Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Spay/Neuter Saves Lives!

Spay Day USA is an annual event that takes place on the last Tuesday of February (February 22nd, this year) across the country, and although we're always talking about the benefits of altering your pets anyway, Spay Day gives us a great opportunity to really dust off the old spay/neuter soapbox! There are so many reasons to spay or neuter your pet; it's good for them, it's good for you, and it's good for us.

Spay and neuter surgeries are very routine procedures, and although they may seem invasive to us, they are simple and virtually bloodless. While any surgical procedure is stressful for a pet, the risks associated with spay/neuter surgeries are so minimal that the benefits easily blow them out of the water!

An altered pet won't:
-Go into heat. If you've ever been around a cat in heat, you know exactly why this is a good thing! If you've never experienced a pet's heat cycle, think about this: your dog or cat is a mammal, and like human mammals, they have periods, complete with all the usual mess and bizarre behavior. 'Nuff said. (I'm a woman, by the way, so I'm allowed to say we behave bizarrely...male readers, quote me with caution.)
-Develop cancers of the reproductive organs. Uterine, ovarian, and testicular cancer are common in unaltered pets, are expensive to treat, and are frequently fatal.
-Be as territorial. While some pets are a little territorial by nature, spaying/neutering reduces urine marking behavior and overprotective aggression towards people and other pets.
-Be as likely to escape and roam. Roaming behavior is usually tied to searching for a mate, and those escapes can be expensive and dangerous.
-Lose its gender identity. We encounter this most often with male pet owners, and we refer to it as the "Dude Factor;" while you might associate your identity with your gender, pets simply don't think that way! They don't have any inherent gender identity to lose. Neutering a male dog doesn't make him a sissy; in fact, he won't even realize that anything has changed. Don't think about how you would feel if you were in your pet's position, because you aren't; instead, think about the extra years you're adding to his life by preventing serious illnesses and reducing his desire to pick fights.

An altered pet will:
-Be the same energetic, active pet he or she was prior to the surgery. There is a big myth that spayed/neutered pets get lazy and fat, but the fact of the matter is that weight gain is caused by feeding and exercise habits, not by any surgical procedure.
-Play better with others. The reduced desire to defend territory makes for an easier-going pet, which means you can rescue another one from your local humane society!
-Live longer. On average, spayed/neutered pets live 3-5 years longer than intact ones.
-Love you unconditionally, just like he or she did prior to surgery.

If you don't see a good enough reason there to alter your pet for his sake, consider altering your pet for the sake of all of the homeless pets that walk through our doors each day. Every year in the United States 4-6 million pets enter shelters, rescues, and humane societies; only half of them ever find homes. The fact of the matter is that pet overpopulation is a very real, very serious problem in this country and across the world and there simply aren't homes for them all. Allowing a pet to reproduce, even just once, brings 3-8 more lives into the world when there are already millions of unwanted pets waiting for homes. So save a life this February: Spay or neuter your pet, and spread the word. That simple surgery is the biggest step you can take to help us work toward a world in which there are no more homeless pets!

To find out more about the benefits, importance, and "how-to" of getting your pet altered, give us a call or drop us a line: 859.873.5491 or manager@woodfordhumane.org. Low-cost options are available, and we'll do what we can to help you get that pet fixed!

If you feel as strongly about spaying and neutering as we do, please donate to our Spay/Neuter Fund and help us continue to provide low-cost surgeries to families in need.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

2011 Feline Frenzy: A Purrfect Start to the Year!

We're happy to report that our 2011 Feline Frenzy promotion was a huge success! Donated cleaning supplies from adopters are keeping us looking (and smelling) our best, but more importantly, a whopping 51 cats found their forever homes during those exciting weeks! Those lucky felines came from every walk of life - kittens and seniors, lap-cats and strays - and they're all finally enjoying the loving homes they deserve! Here are a few of their stories:

Popsicle and Slurpee came to us in a litter of 6 orphaned kittens; they arrived in a cardboard box, and they were feeble and cold. We didn't know it at the time, but we soon found out that they also all had distemper, a serious illness that is usually fatal for kittens of their size. Despite the care of surrogate moms and veterinarians alike, only Popsicle and Slurpee survived; Slurpee struggled with neurological complications from his illness, and Popsicle lost an eye. Despite their rocky start, though, this adorable brother and sister grew into affectionate, playful youngsters with so much to offer any family - and this January, that family found them! It would just be silly to break up such a perfect pair, so naturally Popsicle and Slurpee were adopted together.

Loki had a little bit of a rough start the first day he arrived - he was a four-year-old stray cat who was shy of people and used to living on his own, and was understandably scared after being trapped in a crate and brought in! We let Loki relax a little in our exam room, and after spending a little time crouched on top of the filing cabinet, he let us coax him into a few cuddles. It was all up-hill from there! Before long, Loki was as cuddly as can be, and by the time he went home in January he was a completely different cat - confident, easy-going, and keen to make friends with cats and people alike. He was also considerably rounder than the almost-emaciated cat that walked in the door (in fact, his new mom reports that he is now on a diet)!

Coraline and Clover weren't strays, and they weren't surrendered by an owner...they were born at Woodford Humane! Their sweet mom, Calista, came to us from animal control one Monday, and we knew right away that she was pregnant; what we didn't realize is that she would give birth that very night! Calista and her babies spent several weeks with a loving foster family, and one by one the kittens got adopted. Coraline and Clover, the tortoiseshell twins, were the last two in the litter, and their forever home is twice as nice for taking these sisters home together!

We're all refreshed by a big adoption month like January, and we're excited to see what comes next. Help us keep those adoption numbers high in February: take advantage of our Sweethearts promotion! We love to send pets home in pairs, and Sweethearts lets us do just that: cat and kitten adoption fees are two-for-one, and if you adopt a dog you can take home a cat for free!

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