Startling Birth Control Ad for Pets

[meow2u3]

Parents of teens know that at that certain age they can't avoid having the dreaded "sex talk" with their kids, but what about with their pets? What if pet owners started thinking of their pets as their teens when it comes to avoiding pregnancy?

That's the dramatic, but humorous, approach taken in a new series of public service announcements and advertisements produced by the Best Friends Animal Society, the nation's largest sanctuary for homeless animals.

In the spots, voiced by "NCIS: LA" actress Linda Hunt and "Modern Family" star Eric Stonestreet, parents appear to be reacting to their kids' promiscuity, only to have the kids replaced by their pets. In other words, once you start thinking of your pets as your kids, it's a lot easier to think of what needs to be done to keep them from delivering offspring.

Called "Prevent more. Fix at month four," the campaign is the first national effort to educate pet owners on when, not just why, they should spay and neuter, according to the Society.

(video at top of page)

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/startling-birth-control-ad-pets-201143474--abc-news-topstories.html

[bluerum]

1. Pets must be neutered in order to get a license where I live.

[roody]

2. Hooray for where you live! nt

[kestrel91316]

3. Male cats neutered at 4 months have a greater risk of urinary tract

obstruction leading to the need for expensive life-saving surgery in my experience. And then there is that whole horrible thing with the risk of hip fractures.

I recommend neutering male cats at 8 months and females at 6 months. It's medically optimal for the cats.

Neutering at 4 months is optimal if you want to avoid stupidity leading to unwanted pets. Hell, neutering at birth would be best for that, but my obligation is to do what's best for my individual patients' health.

[ScreamingMeemie]

6. That's exactly what happened with us.

Kittimus was 8 months old when he was diagnosed with his obstruction. Our 'rescue' kitten is now a 1400 dollar treasured member of our family.

[Merlot]

8. What does hip fractures have to do with spaying?

I've heard that the early spay is bad for cats. My cat was spayed at 6 months and has had 2 blockages in his life.

I guess the reason they want to do it before the animal is adopted, because some people will get lazy about doing the spay later. It makes sense, just not good medical sense.

[flvegan]

4. 4 months? Jesus. 8 weeks, thanks.

Mandatory spay/neuter would be nice, for a number of reasons.

[ScreamingMeemie]

7. kestrel's right when it comes to male cats.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=699565

Kittimus (daughter's cat) ended up having to basically have his entire urethra reconstructed due to an obstruction that can be traced back (in the vet's opinion) to a 6-8 week neutering.

[Jane Austin]

5. There is a strong correlation between early altering and

Hemangiosarcoma.

Hemangio is the damned cancer that kills more than 50% of Golden Retrievers - and plenty of other breeds, too.

If they die of Hemangio after age 12, well . . . they have to die of something.

But there are too many that are dying at less than 10 years.

It's very sad to have a puppy, whose Dam and Sire lived to 14.5 years, die at eight or nine years.

Vets encourage early altering of the pups, whereas the sire and dam are probably intact their whole lives.