Each year when the weather warms pets give birth to a new progeny of cute baby animals.
But often these additional mouths to feed end up at the local animal shelter, offered in parking lots and sometimes dumped in neighborhoods.
The best way to reduce the number of unwanted animals is to have your pets spayed or neutered.
Pets, unlike people, tend to have litters of young, producing large numbers of animals with each season. While young animals are certainly cute, they eventually grow up to be adults.
By controlling the pet population though spaying and neutering the number of unwanted pets is reduced. Minimizing the number of unwanted pets also reduces the number of animals that may have to be euthanized due to shelter overcrowding.
While the Pearl River County animal shelter does everything they can to minimize the number of euthanized pets, it is sometimes necessary to keep their population at a manageable level. While current statistics were unavailable, the American Humane Association estimates more than 3.5 million animals were euthanized nationwide in 2008.
Spaying or neutering a pet can be pricy for some pet owners. At times the surgery can cost a pet owner $100 or more, depending on the breed and gender.
In an effort to help reduce the numbers of pets without homes, and help those families with fixed incomes, the PRCSPCA will sometimes offer coupons that reduce the cost of having pets spayed or neutered.
Once you have had your pet sterilized, they will return home a bit groggy and without much of an appetite. Be sure to encourage drinking and eating if they feel like it, but expect them to still be recovering from the medication they were given during surgery.
Also, be sure to prevent your pet from licking, scratching or biting the suture site.