February is National Prevent a Litter Month. Since it’s such an important topic, I’m very glad we have a month to bring it into the spotlight.
Everyone knows that the absolute best way to prevent a litter is to have your pets spayed or neutered. I’m not going to get into the spay/neuter debate as some animals cannot be fixed and current research suggests waiting until maturity to fix giant breeds. So how else can we prevent unnecessary litters?
- Understand female heat cycles. A heat cycle lasts anywhere from 2 to 3 weeks. Learn the signs that your dog is going into heat.
- NEVER allow a female in heat to be unsupervised outside. Never means never. Not even in your fenced backyard. Males are capable of jumping over, digging under, or chewing through fencing to get to a female in heat.
- Check your fencing. People with intact male dogs also need to be vigilant. Can your dog escape your fencing?
For the vast majority of people, fixing your pets is the BEST way to prevent a litter. Having intact pets requires a lot of work, time, and knowledge. If the cost of fixing your pet seems daunting, check your area for a local spay/neuter clinic or talk to your local shelter. Preventing a litter is only one of many benefits to having your pet fixed.
How else do you think we can prevent a litter?
I wish some people of my village would read this post and they would follow your advices. It’s always a challenge if the little shih-tzu of our neighborhood is in heat and visits all boys. This people have an automatic gate and they are too lazy to push a button…. I can’t count how much I brought their dog back…. it’s bad thing to see this ittle girl between the cars on the road…
That’s really scary : / It’s so easy to keep our pets safe and I wish people would just do it!
Thankkkkkk you. Thank you. Oh, and also? Thank you.
Koly can’t be neutered due to a breathing issue from persistent kennel cough when he was a puppy and as much as I appreciate the idea at the heart of it, spay/neuter month is a really hard time for me. Being pummelled, day after day after day with Facebook posts and blog posts and PEOPLE IN THE STREETS telling me what a crappy pet owner I am for not neutering him wears on my heart.
We’ve had him 7 1/2 years and in that time, his intact status has never caused us an issue BECAUSE WE MANAGE IT. Responsible pet ownership doesn’t have to mean taking the easy way of preventing litters, sometimes it means taking the hard/creative way.
Jodi, you’re the kind of dog guardian who is responsible enough to make that choice. I have friends with unaltered dogs, either for showing/competition purposes or health reasons. It’s a shame that you take the heat when you’re doing the best for your dog. It does remain a huge problem here and especially internationally and I think it’s important to advocate for it, but people need to understand the difference between generalities and exceptions.
Aww, Koly! That makes my heart hurt. Does he experience any side effects other than anesthesia being a problem?
Atka wasn’t neutered until a year old and I was sick of people talking to me about it. I experienced the ‘crappy dog owner’ stuff, but it was mostly people asking me when I was going to breed him. There was always this idea that since I have two purebred dogs, it is just logical to breed them (apparently). There is SO much more that goes into breeding and as much as I love my two, they are not breeding material.
I was just stunned when I did my shelter animal post that only ten percent of shelter intakes are spayed or neutered. I know some people are choosing to keep their dogs intact for other reasons but as a general rule I think it remains as important as ever to keep advocating for spaying and neutering.
What’s even more amazing are the reasons people don’t fix their pets. I completely understand health reasons for not being able or waiting, but if one more person says that they “don’t want to remove their dog’s manhood”, I’m going to LOSE MY MIND.
What a great informative post. We here in the UK have exactly the same problems as you guys. Over here every animal rescue will have the dog neutered before leaving, to try and stop anymore unwanted litters. I think that more education is needed. We have many friends who have dogs that haven’t had them neutered as they simply can’t see the point, plus they feel its too expensive. I think that the health problems need to be highlighted more as I am sure this would increase the rate of dogs having the procedure.
Health problems definitely need to be highlighted as a way to convince people to fix their pets. Do you have low cost spay/neuter clinics in the UK?
All my pets have been spayed or neutered, but I too understand that sometimes there are reasons against it. Thank you for sharing these tips!
All of mine have been fixed as well, but we did wait until Atka was a year old to have him neutered because of giant breed health issues.
I totally support spaying/neutering when health allows. I also feel sometimes that shelters/rescues spay too early. I haven’t heard any statistics of male dogs being neutered too soon, but I have heard of females having incontinence and needing to be on medication for the rest of their lives, which to me is unnecessary. I feel like owning a pet can be expensive and having a medication that wouldn’t have been needed had they been able to wait is often times a lot to ask for a prospective adopter. I don’t know the right answer to fix the issue. But I do know of one person who was adopting a female puppy from their local shelter and with references from their vet were able to adopt without the dog being spayed. They then waited until she was a bit older and had her spayed. No puppies were produced.
I would do the same thing, but consider myself to be responsible, I think the key is getting people to look at dogs as more than just dogs, or a way to make money. Once we can get that across, then maybe we have hope of preventing so many unwanted litters. Great post
I completely agree that many shelters spay too early, but I understand why they do it. I’m not familiar with any health issues for male dogs of an average size, but for giant breeds it is highly recommended to wait until maturity (at least two years of age) to neuter. Waiting for growth plates to close before shutting down hormones drastically reduces the risk of hip/joint issues.
My friend’s dog was neutered at a very early age 7-8 weeks, he was a shelter rescue. He’s 5 years old and so far he’s blown both of his knees out (he’s not even that active) and before that his back legs didn’t develop very well and he had a funny gait. I’ve seen research supporting that early neutering is very bad for their growth. They just don’t develop properly. 🙁
Early spay/neuter is definitely a scary thing : /
Yeah, it really is the best way to prevent litters. I’ve been looking at a lot of research about early spays and neuters and it’s not looking good for any size dogs. Hormones are important for growth. It is scary and it sucks because there are so many irresponsible people out there. I’m looking at ovary sparing spays for my next dog.
I agree that early spay/neuters (under 4 months) are not good for dogs, but for small to medium sized dogs can safely be fixed between 6-8 months. Medium sized dogs finish growing in height well before the year point, which is the reasoning for waiting with giant breeds. They don’t finish growing until around 2 years of age so it’s important to keep the hormones around to close the growth plates.
Up until 2 years ago we had an intact male and female dog. Storm was 5 when we spayed her and Thunder was 6. Obviously we did not want puppies so we kept them totally separate during Storm’s heat cycles. It was actually not all that difficult. I like your tips. They are what we basically followed. We always crated our male and female when we were not there to supervise them whether she appeared to be in heat or not. Some dogs can be in season and show no signs of it so better safe than sorry. I guess I would add to recognize the clues a male dog can give to let you know a female is in season or soon will be. Storm had irregular seasons but Thunder always clued us in when she was about to come in.
I think the research generally suggests waiting till maturity for all dogs, not just giant dogs. They just take a lot longer to mature! Mr. N was neutered when we adopted him (but he was two when he was neutered so fully developed) but I think with next dog, we’ll look into a dog vasectomy.
Bain is not neutered, but he is never left outside unsupervised. Our fencing is also secure. Being a larger breed, I was not wanting to neuter early.
Kisa is spayed, cats have more free range when outside, and we unfortunately have a lot of preventable cat litters happening in our town.
You’re right, what a very important topic! I don’t think most people have the faintest idea how many new puppies can be the result of a single litter. It’s crazy, and until we can somehow make people understand, I’m afraid it will continue to be a problem. Thanks for sharing this great information!
I’m all for spaying and neutering 100%, but these are absolutely fantastic ways way to prevent homeless animals if for some reason a dog/cat can’t be fixed. Thanks for spreading the word!
The shelter where Rolo is from will not adopt out an animal until it is fixed. Which I am sooo happy because they are preventing the overpopulation of pets right at the root of the problem. We also have a vet clinic up here that will do pediatric spay & neuters.
It’s definitely a problem and you are right that for most people, I think the easiest solution is spaying and neutering.
My daughter has cancer and cannot work ,my. Husband and myself are disabled where can I get very low or free. Nueter for her dog as he is urinating everywhere in house and would break her heart if I get rid of him,but no longer can stand the smell and damage to my home.We live just outside mountain home ar. Thanks