When I would stay home sick from school, I always made it a point to watch The Price is Right. I remember at every conclusion of the show, Bob Barker said “And remember, always spay and neuter your pets!” I wonder how many people actually listened to that.

Most dogs and cats that families own are family pets. At some point the question arrives whether to spay or neuter they family pet. Most people opt to have the surgery done at 6 months of age. Some people don’t fix their pets manly because of the expense.  If it’s too expensive of an option for you, check out the Maryland SPCA’s website. The SPCA will work with people and offer lower prices for people with lower income.

There are many benefits to spay and neutering our pets. The biggest one is that newtered dogs and cats live longer, happier, and healthier lives. By removing the reproductive organs, it lowers the chance for cancer (uterus and testicular) and complications later in life.

Most male dogs seem to calm down after neutering. A lot of bad behavior seems to diminish a few months after being fixed. They also won’t feel that need to roam around, searching for a female. Accidents happen when animals stray. Puppies are expensive too!

If you love animals, seeing a stray animal on the street breaks your heart. Some pets escape, and some people actually let their pets go or abandoned. If your pet gets out and it isn’t fixed, we become overpopulated with dogs and cats. Cats and kittens are hugely overpopulated on the streets.   

Fix your pet just in case anything ever was to happen and they escapeed. Keeping the population of dogs and cats on the street down, will also help keep the population of animals in shelters and pounds down.  No one likes to see homeless pets, it breaks hearts. So spay and neuter your animal for everyone’s safety, including your pets.