TULSA, Okla. — It’s National Spay and Neuter Month but it’s going to cost you a little more to take your pet to the vet thanks to increasing costs during the pandemic.
To help control the pet population, animal rescue organizations stress getting your pet spayed or neutered.
But much like other pandemic cost increases, veterinarians say it’s costing them more to do the procedures.
Dr. Christen Thomas, an associate veterinarian at Tulsa’s SPCA, says people aren’t getting their pets spayed or neutered because of the cost and that adds to the overpopulation of pets.
“Then we have our pets that get out because they are still intact and they’re roaming," Dr. Thomas said. "Then they continue to jump fences and get into other yard with other people's pets who haven’t yet gotten their animals spayed or neutered potentially, even though they are planning to. Then they end up with a litter of puppies or kittens that they don’t know about.”
While it might seem like a relatively quick procedure won’t cost much, Dr. Thomas says it’s the cost of the supplies that adds up.
“On the backside of things, some people don’t think about our surgery gloves, our sutures, our drugs that we use to anesthetize the animals, the pain medications that kind of thing. Everything is going up and so then that’s costing us more.”
But she says there are other benefits to spay and neutering beyond the pet population.
“The big thing is behavior issues. The not having the need to get out and wander and find a mate because then that leads to other issues as far as getting hit by cars, injuries, dog fights, cat fights, and illnesses,” Dr. Thomas said.
Pets can be spayed or neutered as young as 8 weeks if a dog is at least five pounds or if a cat at least two pounds.
And it doesn’t matter how old they are — “it's never too late,” Dr. Thomas said.
Tulsa SPCA offers these procedures at a lower cost than most clinics and stores like Petland say if you buy a pet at their store, they offer discounts to encourage owners to have the animal spayed or neutered.
You can make an appointment for your pet with Tulsa SPCA here.
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