Why Spay Or Neuter?

Spay or neuter surgery is one of the best things you can do for your best friend!  This procedure helps your pet live a longer, happier, and healthier life; provides a significant cost-savings throughout the lifetime of your pet; and prevents unwanted and homeless litters.

Spay or neuter surgery:

Helps pets live longer, happier, and healthier lives

  • Prevents reproductive diseases and cancer (e.g. testicular, breast, ovarian, uterine)
    • Surgery on a female animal before her first heat cycle, or by 6 months of age, virtually eliminates her risk of developing breast cancer later in life.
    • Surgery on a female animal eliminates her risk for developing a serious, life-threatening uterine infection called a pyometra.
  • Reduces aggression and territorial problems
  • Reduces propensity to roam/stray
  • Eliminates heat cycles in female animals

Is a one-time procedure that provides a cost-savings over the lifetime of your pet

  • Reproductive diseases and cancer, which are highly preventable through spay/neuter, are very expensive and difficult to treat
  • Pregnancy and babies:
    • There could be complications with a pregnancy and some animals may need a Cesarean section surgery to safely deliver babies
    • A litter is expensive to feed, deworm, and vaccinate. A pet license in Fayette County for an unaltered dog or cat is $40 every year, versus only $8 for an altered dog or cat
  • A pet license in Fayette County for an unaltered dog or cat is $40 every year. versus only $8 for an altered dog or cat
    • For more information on pet licensing click here
  • If you need help affording a spay/neuter procedure, Spay’sTheWay provides free and low-cost surgeries to qualifying pet owners
    • Included with surgery at no additional cost are rabies vaccination, DHPP/FVRCP vaccination, and Fayette County pet license
    • Call (859) 233-0044 Ext. 228 to make your appointment

Compassionately prevents litters and reduces pet overpopulation

  • Did you know your baby can have babies?  Puppies reach sexual maturity as early as 6 months of age; kittens reach sexual maturity as early as 5 months
    • Don’t let a litter sneak up on you, seek spay/neuter services early!
    • Year after year, the number of babies born can add up very quickly
      • Fertile female cats, on average, have 1-2 litters each year, with an average of 4-6 kittens in each litter
      • Fertile female dogs, on average, have 1 litter a year, with an average of 4-6 puppies in each litter
      • Each litter prevented through spay/neuter can potentially prevent dozens, if not hundreds, of additional litters in the future

FERAL CAT SPAY/NEUTER

Feral cats are originally descended from unaltered domesticated cats (i.e. our pets) who were allowed to reproduce and whose kittens were not socialized with human contact.  Feral cats are wild animals, are afraid of humans, and cannot be handled.  While feral cats are truly wild, many other “community cats” tend to fall into the feral-category, including unowned strays and barn cats.  These cats often group together in a “colony” around a common food source.

The number of feral cats in an area can grow very quickly without human input.  The most effective and compassionate method for curbing population growth is sterilization to prevent reproduction, also known as trap-neuter-return (TNR).  TNR involves the humane trapping of cats, spay or neuter surgery by a licensed veterinarian, and return of the altered cats back to the location where they were trapped.  It is extremely important to note that simply trapping and permanently removing cats from an area does not reduce population size as new cats will move into the area, drawn in by the existing food source.  This well-documented scientific phenomenon is referred to as the “vacuum effect.”

TNR-cats are vaccinated for rabies/FVRCP and ear-tipped, which means a small tip of the left ear is surgically removed so cats can be easily identified as incapable of reproduction and to prevent altered cats from being re-trapped for surgery.

If you have a feral or community cat in need of spay/neuter, contact our Community Cat Coordinator at (859) 233-0044 Ext. 261 or [email protected]. We have humane live traps available for lending and can assist with trapping large colonies and hard to catch cats. We’re also happy to help senior citizens and members of our community who have limitations with trapping or transporting feral cats to our clinic. We do NOT relocate feral cats to other areas.

Learn more about Trap-Neuter-Return