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By Amy Mons
Summer has arrived and with it has come to the yearly population explosion of both puppies and kittens.
Sadly, as the cost of living rises fewer animals are sterilized and so the Harare SPCA and other charities are inundated with unwanted offspring of owned pets as well as orphans and feral born animals that are picked up off the roads.
If they are healthy and able to eat alone, they are vaccinated and put up for adoption, however many of them come in very young and some without mothers and so they need fostering until they are old and well enough to be adopted.
Fostering is no easy task and requires round the clock dedication. The sad fact is that after all the effort that the fosterers put in the biggest challenge is finding suitable homes for all the animals.
There are simply not enough homes for the number of animals handed into animal shelters.
This leads to the only solution to the problem; sterilization.
Did you know that one pair of cats and their offspring can produce 480 000 kittens in just 7 years and one pair of dogs and their offspring can produce 67 000 puppies in 6 years?
We hear all manner of reasons and excuses as to why people opt not to sterilize their pets, but the truth of the matter is that spaying or neutering your pet will inevitably increase its life-span by eliminating the risk of the most common types of cancers as well as conditions like pyometra (a life-threatening uterine infection) or a prolapsed uterus, which is predominately seen in females that have had multiple litters. Unsterilized animals are also much more likely to catch TVT (transmissible venereal tumors that are primarily spread during mating).
Responsible pet ownership is planning and ensuring that you can afford to vaccinate yearly and sterilize your pet when they are old enough.
All vets offer these services and we encourage you to talk to your Veterinarian about the costs involved before deciding to get a pet. Once you have decided that you do want to get a pet, we invite you to come and visit the Harare SPCA Kennels and opt to adopt a shelter pet who is desperate for a chance to be a part of a loving home.
We have a huge variety of animals available and more arriving every day.
For more information about animal health, you can email
communications@spca.org.zw
visit Facebook page: Harare SPCA
For news updates visit www.thesoil.co.zw
Facebook page: The Soil zw
Call +263 712470042