Help control animal population

Every Monday morning, Charlie Karesh emails us with the numbers from the weekend at the Charleston Animal Society. Over the past few weeks, the numbers have not been pretty. More are coming in than are going out. They had cages in the lobby last week to make room for all of these animals.

As we all read in The Post and Courier recently, when space runs out, terrible decisions have to be made. Adoptable pets have to be euthanized. It is hard enough to make that decision about an injured or sick animal, but imagine doing this to a dog as she wags her tail at you or a cat as he purrs.

We were proud of our community this week, however. When you heard about the situation, you stepped up and showed up at CAS and Pet Helpers and we finally had more going out the door to their forever homes rather than coming in.

But how do we stop this from happening again? The only way to stop the flow of animals is to turn off the faucet. And the only way to do this is to spay and neuter our pets.

A female cat can have up to five litters a year with as many as 10 kittens per litter. That is 50 new cats a year that need homes from just one cat.

It is estimated that over a seven-year period one female and her offspring can produce 420,000 kittens. Of course, this is the wild cat that lives behind the department store, not the one in your home. But even one accidental pregnancy can produce one to 10 new kittens that require a home.

Fortunately, dogs do not have as many litters as cats, but an unspayed female can still produce a staggering number of puppies. Her and her offspring can account for 20,000 to 40,000 new puppies over her lifetime.

Having your pet spayed or neutered not only prevents overpopulation but also can prevent diseases. By removing her ovaries, a female can no longer develop ovarian or uterine cancer. The earlier she is spayed (especially if before her first heat cycle), the less likely she is going to develop mammary cancer. Each heat she cycles through decreases this benefit, so the sooner, the better. Once spayed, she cannot develop a pyometra, a life-threatening infection of the uterus that requires immediate and expensive surgery. Much safer and cheaper to do it when she is young and healthy.

Male dogs are similar to humans in that chronic male hormones will cause the prostate to gradually enlarge, called benign prostatic hyperplasia. This may never cause a problem or the enlarged prostate may result in straining to defecate.

This enlarged prostate also predisposes them to prostatitis, a bacterial infection of the prostate that can be life threatening and spread into the urinary tract and blood stream. Treatment may require expensive hospitalization to treat with intravenous fluids and antibiotics.

Both of these problems can be prevented and treated with neutering. Removal of the testes removes the male hormones. A neutered dog also cannot develop testicular cancer.

Another benefit is that neutered pets have no desire to reproduce so they are less likely to roam away from home looking for love. If neutered at an early age, males may be less aggressive, too. Other than a decrease in aggression, we see few behavioral changes. Most behaviors are learned or breed specific, not hormone based.

Every veterinarian can spay or neuter your dog or cat at a reasonable price. This is a great time to establish that relationship between your pet, you and your veterinarian.

If you live in North Charleston and have financial restrictions, the fees are covered by a grant from PetSmart Charities. Just call the CAS (747-4849) and see if you qualify.

No More Homeless Pets is a state-funded program that allows residents who are on public assistance to have their pet spayed or neutered for $15. Ask your veterinarian for more information.

Historically, the way to take care of that feral cat colony was to bring them to the shelter and see if they were socialized enough to be adoptable. If not, they were euthanized.

Now, however, there is a better option. These cats can be brought to the shelter, spayed or neutered and returned to where they were living. They are also vaccinated and microchipped. Even better, it is paid for by a grant from the ASPCA and covers all of Charleston County.

You stepped up when you heard about the crowding at the shelter. Now let's do the same to eliminate this problem for good by shutting off the faucet.

Dr. Henri Bianucci and Dr. Perry Jameson are with Veterinary Specialty Care LLC. Send questions to petdocs@postandcourier.com.