We often hear that spaying and neutering saves lives. In fact, it’s one of the best things you can do for your pet, but the how and why might not be obvious. How does sterilizing your pet save a life?

Our community already has too many homeless pets, and adding to the population through breeding, whether intentional or not, makes it more difficult to find homes for all of the dogs and cats in our area.  Pet parents often think that letting their dogs or cats have one litter is not contributing to the problem, provided they find homes for all of the puppies or kittens that are born; however, the truth is these puppies and kittens will go to families that otherwise might have considered adopting a dog or cat from a shelter. 

In addition, every unaltered pet placed in a new home has the potential to have its own puppies or kittens down the road, which adds even more pets to the community population.  A female cat can come into season as early as 6 months of age, often surprising her well-intentioned owner with a litter just as he thought to schedule surgery with a vet. 

As pet parents, we can help reduce the number of orphaned animals in Greater Richmond by having our pets spayed or neutered.  We all love puppies and kittens, and there are plentiful opportunities to spend time with them as foster parents for one of the shelters in our area.  During the summer months, there are hundreds of little ones who need our help.

Spaying or neutering our pets will improve their health and long-term happiness.  From a medical perspective, fixing our pets will reduce a number of illnesses.  Unaltered pets are more likely to develop mammary, ovarian, uterine and prostate tumors, infections and enlarged prostates.  Neutering your male pet will make him less likely to roam, fight or spray urine to mark his territory.  For a female, with every heat cycle her odds of developing mammary tumors increase, and she is more likely to get a sexually transmitted disease that could lead to cancer.  We can protect our pets’ overall health by having them spayed or neutered.

The Richmond SPCA’s Smoky’s Spay/Neuter Clinic offers free and low-cost surgeries Monday through Friday.  Through March 31, our medical team will spay or neuter cats of residents in Hanover, Henrico, Richmond, Chesterfield or Goochland for free (without any income qualifications).  For more information or to schedule an appointment, please call the Spay/Neuter Helpline at (804) 521-1300.

Leigha, we recognize that this is a controversial topic and believe that everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion.

Though i thoroughly agree with spaying/neutering and if breeding takes place i believe the pups should all be microchipped and go to homes that won’t breed. but I think the most recent article in todays times dispatch written by none other than Robin Star CEO of the SPCA is completely disgusting as she believes that pit bulls and rottweilers should be mandatory spay neuter which in turn would eventually phase out these types of dogs completely within 10-15 years. and she goes on to say that they shouldn’t be be allowed to be transported for any reason into our community from other places, this would severely hurt rescue efforts and this is not the answer. to single these dogs out is wrong. human responsibility is the answer. I will be sending a very specific letter to her but i wanted to comment here to voice my concern with her train of thought on this topic.

Post Your Comments: