To Fix or Not to Fix?

The topic of today's blog is one I've been thinking about for a while now. It's a fairly serious subject, and it's one that, I believe, should be considered by every pet owner.

Spaying and/or neutering your pets.

Some of you might cringe at the notion (particularly those of you reading who are males), but it's an important topic that has consequences beyond your own particular pet.

Spaying or neutering your pets has quite a few benefits to your companions health. The ASPCA's website details a few of the reasons why it's important for pets health. Some of those reasons include:

• It will help your pet live a longer, healthier life because fixing your pet helps prevent uterine infections and breast cancer. These diseases are fatal in 50%of dogs and 90% of cats. 
• By neutering your male companion by the age of six months,you can actually prevent your companion from getting testicular cancer.
• By spaying your female companion, you stop the animals heat cycle, preventing her from leaving blood spots all over your house!
• A male dog who isn't neutered will do just about anything to find a willing mate, including running away from home. By neutering your male, the chances of him roaming away from home are reduced drastically. 

There are other reasons for spaying/neutering your pets, and you can go to multiple websites to go over those reasons before you make a final decision. 

But this blog is focused on pitbulls, and I believe pitbull owners should have an entirely different reason for spaying or neutering their pits.

Pitbulls are currently the most bred dog in the country. The website, The Truth About Pitbulls, tells us that there are approximately 3 million pitbulls now living in the United States, but only 1 out of every 600 of those pitbulls will have a "forever home", meaning they won't end up in a shelter, or euthanized.

All across the country, there are shelters, some that are designated no kill, but most of them not, that are overflowing with pitbulls who are in need of a good home. Pitbulls can be especially hard to adopt out because of the undeserved stereotype that follows them. As a result, the breed known as pitbull fills animal shelters more than any other breed of dog. An example of this can be found on the website, Pawnation, which tells us that in Chicago, pitbulls make up 40% of the animal shelter population, the breed also represents 2/3's of the dogs that are euthanized each year. These are troubling numbers, and that's only in one city.

In other cities in the U.S., still more pitbulls are euthanized. Every year about 3.4 million animals will be euthanized at shelters in the US, and of those, 1 million of them are pitbulls.

There are shelters that are designated as no kill shelters, where they do not euthanize the animals in their care. Such places are expensive to run, and space is extremely limited. It can be very hard to get a dog into a no kill shelter.  While most shelters are well run by people who care deeply about animals, there are shelters that do not take great care of the animals in their custody, and some pitbulls live in places where they are hungry, cold, and starved for affection.

In either case, whether a dog is in a well run shelter with people who care or not, animals deserve to be in a home, with a loving family. But when there's an overabundance of dogs, like we have now with pitbulls, the chances of that happening start to get slim. 

I stated on my About page that this blog was not going to focus on abuse/adoption stories, and I still feel that way. However, given this topic, I will share that my Concobar is a rescue. I'm sure that many of you readers also rescued your dogs. We know how easily our pitties could have had a worse fate. 

Responsible pitbull parents should be dedicated to making sure no more pitbulls end up in shelters. We can do this by spaying and neutering our pitbulls so there's no chance they can reproduce and make more puppies. Puppies that can end up in shelters instead of homes.  

I realize cost can be a factor in whether some dog owners fix their pets, or not. If you are in a situation where you cannot afford to take your dog to the vet, I encourage you to do some research. There are organizations all over the country that have established programs so that low-income families can get their pets spayed or neutered. I live close to Milwaukee, WI, and a group called The Brew City Bullies Club, or BCBC, has such a program. They also offer training, socialization, and several other resources for pitbull owners in their area.

The ASPCA has a tool on their website that will search for such a program in your area. 

Getting your companion fixed can be a big decision for some, and if you're not sure if it's the right thing for your dog, you should definitely do some research, call a vets office and ask questions, and talk to other dog owners who've had their pets spayed/neutered. In the end, I hope that you make the choice that's not only right for you, but also for your dog, and it's breed, as well.