The Benefits of Spaying and Neutering Your Pet
There are many benefits to having your pets spayed or neutered. While it is indeed beneficial to both you and your pet, it is also considered to be an important responsibility as a pet owner. There is a reason, or many rather, why shelters require any animal to be spayed or neutered before being adopted out of their facility. Let’s talk about some reasons as to why spaying and neutering is so beneficial to both you and your pet.
Health Benefits
Some of you may be wondering how putting your pet through surgery could possibly benefit their health. First of all, these surgical procedures are performed using the most minimally invasive techniques possible. In the case of spaying and neutering your pet, the benefits far outweigh any risk involved. Some of these benefits include:
- Eliminating the risk of ovarian and testicular cancer. Spaying or neutering can reduce the risk of mammary gland tumors and/or uterine cancer, especially if done before the female’s first heat cycle
- Reducing the desire to roam, which will help keep your pet safely out of the streets
- Pets who have been spayed or neutered have been shown to lead longer, healthier lives
Behavioral Benefits
Spaying and neutering your pet can help to correct behavioral issues that you may be having with your pet.
- Calm Aggressive Behavior: Some animals that remain intact have been known to display some aggressive behavior. This is most common among the males, and neutering has been shown to decrease aggressive behavior, as well as reduce the likelihood of dog bites.
- Eliminate Desire to Spray or Mark Territory: Another common problem with male cats and dogs is their desire to spray or mark their territory. Neutering can help to eliminate this problem. No pun intended.
- Keep Your Pet Out of the Street: As previously mentioned, spaying and neutering your pet can reduce your pet’s desire to roam. Female dogs and cats have a tendency to want to roam when they come into heat, resulting in the males exhausting every effort to get out and find a mate. This presents many dangers to your pet, including traffic accidents and fights with other animals.
Solution to Overpopulation
Overpopulation is a big problem facing feline and canine communities. Spaying or neutering your pet makes you a part of the solution by preventing unwanted litters of puppies and kittens, reducing the number of stray animals roaming the streets
- Reducing the number of animals being brought into shelters, ultimately helping to reduce the number of animals being euthanized each year
- Free to a Good Home? Overpopulation can lead to more animals ending up in abusive situations. Oftentimes, when someone’s pet has an unexpected litter of puppies or kittens, they choose to re-home these animals for little to no re-homing fee. This can easily land animals in the hands of abusive or irresponsible owners.
Be a Part of the Solution
The mere thought of the number of stray animals that suffer from roaming the streets day after day, along with the thousands of homeless animals that sit in shelters day in and day out, is enough for us to know that we want to be a part of the solution. We want you to be a part of the solution as well. As pet owners, choosing to spay or neuter our four-legged friends is helping to reduce the number of homeless animals in our community, and we think that is a great solution to be a part of!
Our Mission: Wellness Foundation
Spaying and neutering aligns with the Mission of our Wellness Foundation. We started the Wellness Foundation to make the world a better place for all pets. A big part of that involves our partnership with Best Friends Animal Society, a leading animal welfare organization dedicated to ending the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters. As the Official Pet Food Partner of Best Friends, we are proud to provide natural pet food for the animals they rescue, so they have access to the healthiest nutrition possible.
We are also committed to helping the pets at Best Friends find forever homes. And when they do, we want their first meal to be from us, so we send their new families home with free Wellness Pet Food. Because pets deserve nothing less than the most nutrient-dense goodness in every bowl, starting with the first one.