Every year, tens of thousands of animals end up in shelters across Los Angeles. While many are reunited with their loving human families or are adopted into new homes, thousands of others must be euthanized—often simply because there are too many animals and not enough good homes for them all.

It's never been easier to spay or neuter your pet! Visit one of our six LA City Animal Services Centers in person, click https://t.co/AWQg2n5X4V to get a free or discount voucher mailed to you, or click the link in our bio to learn more today. #laanimalservices #mayorofla pic.twitter.com/5sksKPLIPb

— LA Animal Services (@LACityPets) February 11, 2019

Spaying or neutering is the only way to “fix” this crisis. Help us to spread the word about spaying and neutering, and let’s fix L.A. together!

Think of it this way: Every puppy, kitten, or bunny who is born will either end up homeless or—if he or she is lucky enough to find a family—take a place in a home that could have been given to an animal waiting in a shelter. Every spay or neuter surgery prevents many generations of animals from being born, meaning that fewer dogs, cats, and rabbits enter the world only to end up in shelters, starve on the streets, or suffer at the hands of humans who abuse or neglect them.

Having your animals spayed or neutered is beneficial to their health and your wallet—and it helps end the homeless-animal crisis. Plus, it’s the law. In the city of Los Angeles, all cats, dogs and rabbits over the age of 4 months must be spayed or neutered unless certain conditions are met or a breeding permit is purchased and an increased licensing fee paid. The cost of the permit and license amounts to more than $300 a year, and they need to be renewed annually—which is far more expensive than the one-time cost of spaying or neutering. If your animal isn’t fixed and you don’t have a breeding permit, you could be fined up to $500, and continued noncompliance is a misdemeanor.

Looking for spay/neuter help in Los Angeles County? Find out how to get a coupon for a low-cost surgery here.

Benefits

Cats and dogs who are sterilized are less prone to developing mammary or prostate cancers and have zero risk of suffering from uterine or testicular cancers—diseases that are life-threatening and expensive (and sometimes impossible) to treat. They’re also less likely to contract deadly, contagious conditions that are spread via bodily fluids during fights, such as feline AIDS and feline leukemia.

“Fixed” animals are better citizens, too. Spaying or neutering helps curb unwelcome forms of behavior, including roaming in search of mates, fighting, territorial marking, spraying, “humping,” and aggression: Dogs who have been neutered are three times less likely to bite.

Sterilization is among the safest and most routine surgeries that veterinarians perform, and it’ll only make your animals more interested in bonding with you than in running off to find mates.

Spaying and neutering saves lives—and saves money:

• The one-time cost of a spay/neuter surgery (which can be significantly lowered or waived by taking advantage of these resources) is far cheaper than the cost of providing even one litter of puppies or kittens with good care—including vaccinations, food, costs associated with finding them homes, and more.
• Neutering a male cat or dog is much cheaper than the veterinary bills you might have to pay if your unneutered animal gets into fights with other males over females in heat.
• Communities that enforce spay/neuter laws can save thousands of taxpayer dollars by reducing the need to round up, shelter, care for, and, in some cases, ultimately euthanize stray and unwanted animals.

There really is no good reason not to have your animals sterilized, so why delay?
Have them spayed or neutered today!

     —Next Up—