SPAY & NEUTER OVERVIEW
One of our nation's bigger challenges is unaltered pets in our communities, contributing to overpopulation, overcrowded shelters and euthanizing of healthy animals. S.T.A.R.T. is committed to “no more litters” and can offer low-cost options to altering your pets. Some of these programs are supported by other non-profit groups or by the State of New Jersey. Spaying or neutering your pet increases their chances for a longer, healthier life and helps alleviate the dog and cat over-population problem.
Only 1 in 9 cats and dogs born in the U.S. will find a home. The rest will be destroyed because nobody wants them. For every person that is born, 15 dogs and 45 cats are also born. There aren't enough homes for them all. Only we can solve this problem, help fight pet overpopulation. Could you choose which animal will live? It's a choice no one should have to make. Spay or neuter today!!
THE FACTS ARE:
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Over $2 billion is spent annually by local governments to shelter and ultimately destroy 8-10 million adoptable cats and dogs because of a shortage of homes. (Source: Business Wire Features 2/16/99)
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7 dogs and cats are born every day for each person born in the United States; only 1 in 5 puppies and kittens stay in their original home for his/her natural lifetime; the other 4 are abandoned to the streets or end up at a shelter. (Source: The Humane Society of the United States.)
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An unspayed female cat, her mate and all of their offspring, producing 2 litters per years, with 2.8 surviving kittens per year can total 11,606,077 cats in only 9 years. (Source: Spay USA)
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An unspayed female dog, her mate and all of their puppies, if none are ever neutered or spayed, add up to 67,000 dogs in 6 years. (Source: Spay USA)
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Approximately 25% of the animals in shelters are purebred. (Source: The Fund for Animals -- Kim Sturla)
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The public acquires only 14% of its pets from shelters; 48% get their pets as strays, from friends, from animal rescuers, 38% get their pets from breeders or pet stores. (Source: The Humane Society of the United States.)
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Only 42% of cat owners and 39% of dog owners are aware of the pet-over population problem. (Source: Massachusetts SPCA survey 1993)