Last week, we discussed the option of spaying/neutering as a method of pregnancy prevention. This is such an important issue that we feel it should be given even more prominence than the articles we usually present. Today’s publication is taken from an editorial I wrote for a GSPCA Newsletter some time ago. The argument is still valid so many years later, perhaps even more so.
My colleague Dr. Waldron wrote in that same newsletter about the unhappy experiences of abandoned animals. One of the reasons given for carrying out what seems to be such a cruel and dastardly act (“straying” the animal) is that owners cannot cope with the puppies and kittens that are presented to them twice a year by their pets. Well, let us be quite clear on this: Straying an animal in order to solve this problem is both cruel and illogical, even illegal. The abandoned pet will still continue to produce offspring; only, in this instance, there is no owner to help protect both mother and puppies/kittens.
There is one option that this article would like to emphasise, which could help solve the particular problem of unwanted puppies and kittens. Owners can have pets spayed (females) or neutered (males). This would entail a surgical intervention which costs somewhere between $8,000 and $10,000 for a dog according to the size and gender, and $5,000 to $8,000 for a cat. By comparison, I should mention that animal clinics and hospitals in the United States of America charge the US equivalent of $20,000 and $40,000 (and more) for exactly the same operation, using exactly the same drugs (and skills). The above-mentioned prices are just for the surgery. The medication costs associated with the post-surgical care are much higher than those prescribed by local vets.
Also, it is almost compulsory in the USA, Europe, and most other countries with sophisticated small animal practices that the dog/cat has to remain overnight in the vet’s clinic, at a cost.
Note that I am not making a value judgement about veterinary costs in other countries, or their post-surgical patient recuperation regimes; rather, I am maintaining that local veterinary surgeons do not usually charge exorbitant fees for surgeries. The market, in all likelihood, cannot sustain high prices, and the whole issue would become counter-productive. Pet owners would not spay/neuter their animals, and there would be a proliferation of unwanted offspring.
In addition, I must mention that several veterinarians perform these surgeries gratis on behalf of the local humane societies. Most commendable!
Spaying (ovariohysterectomy) involves the removal of the ovaries and the uterus (womb) from the adult female dog/cat. It makes sense for all sorts of reasons, not only for ensuring that no unwanted puppies or kittens come into this world. There is enough evidence in the literature to show there is a risk of the emergence of particular ailments within the reproductive system of males/females that have not been castrated/spayed. For example, male dogs can develop testicular and penis cancers, and females can get infections of the womb, and mammary and vaginal tumours. Furthermore, during the mating seasons, dogs and cats tend to roam far away from home into other animals’ territories. Fights may ensue, from which serious injuries may be sustained. Some of the lesions can be of such magnitude that the animal dies or has to be euthanized, or has to make frequent visits to the veterinarian in order to be kept alive.
Also, you do not want some huge roaming dog/tomcat violating your small female, possibly impregnating her; or worse, injuring her during copulation, even if this may be a relatively rare occurrence. In fact, the very unstoppable attention (and concomitant noisy nocturnal visits) by oversexed beaus during the mating season is in itself distressing. I should mention that scientific literature has recently been documenting a common feline viral disease which is similar to AIDS, and which can be transmitted during mating. The moral of the story is that once the ovaries and the womb have been removed from the females, they would not come into heat, and therefore would not be mated.
We shall continue to discuss this subject next week.
