The simple math, experts say, is that far more animals are being born every year than can be placed.

More pets than potential homes for them

Despite successful campaigns to persuade prospective owners to adopt shelter pets, about 7 million dogs and cats are euthanized in shelters every year, and there’s no evidence that adoptions will increase enough to close the gap, experts say.

The massive number of animals euthanized in shelters “was the secret that no one wanted to talk about or hear about,” even as recently as the 1990s, when 17 million animals were being destroyed annually, says Aimee St. Arnaud of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Now those numbers are being broadcast and push to spay or neuter is accelerating:

•Pet overpopulation and sterilization conferences are drawing thousands. In September, the Southern Regional Spay/Neuter Leadership Conference takes place in Memphis; in October the Fix It Forum will be held in Oak Brook, Ill.

•Big companies are contributing millions. In 2006, PetSmart Charities gave $4.2 million to sterilization initiatives, nearly triple the amount granted in 2002. And the foundation just announced a $6 million, five-year program called Spay Texas, which it believes will sterilize 1 million pets.

•Groups large and small are providing or subsidizing low-cost or free sterilizations, often using mobile units.The North Shore Animal League America is making it simple for anyone anywhere to locate discounted programs. Its SPAY/USA (800-248-7729 or www.spayusa.org) service constantly updates a list and answers 2,800 queries a month.

•The Humane Alliance in Asheville, which performs 22,000 sterilizations annually and is regarded as the gold standard for low-cost, high-volume spay/neuters, has received grants from the ASPCA and PetSmart Charities to help groups in several states, including California, Illinois, Georgia, Tennessee and Ohio, establish similar programs.

“The euthanasia rate in the Asheville area has been reduced by 72%,” says St. Arnaud. Providing money to extend that model made sense, she says.

In an unprecedented move, several groups, including ASPCA, Humane Society of the United States, PetSmart Charities, International Fund for Animal Welfare and United Animal Nations, collaborated to fund a massive operation on the Gulf Coast, where 80% of the animals that wound up in shelters after Hurricane Katrina weren’t neutered. The money supports voucher-subsidy programs plus clinics and mobile units capable of sterilizing nearly 40,000 animals a year. Some 22,000 animals have already been reached, says HSUS’ Vicki Stevens.

‘Many people don’t appreciate the necessity’

Meanwhile, grassroots groups, most of them operating on a shoestring, are making inroads.

•Spay-Neuter Indianapolis Pets (SNIP), the effort headed by Robertson, is battling mind-set and logistical issues. “Many people don’t appreciate the necessity of sterilization,” she says, so much of the task is determining and presenting the most convincing argument for that person. Subsidized vouchers help, but there’s still the long journey to the vet, so she’s doing fundraising to buy a van. And she’ll do the transport.

•In Colorado Springs, the Hamlett Spay & Neuter Clinic performs about 550 sterilizations a month. Sterilizations are free to those who can prove need; low-cost is available to others.

Wherever they are performed, sterilizations in the future may be faster, cheaper and non-surgical — probably a shot or an implant. The non-profit Alliance for Contraception in Cats & Dogs has been pushing for a non-surgical approach since 2000; it expects to present by year’s end a petition pressing pharmaceutical companies to bring animal contraceptives to market.

Contraceptives are in limited use in Europe and Australia. In the USA, a contraceptive for male dogs could be on the market by 2008, says ACC’s Joyce Briggs. The group hopes to raise $10 million for research and development of promising non-surgical treatments.

“We think this will make a dramatic difference in the pet overpopulation problem worldwide, ” she says.

• If you haven’t yet sterilized the animals with whom you share your home, do so today. If you think that you can offer your home to an animal and provide for his or her needs for 10 to 15 years, please go to your shelter now because there are many there who are waiting for you. Adopt two compatible animals so that they can keep each other company.

• Make a pledge right now to take personal responsibility for neutering or spaying every unsterilized animal you encounter. Is there an unaltered cat hanging around the back porch? Does your neighbor have a female dog who keeps going into heat or a male dog who keeps jumping the fence to chase after females in heat? Is your friend or family member giving away a litter of kittens? Help make sure that all unwanted animals are taken to open-admission shelters and then help get animals who are staying in homes spayed or neutered. Don’t let the surgery be put off—be persistent! If money is preventing it, offer to pay for the procedure (you’ll be saving animals’ lives). If transportation to the vet is the obstacle—become a dog or cat taxi driver for a day! If the guardians still aren’t convinced that spaying and neutering are vital to saving animals’ lives, order our free literature on the subject to help them understand.

• If possible, spay your whole street! Offer to have your neighbors’ dogs and cats sterilized at a clinic or a local low-cost spay/neuter program (call 1-800-248-SPAY for details).

• Work on the front lines of the overpopulation crisis by teaming up with your local animal shelter to save and improve animals’ lives. Make sure that your local shelter requires that animals be spayed or neutered before adoption. If sterilization is not required, work for policy change at the shelter.

• Many shelters are in serious need of reform. Citizen involvement is essential if progress is to be made. You can be successful by organizing friends, neighbors, and other concerned individuals to take action.

• If your local pound or shelter is using any method other than an intravenous injection of sodium pentobarbital, protest to local authorities and demand the implementation of humane practices. Check state and local laws for prescribed methods of euthanasia and insist that your local shelter comply with these requirements. Euthanasia should always be performed by well-trained, caring staff members, and animals should never be euthanized in view of other animals.

• Finally, fight the cruel industries that profit from breeding and selling animals while millions more die because of a lack of homes. People who patronize pet shops or seek out purebreds from breeders are adding to the population overload. Speak up if someone you know intends to breed his or her animal or plans to buy from a pet store or breeder. Get our free literature on pet shops, puppy mills, and spaying and neutering to provide more information. If there’s a pet store in your local mall, urge the mall manager to give it the boot and instead lend that space to an animal shelter to use as an adoption center for homeless animals.

This article was reprinted with permission of HelpingAnimals.com, a division of PETA.

The Tragic Cycle
One unspayed dog and her offspring can lead to 67,000 dogs in six years. One unspayed cat and her offspring can produce 420,000 cats in seven years.⁽²⁾ Approximately 70,000 puppies and kittens are born in the United States each day.⁽³⁾ Some of them are born to breeders who sell animals for a profit, some are born to people who want their cat or dog to have the “experience” of having a litter or who want their children to witness the “miracle of life,” and some result from allowing fertile animals to roam freely and mate.

Whatever the reason, the number of cats and dogs far exceeds the number of loving homes available. Unwanted animals are often treated as a nuisance; incidents of kitten drownings and dog abandonments are common. Many people drop animals off in rural areas, thinking that someone will take them in or that they can fend for themselves. But the tragic fates for these animals include cruel treatment, starvation, disease, freezing, highway death, procurement for research laboratories, and more unregulated breeding. Even if someone can find homes for one litter of kittens or puppies, the overpopulation cycle continues if the animals are allowed to breed. And animals from breeders occupy homes that could have taken in homeless animals, who are destined to be destroyed.

Animal control agencies and shelters receive approximately 6 to 8 million animals annually. Those who are not adopted within about a week or two (3 to 4 million of them) are killed either by painless lethal injection or by inhumane methods, such as the use of carbon monoxide or decompression chambers.⁽⁴⁾ In many areas where “pound seizure” is permitted, unclaimed animals can be given or sold to laboratories.

An Ounce of Prevention
Spaying and neutering helps stem the tide of overpopulation. It does not affect animals’ energy levels or change their personalities, as some people mistakenly believe. Spaying eliminates the stress and discomfort that females endure during heat periods, eliminates the risk of uterine cancer, and greatly reduces the risk of mammary cancer. Neutering makes males far less likely to roam or fight, prevents testicular cancer, and reduces the risk of prostate cancer.⁽⁵⁾ Altered animals are less likely to contract deadly, contagious diseases spread through bodily fluids, such as feline AIDS and leukemia.

Female cats and dogs should be spayed soon after the age of 8 weeks. Males should be neutered at 8 weeks of age, but both spaying and neutering can be done safely through most of adulthood. Some shelters are encouraging earlier spaying and neutering, which can be less stressful for animals.⁽⁶⁾ Younger animals also recuperate faster from surgery.⁽⁷⁾

The one-time cost of spaying or neutering is less than the costs involved in raising puppies or kittens (which include food, shots, training, and time) and is far less than the cost that communities must pay toward animal control and euthanasia. Many cities have low-cost spay and neuter clinics to encourage owners to be responsible before they are faced with unwanted animals and before the animals themselves must pay with their lives. Many states now have legislation that mandates spaying and neutering or restricts breeding. For more information, see PETA’s “Model Spay and Neuter Ordinances” list.

What You Can Do
Adopt from shelters—and don’t forget about adult animals, who are often overlooked by people looking for a puppy or a kitten, but who often have the advantage of being housebroken and trained. Urge people who desire the companionship of animals to adopt from animal shelters. Work within your community to legislate mandatory spaying and neutering. And if you know someone who is hesitant to have an animal spayed or neutered, explain to him or her the benefits of the procedure and why it is so important.

References
1) Karen E. Lang, “From Wolf to Woof,” National Geographic 2001.
2) The Humane Society of the United States, “HSUS Pet Overpopulation Estimates,” 2004.
3) Bob Shaw, “PETCO Tests Rabbit Adoption; Cooperation With Local Rights Group Could Be Pet Model Nationally,” Saint Paul Pioneer Press 4 Jul. 2004.
4) The Humane Society of the United States.
5) Daniel Crain, “Spay Day Calls Attention to ‘Kindest Cut’ Surgery for Pets,” Alameda Times-Star 12 Feb. 2005.
6) Theresa A. Fuess, “Early Spay/Neuter: An Overview,” Illinois Veterinary Bulletin 6 (1998).
7) Fuess.

This article was reprinted with permission from HelpingAnimals.com, a division of PETA.

The solution is this: Only by implementing widespread sterilization programs, only by spaying and neutering all companion animals, will we get a handle on pet overpopulation. Consider the fact that in six short years, one female dog and her offspring can give birth to hundreds of puppies. And, in seven years, one cat and her young can produce hundreds of kittens.

Given these high reproductive rates, it stands to reason that, in only a few years, carefully planned and implemented sterilization programs could produce a dramatic reduction in the number of unwanted companion animals born. In fact, in those towns and cities that have implemented such programs, we’ve already seen the number of companion animals who had to be euthanized decline by 30 to 60 percent—even in those communities where human populations have been steadily increasing.

But these programs don’t create themselves. They require the planning and coordination of many people. Successful pet population control programs range from subsidized sterilization clinics to cooperative efforts involving local veterinarians to mass media educational campaigns. Only through the continued nationwide establishment of such programs will we bring an end to the tragedy of pet overpopulation.

Community-Based Solutions

Legislation can have the most direct impact simply by requiring that every pet adopted from a municipal or county shelter be sterilized within a certain period of time. Similarly, differential-licensing laws—laws that substantially increase license fees for pets who have not been spayed or neutered—give owners an incentive to sterilize their pets.

Education, too, is an essential part of solving this problem. Unless people know the facts about pet overpopulation and sterilization, they are virtually helpless to do anything about the problem.

Reduced spay/neuter fees play an important role as well. Subsidized spay/neuter clinics and programs in some communities have already helped bring down the cost of sterilization. In areas where veterinarians have agreed to reduce their spay/neuter fees, we’ve seen a significant decline in the number of animals euthanized.

Finally, pet owners can do their part by having their companion animals spayed or neutered. This is the single most important step you can take. Have your pet sterilized so that he or she does not contribute to the pet overpopulation problem, and adopt your next pet from an animal shelter.

This article is used with permission of the Humane Society of the United States

MYTH: My pet will get fat and lazy.

FACT: The truth is that most pets get fat and lazy because their owners feed them too much and don’t give them enough exercise.

MYTH: It’s better to have one litter first.

FACT: Medical evidence indicates just the opposite. In fact, the evidence shows that females spayed before their first heat are typically healthier. Many veterinarians now sterilize dogs and cats as young as eight weeks of age. Check with your veterinarian about the appropriate time for these procedures.

MYTH: My children should experience the miracle of birth.

FACT: Even if children are able to see a pet give birth—which is unlikely, since it usually occurs at night and in seclusion—the lesson they will really learn is that animals can be created and discarded as it suits adults. Instead, it should be explained to children that the real miracle is life and that preventing the birth of some pets can save the lives of others.

MYTH: But my pet is a purebred.

FACT: So is at least one out of every four pets brought to animal shelters around the country. There are just too many dogs and cats—mixed breed and purebred.

MYTH: I want my dog to be protective.

FACT: Spaying or neutering does not affect a dog’s natural instinct to protect home and family. A dog’s personality is formed more by genetics and environment than by sex hormones.

MYTH: I don’t want my male dog or cat to feel like less of a male.

FACT: Pets don’t have any concept of sexual identity or ego. Neutering will not change a pet’s basic personality. He doesn’t suffer any kind of emotional reaction or identity crisis when neutered.

MYTH: But my dog (or cat) is so special, I want a puppy (or kitten) just like her.

FACT: A dog or cat may be a great pet, but that doesn’t mean her offspring will be a carbon copy. Professional animal breeders who follow generations of bloodlines can’t guarantee they will get just what they want out of a particular litter. A pet owner’s chances are even slimmer. In fact, an entire litter of puppies or kittens might receive all of a pet’s (and her mate’s) worst characteristics.

MYTH: It’s too expensive to have my pet spayed or neutered.

FACT: The cost of spaying or neutering depends on the sex, size, and age of the pet, your veterinarian’s fees, and a number of other variables. But whatever the actual price, spay or neuter surgery is a one-time cost—a relatively small cost when compared to all the benefits. It’s a bargain compared to the cost of having a litter and ensuring the health of the mother and litter; two months of pregnancy and another two months until the litter is weaned can add up to significant veterinary bills and food costs if complications develop. Most importantly, it’s a very small price to pay for the health of your pet and the prevention of the births of more unwanted pets.

MYTH: I’ll find good homes for all the puppies and kittens.

FACT: You may find homes for all of your pet’s litter. But each home you find means one less home for the dogs and cats in shelters who need good homes. Also, in less than one year’s time, each of your pet’s offspring may have his or her own litter, adding even more animals to the population. The problem of pet overpopulation is created and perpetuated one litter at a time.

Illustration by Doug Potter

On Feb. 28, partly to appease the uproar over the imminent arrival of Petland, the council passed a “pet trader” ordinance, which took effect March 10. The ordinance mandates a $50 “processing fee” for every unsterilized pet owned by “a person who exchanges for consideration” more than 15 dogs or cats, or both, in a year. The ordinance also requires disclosure of “any known disease, illness, or congenital or hereditary condition,” in an attempt to curb pet traders passing along unhealthy animals to unwitting consumers. City staff billed the pet trader ordinance as a “step in the right direction,” while activists called it a “baby step,” but a good step, nonetheless.

The closest Austin has ever come to getting a spay/neuter ordinance was in 2005, when activists and the Animal Advis­ory Commission drafted the “Austin Save a Pet” ordinance, emphatically dubbed, “A.S.A.P.” But the draft never made it to the council dais. According to former AAC member Cathy Olive, national dog breeders bombarded council with anti-ordinance e-mails, reportedly complaining that Austin’s ordinance would ruin business and even threatening to boycott dog shows in Austin. But as Olive noted, show dogs would have been exempt. In the end, Olive said, Pulliam “said she wouldn’t support the ordinance. It broke my heart. There has to be a change in administration, or she needs to have an epiphany.” A popular theory for the ordinance’s failure, Olive went on, was that Mayor Pro Tem Betty Dunkerley “talked everybody out of” supporting the ordinance. But current AAC Chair Carol Adams says council members never supported it in the first place.

Pulliam, for her part, said the 2005 ordinance lacked support because it was “poorly worded.” As for her critics in the animal-rights community, Pulliam said she doesn’t wield as much authority as some people may think. “I implement policy,” she said. “I don’t set it.” Pulliam’s current pet projects include working with the Austin Police Department to curb the practice of drug dealers using pit bulls as guard dogs, a program better received than her aim to provide MP3 players to pet owners in high-poverty neighborhoods as incentives to sterilize their pets voluntarily. On the latter, some regard the incentive effort as a somewhat narrow-minded way of blaming pet euthanasia rates on East Austin poverty.

Melanie Sobel, former director of the Williamson Co. Regional Animal Shelter, posits that Austin’s political fear of a spay/neuter ordinance may have grown out of the Texas spirit of “people [wanting] their ‘God-given right’ to do what they want with their property. I always tell people who want to breed their animal or buy one from a pet store, if you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem.”

- Currently, Town Lake Animal Center and the Austin Humane Society take in a combined total of more than 28,000 animals annually.

- Since its inception in 1993, Animal Trustees of Austin has performed more than 65,000 spay/neuter surgeries, fostered more than 2,000 special needs pets and provided vaccinations and heartworm testing for more than 50,000 animals.

- EmanciPET has performed more than 55,000 spay/neuter surgeries since 1999.

Despite the 1997 resolution and tremendous work on the part of all the local agencies, more than half of the animals entering Austin’s shelters in 2005—15,000 dogs and cats—were euthanized (illustrated in the table below):

	Intakes	Adoptions/Transfer/RTO (Return to Owner)	Euthanized
Town Lake Animal Center	26,000	10,660	15,340
Austin Humane Society	2,475	2,404	71

Austin still faces many challenges, including high numbers of feral cats and unwanted pets, anti-cruelty issues, limited resources for expansion of spay/neuter programs and sterilization of feral cats, and the replacement of emanciPET’s spay/neuter mobile unit to expand capacity in specific areas.

The ASPCA Mission: Orange effort will address these issues and drive the effort of decreasing homelessness for pets in Austin through the following initiatives:

- Animal Placement:

• Meet Your Match™ adoption program training and implementation (a multi-faceted approach designed to match an adopter’s personality with that of the cat or dog);
• SAFER training (a technique for screening dogs for aggression);
• Off-site (mobile) adoption initiatives; and
• More/better adoption training.

- Reducing Intake:

• Training public workers how to recognize animal cruelty;
• Anti-cruelty training for the Austin Police Department;
• Supporting the work of an animal hoarding task force;
• Cross reporting of cruelty with child protective services for animals and children at risk;
• Working with the city of Austin’s parks and recreations department to establish dog parks; and
• Promoting the use of microchips so lost pets can be reunited with their families.

-Capacity Building:

• Capital campaign grant (beginning in 2007, the ASPCA has pledged $100,000 per year to Animal Trustees of Austin for three years);
• Fundraising and board development consultation;
• Helping build education programs in AISD schools; and
• Working with Habitat for Humanity to educate families about pet ownership and adoption.

-Spay/Neuter:

• Continued efforts to support targeted, low-cost spay/neuter programs;
• Supporting the establishment of the Feral Fix program at Austin Humane Society; and
• Promoting microchipping so that lost pets can be reunited with their families.

What is Suprelorin® and How does it Work?:Suprelorin® is a sustained release biocompatible implant that contains the active ingredient deslorelin (gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist).

• Cylindrical implant – similar size to a microchip
• Presented in a pre-loaded implanter with actuator supplied
• Implant is placed subcutaneously between the shoulder blades – no anaesthetic required
• Deslorelin is released from the implant (proprietary lipid mixture) over a well defined profile

Due to the prolonged release of deslorelin, GnRH receptors within the pituitary gland are desensitised. Consequently the production and release of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinising hormone (LH) are impaired. No FSH and LH means no testosterone and this means no sperm.

Uses for suprelorin®:
Fertility Control:Suprelorin® will provide temporary sterilisation for at least six months; the implant can be repeated safety to maintain the effect. A twelve month implant is to be launched in the future. Suprelorin® is temporary and therefore can be used in specific situations where permanent desexing is not wanted, for example;

• Allowing temporary desexing before breeding,
• Suppresses specific males over a breeding season,
• Enabling dog owners that so not like the idea of anaesthetic or surgery to desex their dogs.

Trials of up to five consecutive treatments of this product over three years have shown that fertility returns when treatment ends.

Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH):

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a condition that causes enlargement of the prostate gland. BPH is common in older dogs that have not been desexed. Signs of BPH to look for include:

• Blood in the urine and the ejaculate
• Straining while defaecating
• Constipation
• Discharge from the penis

One way to treat BPH is castration, but this can be problematic with older dogs that are often not good candidates for general anaesthetic. Suprelorin® provides a non-surgical alternative that only needs to be administered every 6 months (12 monthly in future).

Testosterone Behavioural Problems:

Certain behavioural problems are driven by testosterone, namely roaming, inter-dog aggression and certain sexual behaviours. Castration may not solve 100% of cases. Suprelorin® can be used as a ‘road-test’ for that response that would be seen without undergoing permanent surgery. If a favourable response is seen castration can be carried out or Suprelorin® can be continued.

Future Indications:

• Use in females for fertility control
• Use in hormone responsive incontinence
• Use in other species (population control) – ongoing

For more information and trial data, visit the Peptech website.