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| Rudy, totally unaware of his upcoming surgery. |
Snip and Clip. Nip and Tuck. The Conehead Cometh. All titles I considered for this blog post. I decided to keep it simple: Getting Neutered.
All our dog-boys are neutered. Tucker at 6 months because that's the age all of our male canines have been neutered in the past. Jeffie at 8 weeks because the shelter we adopted him from does it that way. Though we know there's a lot of controversy about the best age to have this surgery performed, we've experienced no bad outcomes in the past. Even though we think 8 weeks - so far before puberty - is iffy (and we had no choice about that) Jeffie, now 5, seems fine.
We are big believers in spay and neuter. Shelter euthanasia is the number one killer of companion animals in our country. Millions of dollars are spent each year by our communities dealing with stray and unwanted pets. Even though animal advocacy organizations are doing a great job educating the pet owning public and low cost spay / neuter organizations have sprung up all over the US, there simply are not enough homes for all those unplanned litters of dogs and cats.
Do I think any of our pets will end up in a shelter? No. And though it's pretty doubtful any of our dogs could produce any offspring, never say never. All I have to do is think about Rudy's Labrador Retriever mother who managed to escape a yard just long enough to rendevous with a neighboring chocolate Lab. 'Nuff said.
At For Love of a Dog we subscribe to that old adage: If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
So, later today Rudy will be home from the vet, sporting one of those crazy collars, getting sniffed like crazy by the rest of the dog pack, and he'll be minus his family jewels.
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