Spay Week Ireland 2006 (see the poster)
Ireland’s unacceptably high destruction rate of unwanted cats and dogs is to be put under the spotlight during Spay Week Ireland 2006, starting on Sunday May 28th next.
The awareness campaign aims to reduce the number of abandoned animals by encouraging owners to spay or neuter their pets. Each year, over 16,000 healthy but unwanted dogs are destroyed in Irish dog pounds, a destruction rate ten times that of England and Wales. While no figures are available for cats, it is thought that there are even larger numbers of stray and unwanted felines
Spay Week Ireland 2006 sets out to highlight the positive benefits spaying and neutering offers to cats and dogs and urging owners be responsible by not contributing to the crisis of Ireland’s unwanted puppies and kittens. Put simply it’s time to kill the problem, not the pets.
Research shows that early neutering dramatically reduces an animal’s chances of developing common cancers and other diseases. It keeps pets healthy, helps control the over-population of stray cats and prevents the needless destruction of perfectly healthy animals in pounds.
PAWS FOR THOUGHT
MIAOW OR NEVER
DOGS TRUST
A bitch spayed before her first season is 2,000 times less likely than an intact bitch to develop mammary or breast cancer.
Neutering male dogs helps prevent testicular cancer and prostate disease
In Ireland 72% of stray and unwanted dogs are destroyed, 10 times the rate of both England and Wales.
Males neutered early in life are less aggressive towards other dogs and are not distracted by females in heat.
Neutering doubles the life expectancy of tom cats from seven to 14 years.
Spayed cats are seven times less likely to get mammary cancer than non-spayed cats. Spaying also prevents womb infections which can be life threatening.
There are thousands of stray cats in every county of Ireland today.
Trap, Neuter and Release’ schemes are the most effective way of controlling stray cat problems. Having already proved successful in other countries such as the UK, USA, Italy, Greece and Germany, these schemes involve trapping the cats and taking them to the vets to be neutered. Their ear tips are then clipped for identification purposes, and returned to the area that they have made their home.
Spay Week Ireland 2006 has been boosted by the support of international dog-welfare charity Dogs Trust. Following a successful pilot scheme in Cork, Dogs Trust is launching a nationwide subsidised neutering campaign which offers dog owners on means-tested social welfare benefits the opportunity to have their pets spayed or neutered for a nominal fee of €14. For further information on participating vets and eligibility please call Dogs Trust Neutering Hotline 1890 946 336.
