World Spay Day, which takes place on the fourth Tuesday of Spay and Neuter Month (February 28th in 2023), was created to raise awareness about the importance of sterilizing pets. Sterilizing pets can benefit both the pet’s health and the health of the entire community.
5 Reasons to Spay or Neuter Your Pets
Prevents Certain Types of Cancers:
Spaying a female pet eliminates the risk of ovarian and uterine cancer.
Spaying a female pet at an appropriate age significantly reduces the risk of mammary cancer.
Neutering a male pet eliminates the risk of testicular cancer.
For canine companions, the breed, anticipated adult weight, gender, and household circumstances all play a role in cancer risk and can influence the optimal time to spay or neuter.
Reduces the Risk of Contagious Diseases and Injury:
Spayed and neutered pets come into contact with and encounter fewer animals throughout their lives, significantly reducing their risk of contracting a contagious disease.
These pets are far less likely to roam and get into trouble, reducing their chances of fight wounds and motor vehicle accidents.
Minimizes the Burden on Animal Shelters: Animal shelters are overly burdened with sheltering, feeding, and caring for unwanted dogs and cats. Spaying and neutering prevents pets from inadvertently contributing to the overpopulation problems facing these facilities.
Saves Lives by Helping Animals in Shelters Find Homes: By reducing the number of unplanned puppies and kittens that are born, you increase the chances that pets living in animal shelters will be adopted into forever homes.
Eliminates Problematic Behaviors: Dogs and cats that have not been spayed or neutered can exhibit problematic, unwanted, and/or dangerous behaviors related to their instinct to reproduce. Some of these reproductive-related behaviors include:
Wandering or roaming
Yowling, howling, or excessive barking
Mounting
Aggression
Territory marking
Spaying or neutering your pet can help to curb these instinctual behaviors, helping your pet be safer and a happier companion.
