Dogs and Cats Should Be Spayed and Neutered at 8 Weeks, Says Group
ARAN is pointing out that in thousands of cases, birth control is desperately needed at a drastically younger age: that is, in the cases of dogs and cats. To make its point, the animal rights group is looking to negotiate with schools across the country this week to take the group’s new ad and stick it up on the backs of their toilet and locker doors in order to reach teenagers alerting them to the importance of birth control at an early age. The ad, which can be seen below, reads “Birth Control BEFORE She’s 15? Yes!” and goes on to explain, “Cats and dogs can be fixed at 8 weeks old. There is no Plan B for animals.” ARAN is offering to print and distribute the advert to willing schools.
“Dogs and cats can’t take a ‘morning-after pill’ any more than they can use a condom—and that’s why thousands of them end up in animal shelters every year,” says ARAN Director John Carmody. “There’s no Plan B for cats and dogs, kittens and puppies—spaying and neutering are the only ways to stop the homeless animal crisis.”
One unspayed female cat and her offspring can produce a whopping 370,000 cats in just seven years, and one unneutered male dog can father nearly limitless litters. Every year thousands of cats and dogs end up in Irish animal shelters. Many hundreds of dogs are euthanized in Irish pounds each year too. Unwanted dogs and cats who never make it to an animal shelter are often abandoned and must fend for themselves on the streets, where they succumb to starvation, disease, injuries, or abuse at the hands of cruel people. The solution is simple: spaying and neutering.
ARAN also strongly encourages all prospective dog or cat guardians to save a life by always adopting from an animal shelter, rather than buying from a breeder or pet store, which only exacerbates the homeless animal crisis.