It’s February again, which means it is now Spay Awareness Month. Spaying and neutering your pets is the best way to curb the problem of overpopulation in the U.S. In 2023 alone, over six million dogs and cats entered animal shelters needing homes. Unfortunately, there are not enough shelters or staff to care for all these homeless pets, and in many cases, shelters are forced to either turn away animals or euthanize some.
It’s not just that these pets are entering shelters; they’re not being adopted quickly enough. Since 2020, animals have been staying at shelters for longer periods. More animals need homes than can be adopted, and with more animals being born every year, that issue is not going away anytime soon.
This is why neutering and spaying your animals is so important: It prevents even more animals from being born. Without it, there would be no real way to curb exponential population growth effectively. Both cats and dogs can typically have their first litter at less than a year old – as early as four months in the case of cats. They can also often have more than one litter in a year.
Neutering and spaying your pets also have other benefits and can even increase their lifespan. An animal is less likely to wander away from home searching for mates, which could lead to serious injuries. Males, in particular, are less likely to get into fights. Neutering and spaying also reduce certain cancers and infections of the reproductive system. Male animals are also less likely to spray and otherwise mark their territory, which, for an indoor animal, consists of your house.
Here at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge (TCWR), we also spay and neuter our animals. Native animals are spayed and neutered so they don’t attract other animals from the wild. For non-native animals, most practices avoid spaying females because it is a more invasive procedure.
At TCWR, we neuter male animals before reintroducing them with a female, except for male lions. Since a lion’s mane is tied to testosterone levels, neutering would cause a male’s mane to fall out. Instead, we perform vasectomies on male lions to prevent breeding while preserving their mane.
Glacier, a white tiger, was rescued alongside lioness Ungowwa. They had previously been a breeding pair at an Indiana ‘pay-to-play’ facility. After their rescue, Glacier was neutered before he was reintroduced to his companion, Ungowwa. Being accredited through the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS), TCWR is a strictly non-breeding facility that prevents genetic complications from being passed down to any offspring and avoids contributing to captive animal overpopulation.
Breeding season for animals such as cats and dogs typically starts in the spring, so now is the time to make an appointment with your vet. By spaying and neutering your pets before the breeding season begins, you are doing your part to keep animals out of shelters and in your home.