Neuter Your Pet or Do Time

On Tuesday Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed one of the nation’s tougher laws on pet sterilization, requiring most dogs and cats to be spayed or neutered by the time they are just 4 months old.

The law is aimed at eliminating the thousands of euthanizations conducted in Los Angeles’ animal shelters every year. “We will, sooner rather than later, become a no-kill city and this is the greatest step in that direction,” said Councilman Tony Cardenas said as he held a kitten at a City Hall news conference.

The ordinance does exempt animals that have competed in shows or sporting competitions, guide dogs, animals used by police agencies and those belonging to professional breeders.

The average pet owner, however, must have their dog or cat spayed or neutered by the time it reaches 4 months of age without a note from the vet.

Those who don’t comply with the ordinance will serve time. Community time that is. First-time offenders will receive information on subsidized sterilization services and be given an additional 60 days to bring a neuter note from the pet doc. Still fail to comply and they could fine you $100 and order you to serve eight hours of community service. Another offense could mean a $500 fine or 40 hours of community service.

Los Angeles animal shelters took in over 50,000 cats and dogs last year and euthanized approximately 15,000 at a cost of $2 million, according to city officials.

Seizure-Alert Dogs

My brother has had epilepsy for over at least 30 years now and recently had a serious accident after having a seizure while waiting for his wife to pick him up at work. He fell flat on his face and unfortunately the local government he works for has a taj mahal so the floor was marble, or as hard as marble. He was in the hospital until today and will be dealing with the repercutions of this fall for some time.

So when I got the email from my sister about “seizure-alert dogs” it definitely caught my attention. The case for having one of these dogs goes something like this:

Seizure-alert dogs, as implied by their name, are dogs that can sense and notify their human companions of an oncoming seizure. This alerting behavior has been reported to occur several seconds to 45 minutes or more before the onset of the seizure. The dog does this by exhibiting marked changes in behavior, including close eye contact, circling, pawing, barking etc.

Although the article goes on to dispute some of the beliefs held by others it doesn’t seem far fetched at all to me. I’ve known since childhood that dogs (pets in general) have senses far superior to ours that can be useful in many situations. Besides what is the downfall to having one of the dogs? Maybe my brother would have been busy petting his buddy and that simple act may have been enough to keep his mind engaged and away from the seizure zone.

If you’d like to read more about seizure alert dogs check out the article at epilepsy.com.

For Prospective New Pet Owners

This video that should be watched by every person thinking about getting a new pet. It’s the “ugly side” of our love of pets. If you take a look at the highlights below you’ll have a pretty good idea of what you’ll see in the video. Don’t watch it if you cry easily and don’t feel like crying or if you’re easily depressed.

We wish everyone had a pet, and we wish every pet caretaker was responsible, which is why we added this depressing video to our Big City Pet site. We hope you understand we’re only trying to help prevent the situation from getting even worse.

Some of the highlights:

• Many puppies sold in retail pet stores are purchased from puppy mills
• Up to 25 million animals become homeless every year
• Up to 27% of purebred dogs are homeless
• 9 million homeless animals die in the streets every year
• 16 million homeless animals are taken in by shelters where they’ll be euthanized
• It is estimated that 50% of the animals in shelters were taken there by their “caretakers”

Getting a pet is a major commitment that isn’t unlike having a child. Think hard about what kind of home and life you’ll be able to provide for the animal before you run out to buy a pet.