Spay and Neuter your dogs and cats!

I wholeheartedly believe that all dogs and cats should be spayed and neutered, other than those which are bred and sold for specific purposes (i.e., herding). While I don’t agree with the idea of breeding pedigreed, show-quality animals to produce more pedigreed, show-quality animals, I can understand where those who show their pets would want to continue doing this. However, if you just want to own a purebred for the sake of having a purebred, go ahead and get it fixed. Additionally, anyone who has a run-of-the-mill mixed breed dog or cat should have it fixed.

I have worked first hand with several shelters and rescues (as a volunteer, as an employee, and as an animal rescuer myself), and I have witnessed the incredible number of homeless, unwanted animals in the US alone. Having worked in a high-kill shelter, I have witnessed first hand what happens to the majority of those puppies and kittens that are brought into shelters by people who choose to belive that someone will adopt them. Homeless, unwanted and stray animals inundate shelters across this country at the best of times, and this problem has increased as our economy has headed south. The best way to cut down on homeless and unwanted pets is for pet owners to spay and neuter their pets. Even if you just own one pet that you keep indoors, all it takes is one escape and it could either impregnate or become impregnated if not fixed! Additionally, dogs and cats that have been fixed are far less likely to stray from home in search of a good time, meaning that they're less likely to be picked up by animal control.

My mom recently received an email from http://petpac.net/ an organization that claims to support animal welfare and pet owner’s rights… but boy do they ever have a bass-ackwards way of going about it. This is the letter my mom just received via email from petPAC:

Last year in Washington D.C. the ‘Congressional Animal Protection Caucus’, formerly known as the ‘Friends of Animals Caucus’, and strongly supported by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) announced their intent to impact federal pet legislation.

Last week in California there was an announcement of the formation of the 'Legislative Animal Protection Caucus’. The Chairman of the California Animal Protection Caucus is Senator Dean Florez, the author of SB 250 which called for mandatory sterilization of pets. The caucus is being pushed by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) who supported AB 1634, the mandatory sterilization bill which was defeated in 2008.

Please sign the PetPAC petition to tell the Federal and California Animal Protection Caucus that mandatory sterilization of our pets results in more dogs and cats being relinquished to shelters and killed.

PetPAC believes the solution to problem animal shelters is a “no-kill” policy. HSUS and PETA have refused to support a “no-kill” policy. Apparently they believe it’s better to euthanize dogs and cats than to develop legislative policies which will help place sheltered animals in loving homes.

Nobody protects our animals more than PetPAC members. We love and care for our pets responsibly. We will stay vigilant to protect against any underhanded agenda by the “Animal Protection Caucus” which will eliminate the rights of pets and their owners.

Please sign our petition today and contribute toward helping PetPAC defend pet owners’ rights from anti-pet groups like PETA.

Firstly: I know many people are surprised to learn that PETA opposes no-kill shelters. I understand why they do this, and I actually agree with it to a certain extent. (I would save everything if I could, but unfortunately, I know that this is simply impossible.) PETA thinks that it is inhumane to keep an animal locked in a tiny cage for the rest of its natural life. I do, too. It is horrible to think of a kitten or puppy spending its entire lifespan in a small cage in a shelter. This is why Brierpatch Cats, the project my mom and I are working on, has cats either in a home environment or out at our land, where they have both the great outdoors to explore and buildings – including a furnished trailer – in which to take refuge at any time. For the kitties, living at BPC isn't going to be too much different from living at an adopted home, assuming they ever get adopted. If they don’t, they’ll just assume that they’re already home.

Now, back to the above letter: These petPAC people try to get everyone focused on how PETA is anti-pet and they manage to equate spaying/neutering with euthanasia… then they segue from that into asking you to sign a petition AGAINST a bill that would require pet owners in California to have their pets fixed. They claim that requiring pet sterilization would lead to more animals being taken to high kill shelters.

And what is their solution to the problem of pet overpopulation? They say that unwanted pets should be taken to no-kill shelters, and that THAT is the solution, instead of fixing the pet to prevent the unwanted pets in the first place. Have these people no concept of how many no-kill shelters it would take to accommodate the vast population of unwanted pets in the US? How much funding that would take? Are they providing this funding? Do they even have a suggestion as to how to fund this?

My mind boggles.