Sigh. I wish you all knew.

[AddieGirl]

I wish everyone who is anti-spay/neuter or against pediatric spay/neuter could work one day in my job as front office coordinator at a spay neuter clinic in the southern US.

I understand that we (we as in responsible, informed, educated pet owners) are more than capable of successfully raising an intact dog without unwanted litters (most of the time). However, the people I see on a daily basis are not. My phone rings off-the-hook every single day with people who's dogs are having multiple litters a year. These are mixed breed dogs and purebred dogs. We actually had a German Shepherd being spayed yesterday whose owner told me that she was still stuck with 3 of her puppies at home that she couldn't sell and they are now 6 months old. And guess what? On her paperwork she spelled shepherd: sheppard. She is breeding our beloved GSD's and can't even spell the name of the breed.

This is NOTHING compared to the dogs we see whose nipples drag the ground and have had countless litters. We do an average of around 30 surgeries per day and are not even putting a DENT in the problem in our area.

I understand the research against early spay/neuter. My point is, there is a bigger problem. Yesterday I got a call from a nice young woman whose dog had a litter of puppies 8 weeks ago. She told me that her dog had complications with delivery and 3 were stillborn. There were 8 that survived and she noticed today that one of them was dragging its legs and can't walk. All of their gums are white and they seem sick. I gave her the number to the lowest priced full service vet in our area but she said she had absolutely no money. Her only option is if it gets really bad, and the puppies are suffering, our local animal control will euthanize them free of charge.

This is not an isolated case, these people are countless! I get calls like that every day because people know that we offer low-cost spay/neuter and they think we offer full service care. If her dog had been spayed before her first heat, those puppies wouldn't even exist and wouldn't be suffering.

It's just hard to live in an area where there is so much overpopulation and the shelters have to euthanize most of the animals just to make room for more.

I love helping people and it makes me so happy when I get to help someone have their dog spayed or neutered for only $5 when they have no money. My job can be extremely rewarding. I just get discouraged sometimes when I think about someone googling "should I spay my dog" and possibly deciding not to, when they are not responsible enough to keep her from getting pregnant.

Thanks for reading if you've made it this far! If you have any questions about our organization or what it's like living in an area with such pet overpopulation I'd be happy to talk.

[Lilie]

Addie - I certainly appreciate what you do for a living and hope that today will be one of your 'good' days!

[AddieGirl]

Well I am off today, so it will be GREAT!!! LOL, j/k I love my job but I do enjoy my days off.

[msvette2u]

My job can be extremely rewarding. I just get discouraged sometimes when I think about someone googling "should I spay my dog" and possibly deciding not to, when they are not responsible enough to keep her from getting pregnant.

So do I. I cringe when people go on tirades about the "dangers" of early s/n when they don't even know if this person has a fenced yard, or if their dog runs loose all day.
The truth is, the average pet owner (see other thread LOL) has no business owning an intact animal.

[AddieGirl]

Exactly! I won't get in to the cat problem since this is not the place, but we see pregnant KITTENS every day. I'm talking about 4 month old babies, pregnant. And we have a huge problem with feral cats and inbreeding. We see deformities and its very sad.

[qbchottu]

Here is a small problem with your argument. Those of us (at least in my case) that advocate leaving animals intact ONLY do so in cases where the owner is knowledgeable, capable, and willing to manage an intact animal. Your examples are all of ignorant, cruel, and careless owners that neglect to care for their animals properly. *Nobody* advocates that these type of people leave their dogs intact - but it is an issue of people being uneducated and ignorant. Do you really believe that these type of owners have read or know the research on intact animals and health benefits? These people don't care to even spell the name right, they don't refer to veterinary studies to gain ammo for a intact/speuter argument - they just don't care or wish to do as they like! I commend you for your work, but the intact argument has little to do with ignorant owners because these owners are not doing even the most basic research into caring for their animals properly...

[Courtney]

I enjoyed reading this article in the recent issue of WDJ.

(qbchottu-good post)

Risks and Benefits to Spaying and Neutering Your Dog - Whole Dog Journal Article

[AddieGirl]

That's not accurate. There are the in-between people who have maybe been raised by truly ignorant parents who let their pets have litter after litter. They may decide to consider spaying or neutering and almost everyone has internet access. If you think that the internet is limited to responsible intelligent people, then I don't know what to tell you.

[AddieGirl]

I am in NO way implying that the actual reason for our problem is because of anti-spay/neuter research. I am just saying that seeing it praised and spread around makes me cringe.

[msvette2u]

Before flinging out articles that rely on that phony report from Dr. Zink, read the REBUTTAL to their paper.

http://www.columbusdogconnection.com...ebuttal%20.pdf

And truth is, pets don't live to be 80yrs. old. If they did I could see the concern over early s/n.