and uterus from
female animals and so eliminates the possibility
of ovarian and uterine infection or cancer.
Bacterial infection of the uterus (pyometra)
commonly afflicts older unspayed dogs and
cats. As pyometra advances, bacterial poisons
enter the bloodstream, causing general illness
and often kidney failure. If the uterus ruptures,
the dog or cat will almost certainly die.
Pyometra requires emergency spaying, which
may fail to save an animal already severely
weakened. The best preventative is to spay
dogs and cats while they are young and
healthy.
Spaying can also prevent mammary gland
tumors, the most common tumor in unspayed
female dogs and the third most common in
female cats.(1) A high percentage of mammary
tumors are malignant: in dogs, nearly 50
percent; in cats, nearly 90 percent. Once a
mammary tumor spreads to the lungs or bones,
the cancer will be fatal. An unspayed dog is
approximately 4 times more likely to develop
mammary tumors than a dog spayed after only
two heats, 12 times more likely than a dog
spayed before her first year (by 6 -8 months of
age).(1) An unspayed cat is seven times more
likely than a spayed cat to develop mammary
tumors.
Spayed dogs and cats avoid the dangers of
giving birth. A birth canal that is overly narrow -
due to injury (such as a broken pelvis) or, as in
bulldogs, to a breed trait of narrow hips - make
giving birth perilous. So does inadequate body
size, which can leave a Chihuahua, toy poodle,
Yorkshire terrier, or other small dog too weak to
deliver puppies naturally.
Such disabilities often necessitate Caesarian
section to save the dog or cat's life. When a
small dog begins to nurse her puppies, she is
also vulnerable to eclampsia, in which blood
calcium plummets. Initial symptoms include
panting, high fever, and trembling. Unless
given an emergency intravenous injection of
calcium, the dog will suffer seizures and die.
Male Dogs (Surgical Sterilization)
Neutering removes the testicles and so
prevents testicular tumors in male dogs. A dog
who develops a testicular tumor must be
treated before the tumor spreads by the only
effective means - neutering. Especially
prevalent in older dogs, testicular tumors are
the second most common tumor in male dogs.
(Some dogs have one or two "undescended"
testicles, which remain inside the body; these
dogs have a particularly high risk of testicular
tumors.) Although only a small percentage of
testicular tumors are malignant, even
non-cancerous ones can threaten a dog's life.
One type of nonmalignant testicular tumor
sometimes secretes the hormone estrogen at a
toxic level that destroys the bone marrow's
ability to produce blood cells - a fatal outcome.
By eliminating the sexual drive that can cause a
dog to bolt from the house or yard, neutering
helps protect dogs from injuries and diseases
associated with roaming in search of a mate.
Neutering decreases roaming, one study found,
in 90 percent of male dogs.(3) On the loose, a
dog may be hit by a car, harmed by an act of
cruelty, or infected with a disease transmitted
by another animal. He can also be seriously
wounded in a dog fight - always less likely if a
dog has been neutered since neutering
reduces aggressiveness toward other male
dogs.(3)
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CLINIC UPDATE
We're on Our Way
Updated Feb. 21, 2012
*We are negotiating a lease for our space in Stafford. We are very close. Please
check back in March for more information.
Spay/neuter Vouchers
We currently have funding for spay/neuter of dogs only. A co-pay is
requested. We have very limited funding for rabies vaccines for SSI
recipients only.
Please note that animals are transported to Prevent a Litter Animal Hospital
in Richmond, Virginia. This is the only clinic we use. You have the option of
transporting yourself. If you need a voucher, please complete the form
below. Once registered, you will make your co-pay via our website. This
co-pay will be paid for the veterinarian. If you do not receive SSI, you will be
expected to pre-pay for your vaccines. We accept check cards or credit
cards.
Questions? Please email: saintseton@hotmail.com
We're on Our Way
Updated Feb. 21, 2012
*We are negotiating a lease for our space in Stafford. We are very close. Please
check back in March for more information.
Spay/neuter Vouchers
We currently have funding for spay/neuter of dogs only. A co-pay is
requested. We have very limited funding for rabies vaccines for SSI
recipients only.
Please note that animals are transported to Prevent a Litter Animal Hospital
in Richmond, Virginia. This is the only clinic we use. You have the option of
transporting yourself. If you need a voucher, please complete the form
below. Once registered, you will make your co-pay via our website. This
co-pay will be paid for the veterinarian. If you do not receive SSI, you will be
expected to pre-pay for your vaccines. We accept check cards or credit
cards.
Questions? Please email: saintseton@hotmail.com