By Patricia L. Howard -
[email protected]
One statistic cites the national compliance rate for
sterilization of cats and dogs adopted from public and private shelters
and rescue groups to be less than 60 percent. Is it any wonder, then,
that shelters are still in the killing business and not in the
sheltering business? With seven to 10 million cats and dogs destroyed
each year in shelters, it is clear that overpopulation is the greatest
killer in the nation of dogs and cats, and a major cause of animal pain
and suffering.
The problem of overpopulation can be solved and the
number of unwanted cats and dogs substantially reduced if all the tools
at the disposal of rescue groups and shelter workers are in place � two
of the most critical being early-age spay/neuter (sterilization of
puppies and kittens from seven to 16 weeks of age) and neuter before
adoption, the policy of sterilizing all adopted animals before they go
to their new homes. With more than a decade of research and published
veterinary studies to recommend it, the practice of early-age
spay/neuter is still not widely practiced by shelters, humane groups,
and veterinarians. This is in spite of the success the procedure is
shown to have had in reducing numbers of animals brought to shelters
each year or abandoned to fend for themselves.
Shelters who have adopted policies of neuter before
adoption realize that early-age spay/neuter is the most important aspect
of the strategy. The large number of infant animals placed in homes that
must otherwise require follow-up scheduling of sterilizations, sometimes
months later, increases the risk of these animals falling through the
cracks or coming into early reproductive maturity and contributing to
the overpopulation problem. Early-age spay/neuter also circumvents the
real possibilities of adoptors who are noncompliant with adoption
agreements or contracts, those who are financially unable to comply, or
those who are simply negligent.
One reason that early-age spay/neuter is not status quo
is the fear that it may be disadvantageous, or even dangerous, to the
future health of the animal. However, early-age spay/neuter has been
endorsed by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). As
stated by that organization, "... AVMA supports the concept of early
ovariohysterectomies and gonadectomies in dogs and cats, in an effort to
stem the overpopulation problem in these species." In his 1987 report
published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Association (JAVMA),
Leo L. Lieberman, DVM, challenged the veterinary profession to take a
fresh look at the traditional timing of sterilization. He concluded that
kittens and puppies sterilized as early as seven weeks of age suffer no
medical or behavioral side effects. He also stated that kittens and
puppies sterilized before 12 weeks of age experienced fewer
complications from the surgery. A later report by Lieberman addressing
the short-term results and complications (or, more specifically, the
lack thereof) of prepubertal gonadectomies in cats and dogs appeared in
the July 1, 1997 issue of JAVMA. Lieberman received the 1997 Geraldine
R. Dodge Humane Ethics in Action Award for his continued work in
early-age spay/neuter and neuter before adoption.
Later articles, by Michael G. Arohnson, VMD, and Alicia
Fagella, DVM, of the ASPCA's Angell Memorial Hospital in Boston, were
published in JAVMA outlining surgical techniques for sterilizing six- to
14-week-old kittens (January 1993), along with techniques for proper
anesthesia. "On the basis of our findings in this study and another
study," said Arohnson and Flagella, "the anesthetic and surgical risk
for neutering pediatric kittens is minimal, providing proper precautions
and techniques are used." Peter Theran, VMD, published his study on
surgery and anesthesia protocols for both puppies and kittens in the
March 1993 issue.
Research by these and other veterinarians points to the
safety of early-age sterilization and the lack of evidence to support
fears that it may interfere with the animals' development or compromise
health in later years. Gloria Binkowski, DVM, in an article for Natural
Pet, stated, "While performing sterilization procedures on puppies and
kittens does require some adjustment of technique on the part of the
surgeon, it seems that performing the surgery on a very young animal is
no more difficult, and may even be easier, than on an older animal."
She, too, emphasized the effectiveness of the practice in addressing the
problem of overpopulation. W. Marvin Mackie, DVM, of Animal Birth
Control in San Pedro, California, who has been performing early-age
sterilization since 1988, agrees. With four clinics under his
supervision, Mackie has been active for more than a decade teaching safe
pediatric surgical and anesthetic protocol to veterinarians who wish to
make it an integral part of their practices or who wish to assist
shelters and humane organizations in their fight against overpopulation.
Mackie demonstrated the technique for early-age
sterilization in a video which he makes available to veterinarians,
adoption groups, and shelters. The video, showing spays and neuters
being performed on cats as young as eight weeks of age, is a convincing
testimony to the relative ease of the procedures, both for doctor and
patient, compared to the same procedures performed on mature animals
(six months of age or older). In a sequence showing a mother cat and her
kitten being spayed virtually side by side, the mother's slow recovery
contrasted vividly with the extraordinarily quick recovery of her
kitten. Mackie stresses that, although the organs are tiny in the
juvenile compared to the adult, the procedure is made easier by the lack
of bleeding that is a component of mature female cats (who are often
coming into heat when the surgery is performed) and by the lack of fatty
tissue that in adults must be circumnavigated during abdominal entry and
uterine horn retrieval. In a 2002 article for the Pet Savers Foundation,
Mackie cites a study conducted at Texas A&M where senior veterinary
students performed sterilization surgery on 1,988 cats and dogs which
showed that post-surgical complications were the lowest for animals less
that 12 weeks of age.
In addition to decreased surgical risk, there is no
evidence that the occurrence of FUS (feline urological syndrome),
particularly in the male cat, will be increased by pediatric
sterilization, according to veterinarians who practice the procedure.
Other concerns, such as poor skeletal development and behavior problems,
also are unfounded, said Susan Little, DVM, citing studies conducted at
the University of Florida, among others. Shelters who have practiced
early-age spay/neuter report no increase in physical or behavior
problems.
Besides AVMA, early-age sterilization and neuter before
adoption has received support from such organizations as the Association
of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, the American Animal Hospital
Association, the ASPCA, Spay/USA, and the American Humane Association.
But with the support of so many veterinarians, university research
attesting to its safety, and the obvious positive effect on
overpopulation, why have so few shelters adopted early-age spay/neuter
as policy, and why are so many veterinarians still reluctant to learn
and perform the procedure?
Many of us can recall a time when even spays and neuters
of adult animals were not all that common. Over time, demands made for
the surgery by educated and responsible guardians of companion animals,
as well as shelters and rescue groups, made them so. We also can recall
a time such common tests as those for FeLV and FIV were not readily
available. These, too, are now standard practice�as are the more
holistic and alternative health care options we desired for our animal
companions. Consumer education and consumer demand appear to be the keys
to obtaining a critical mass of veterinarians who are trained in the
techniques (surgical and anesthetic) of early-age sterilization, and are
willing to make them part of their practice. It also is crucial that
these techniques be taught at veterinary schools, as they now are at
Tufts, Washington State University, and Texas A&M, among others.
Representatives of shelters and rescue organizations
that practice early-age sterilization and neuter before adoption report
that adoptors are happy with the program because they are released from
the responsibility of remembering to make the trip to the veterinarian.
Moreover, they are able to reach a segment of the working poor who, even
with reduced fees cannot always afford visits to the veterinarian. They
also say that they are actively addressing their mission to reduce
animal suffering and paint a brighter picture for the future of unwanted
animals�one that all too often ends in death. Mindful of the success of
neuter before adoption, the safety of early-age spay/neuter, and the
unbelievable numbers of unwanted cats and dogs that are still being
killed or abandoned each year, releasing unsterilized animals to
adoptive homes is a risk that shelters and rescue groups should no
longer be willing to take.
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