No Time Better Than Right Now to Get Your Pet Spayed or Neutered

by Loree M. Walden, Marketing Manager, Yavapai Humane Society
February is National Spay and Neuter Awareness Month, and one of the most important health decisions you’ll make regarding your dog or cat is if you should have them spayed or neutered. Spaying or neutering your pet helps them have a happier, healthier and longer life. 
Spaying your female pet offers lifelong health benefits including preventing uterine infections and breast cancer, which is fatal in about 50% of dogs and 90% of cats. Neutering your male pet will improve your pet’s behavior and keep him close to home. An unneutered male will do just about anything to find a mate including digging under a fence to escape a yard, which then leaves him in danger of getting hit by a car, lost or even killed. 
Also, when you prevent unwanted kittens and puppies from being born, you help reduce the number of cats and dogs who end up in shelters or out on the streets. 
Did you know that one unspayed female cat and one unneutered male cat can produce 12 kittens in one year, 376 in three years and over 66,000 in six years? If a male and female cat and their offspring are left to breed, they will quickly multiply. This is why it is so important to make sure they are spayed or neutered. 
Yavapai Humane Society’s low-cost Spay/Neuter & Wellness Clinic, located at 2989 Centerpointe East Drive in Prescott, provides surgeries on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays by appointment only. Surgery costs start at $80 for dogs (based on gender and weight) and $55 for cats (based on gender), making it very affordable. They also provide a low-cost walk-in vaccine clinic on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with no appointment necessary. For more information please call them at 928-771-0547.