Courtney’s Ordeal

1. A female cat or dog will live a longer, healthier life.
   Spaying helps prevent uterine infections and mammary cancer.
2. Neutering provides health benefits for a male cat or dog, too!
   Prevent “oops” litters and neutering a male cat or dog can prevent testicular cancer, if done before six months of age.
3. No more heat cycles.
   Female cats usually go into heat four to five days every three weeks during breeding season. In an effort to advertise for mates, they’ll yowl and urinate more frequently – sometimes all over the house! Female dogs can go into heat two to four times a year – advertising for mates and producing a bloody discharge.
4. A male dog won’t want to roam away from home.
   An unneutered dog will go to great lengths to to find a mate – including digging under or climbing a fence. And forget about an unneutered cat: he’s outta here and will fight other suitors to get to a female cat.
5. A neutered male will be much better behaved.
   In others words: NO MORE SPRAYING URINE and a male cat’s urine won’t have that awful, awful, awful smell.
6. Spaying or neutering will not make your pet fat.
   This is a fallacy. What makes your pet fat? Lack of exercise and too much food.
7. It IS cost-effective.
   Compare the spay/neuter surgery cost with: caring for litters and litters of offspring, treating injuries from fighting animals, and the potential cost of treating uterine and testicular problems. There are lots of low-cost spay/neuter clinics … for those of you near us, here’s a list: http://karmacatzendog.org/resources/
8. Spaying and neutering your pet is good for the community.
   Trust us, your neighbors don’t want your unfixed animals in their yards nor do they want to hear the mating cries coming from your house/yard. Go the extra step and spay/neuter the community (homeless/feral) cats!
9. Your pet doesn’t need to have a litter for your children to learn about the miracle of birth.
   Hello!! You can find all kinds of educational material on the internet to teach your children about the miracle of birth.
10. Spaying and neutering helps reduce the killing.
    3 to 4 million animals are killed in US shelters every single year. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

PS. Courtney’s kittens are doing very well in their foster home. Their bottle feeder reports that at least one is using a litter box already AND they are starting to show interest in wet food. Lily, Haley, Cameron & Manny will be ready for adoption in several weeks.

UPDATE 7/31/14: Courtney has been adopted!!