The Importance of Spaying or Neutering Your Pet

My five month old puppy, Lady, is anything but a lady. She has a wild spirit; she's rambunctious; and sometimes she's downright rebellious. But she's loving and protective, too. She's my second child, an important part of our family. She makes me laugh, and she makes life fun. I wonder how we ever got along without her. But sometimes when I look at her, I feel sad. Lady is from a litter of puppies that were born into a "less than perfect" situation.

My boyfriend and I picked Lady out of a litter of 5 puppies. He fell in love with her right away; it took a little convincing for me. See, we live in a small apartment, and I just wasn't sure we had the room for her. Lady's mom is a Doberman and her dad is a Mastiff, enough said. Plus, we had talked about getting a puppy, but no decisions were made. But I finally gave in. She was too adorable to say "no" to.

The puppy litter belonged to friends of ours who already had 3 big dogs. And these puppies were going to be just as big. They were fun and cute, but they were eating our friends out of house and home. And the vet bills were just too much for all of them. That's part of the reason I decided to take Lady. I wanted her to have a home, and it gave my friends a little peace of mind. As for the rest of the litter, my friends decided to charge $75 per dog, to try to recuperate some of the money they had spent.

As time passed, the puppies grew. My friends were worried they wouldn't find homes for the other puppies, so they dropped the price to $25. I asked them why they just didn't give them away to people who wanted them, and the reply was that they wanted to make sure the puppies were going to good homes. It made sense to me, but then it didn't, at the same time. They were spending more money by charging a price for the litter, and they were risking not finding homes for the puppies. But they cared enough to spend the money to make sure they were finding the right homes. So I wondered, if they didn't find people to care for these puppies, what would happen? The answer: they would go to a shelter.

Unfortunately, not all of the puppies went to good homes. The next time I talked to my friends, I was informed the last 2 puppies were gone, but they didn't get homes. I didn't want to know where they took them, because I already knew. I was upset. And I thought, if we would've had the room, we would've taken one of them in addition to our Lady. It was a sad ending for all of us, including those puppies.

So I asked if they planned on spaying their only female dog, so this wouldn't happen to them again. The reply was that it costs a lot. But it also cost a lot for them to have the puppies. It would be beneficial in the long run for their female to have the surgery. They wouldn't have to worry about "accidents", and the risk of having another 5 or 6 puppies they wouldn't be able to find homes for. They would've saved all of that money they had to spend on vet bills and new additions had she already been spayed.

I was determined to take care of Lady so we wouldn't have those worries. I called around to our local vets, but our friends were right: the cost for her surgery would be anywhere from $150-$200, not including medication and shots. We just simply couldn't afford it. I decided to do some research, and I found the answers I needed. There were several organizations willing to help with their low cost spay/neuter programs. I passed the information on to my friends, but they haven't gotten their female spayed yet.

Lady is 5 months old and a very happy puppy. She had her surgery about 10 days ago, and she is back to being herself--a wild, rambunctious, rebellious puppy. When she looks at me, my heart melts. And I'm so glad we were able to take her in and love her. There are so many puppies being born each day that will never get a loving home. They will sit behind bars and sleep on newspaper until they are put to sleep. It isn't fair to them. And it isn't fair to us, the animal lovers who take the necessary precautions to prevent situations like these.

Please spay and neuter your pets! If you're like me, and you are worried about the cost, do the extra research! There is someone out there with a program that can help you.