Why You Should Spay or Neuter Your Furry Friend

We all know we should spay and neuter our pets. We know it's more healthy for them. We know it's good for the pet population. But still, many people don't bother to spay or neuter their pets before letting them go outdoors. The pets may wander for a few days at a time, here and there, but nobody ever gets hurt, so why bother with the expense or hassle of scheduling surgery for a pet?

My family is a foster family for orphaned and abandoned kittens. Usually we foster older kittens, in situations where the landlord has found out the cat's owner has given birth, violating the "one pet per apartment" rule. Often, it's just a matter of weaning them that last little bit, and waiting for them to reach the two-pound minimum to be neutered or spayed and placed for adoption.

This spring, we were asked to take a litter of five kittens rescued from a home's insulation. Four were in the attic crawl space, and one fell between two walls, alerting the homeowner to their presence. The mother cat had not been around in at least 18 hours. Estimated to be 24 to 36 hours old, they were rescued at 4 o'clock in the afternoon on a Monday. They had ingested large amounts of the home's insulation, while trying to find their absent mother's nipples in all the fluff.

The person who rescued them was nearly hospitalized after being in the dusty, hot, filthy attic. It took her days to recover.

That Monday, each kitten visited a vet to have the insulation cleaned out of its mouth and throat. They were given IV fluids, and warmed to the proper temperature. While the vet worked, my family spent $40.00 on supplies that we knew would barely last a week. The vet did not give much hope that they would survive, after spending at least 18 hours alone. There was no way to tell how much insulation they had ingested, or inhaled. The first one died at 5:30 P.M. The second one died at 6:00, in the hands of my older son, as he was feeding them all. The third one died at 8:00, during the next feeding.