There’s just nothing quite like a new puppy. Remington came in to see us for his first puppy vaccination visit and, as you can see by his picture, he is adorable.
Remington is also a good reminder. He is a cross between a female Chihuahua and a male dachshund. Of course, I had to ask, “How did that happen?”
“My friend’s Chihuahua got out and almost immediately her neighbor’s dachshund found her. They only got together one time.”
What’s wrong with this picture?
While I don’t have a problem with breeding dogs of extremely high quality from a great bloodline free from defects, the accidental breeding of pets is simply unthinkable in view of the extreme pet overpopulation problem we have been working to eliminate for the last fifty years.
Female pets need to be spayed. Male pets need to be neutered. If either the Chihuahua or the dachshund had been altered, this litter of Chihuadachs would not have happened.
In the United States, seven dogs and cats are born each day for each new human baby born. There are simply not enough homes for all of the new four-legged babies we’re making every day.
Today, cost cannot be considered a factor. There are no-cost and low-cost spay-neuter facilities available everywhere. In our own state, Mississippi State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine senior students go from town to town performing free surgeries under the supervision of one or more professors. They take their own mobile surgical center with them, so they can serve the public even in towns where there is no veterinarian.
Does your pet get the same care at a low-cost facility he would get at your veterinarian’s office? Not exactly. There may be no preanesthesia laboratory testing, less pain medication given and an assembly-line technique. The bottom line, though, is that unwanted litters are avoided and no contribution is made to the pet overpopulation problem.
You may say, “My pet has had five litters and I’ve found homes for every offspring.” It’s a common retort.
I will counter, “Suppose the average litter size was six offspring. If your pet had been surgically altered she would have had no offspring. How many of those thirty available ‘slots’ might have been filled with pets from a humane shelter?”
See you tomorrow, Dr. Randolph.
