We would like to give you some pieces of advice on spaying and neutering your pet.

As far as humans are concerned, spaying and neutering is not quite socially recognized as a good image in general. However for pets, we are in the age that spaying and neutering is virtually the pet owners’ duty in order to reduce mass-slaughter of “unwanted pets”, as very many dogs and cats are being killed at animal care centers around the country.

And why do we say spaying and neutering is a “duty”? Please see the chart below:

Number of animals killed at animal care centers each year in Japan

	Dogs			Cats			Total
	Take care	Aftermath		Take care	Aftermath		Take care	Aftermath
		Returned, Fostered	Killed		Returned, Fostered	Killed		Returned, Fostered	Killed
2009	93,807	32,944	64,061	177,785	10,621	165,771	271,592	43,565	229,832
2010	85,166	33,464	51,964	164,308	11,876	152,729	249,474	45,340	204,693
2011	77,805	34,282	43,606	143,195	12,680	131,136	221,000	46,962	174,742
2012	71,643	33,269	38,447	137,745	14,858	123,400	209,388	48,127	161,847

The chart is a national survey. The total number of animals taken to the animal care centers in Okinawa in 2012 was 7,728 (3,451 dogs and 4,277 cats), which is 485 animals more than the previous year. Out of which, 6,604 animals (2,513 dogs and 4,091 cats) were killed, which is 342 more than the previous year.

We could well say that this situation, in which massive number of animals are slaughtered each year, is created by the pet owners’ very own hands.

Too many pets are being kept carelessly. The pet owners would release them because “they can’t keep them anymore”, “they are moving”, “pets are kept on the loose and pregnancy was unplanned”, etc. etc… The reasons are infinite. However all of these are in fact results of the pet owners’ irresponsible actions.

Animal lovers should engrave this into their hearts, and should help minimize this situation as much as they can.

And the most effective way to do this, is by fixing your pets.

There are many other advantages of spaying and neutering other than preventing the pets from breeding. If your pet is not fixed yet, we strongly recommend you consider doing so at this opportunity.

Advantages for spaying and neutering

1. No more menstrual bleeding from the heat cycle
2. Pets may become more calm
3. Minimize spraying and marking
4. Less smell of urine
5. Less mounting activity
6. Reduce loss of coat caused by hormonal imbalance
7. Less howling/crying at night during the mating seasons
8. Less territorial fights among male animals
9. Prevention of genital diseases

Time to spay/neuter

There are various theories as to when is the best time to fix the animals. However, though different by the individual animal, the currently predominate is as follows:

Male: 5 months from birth

Female: 5 months from birth, AND preferably before the first heat cycle. This is because this would substantially minimize the possibility for mammary gland tumors.

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