Puppy Dog Ranch Receives Two New Grants to Help their Spay and Neuter Program
Click on any social media page and you’ll see family pictures of cats and dogs dressed in everything from booties and parkas to ballerina tutus and Harley Davidson gear. Every year Americans spend over $45 billion dollars on their pets. Medical care once reserved for humans such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, even kidney transplants, are now offered as treatment options to pet owners willing to do anything to extend the life of their beloved cat or dog. People love their pets with the same passion that they love other family members and yet every year in the United States, 6-8 million cats and dogs wind up in local shelters and 4 million of those dogs and cats are euthanized.
Americans do love their pets. But we also knowingly and unknowingly hand them an early death sentence--one that could be avoided by simply limiting the number of dogs and cats born each year because will the overcrowding at shelters all around the country and not enough homes available to adopt the pets into, shelters have little option but to euthanize 60% of the animals coming through their doors. Right now, there are 10,000 humans born every day in the United States; but there are 70,000 puppies and kittens born. No matter how much we love our pets, with this reality, there will never be enough homes for all the pets born. Never. And the only way to change this is to take control of pet overpopulation.
Pet owners will often give all kinds of reasons for not spaying or neutering their pet-but facts indicate that one of the best things pet owners can do for their pet is sterilize them before they mate or give birth to a litter. Both female and male pets who have been spay/neutered early have lower rates of cancer, live longer, are less aggressive and are better behaved than their unneutered counterparts. And even though people often give members of their pet’s litter to friends and believe they will have a happy life, the sad reality is that the majority of dogs and cats that wind up in shelters are relinquished to them. The top four reasons for relinquishing a pet to a shelter are: 1) moving, 2) allergies, 3) the expense, 4) no time to devote to them.
Puppy Dog Ranch, a No-Kill Rescue and Sanctuary in Arenas Valley, has received two grants that allow them to continue to offer reduced cost of spaying/neutering their pet(s) to residents of Grant County. Monies have been received for their S.P.O.T. Program (Stopping Pet Overpopulation Together) from the Ryan Newman Foundation and from the Foundation for the Protection for Animals. The money allows PDR to spay and neuter each of their adoptable dogs prior to adoption and to offer limited income residents a way to affordably spay and neuter their companion animals. Since 2009, PDR has spayed/neutered over 200 dogs and cats in Grant County and their goal is to assist funding the spay/neuter of 200 more dogs and cats in 2013.
Residents of Grant County can give their beloved pets the gift of a longer and happier, healthier life this holiday season by having them spayed or neutered. And in so doing, a person can also know that by spaying or neutering their own pet, they are making a significant contribution to controlling the problem of pet overpopulation. And that means less dogs and cats put to sleep in local shelters.
There could be no greater gift given during this Holiday season!
For more information about S.P.O.T., call Laurie West at (575) 313-7232. Brochures are available at Arenas Valley Animal Clinic, upon request and are given away at Puppy Dog Ranch's year-round community appearances and fundraisers.
Puppy Dog Ranch Rescue and Sanctuary, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity, is run by a small group of dedicated volunteers and is funded entirely by donations. Puppy Dog Ranch is the only NO KILL Dog Rescue serving residents in Grant County and all communities throughout 125 miles. The Ranch is open by appointment, Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is located in Arenas Valley, NM.www.puppydogranch.org