It's Time for St. Catrick's!

The Athens Area Humane Society’s Spay & Neuter Center is offering $30 male cat neuters from Monday, March 12 through Thursday, March 22, 2012 in honor of St. Catrick’s Day! Because AAHS received so many calls about male cat neuters during its February Beat the Heat promotion, we decided to offer a limited number of 200 male cat neuters at the reduced cost of $30 (normally $50) during the week leading up to St. Patrick’s Day. Cats must be current on their rabies vaccine—if they are not, a rabies vaccine may be purchased for $10 at the time of surgery.

Why spay and neuter your cat?

Above all, spaying and neutering all pets is the first and most important step in reducing unwanted litters, which results in a large number of homeless pets and thus increased euthanasia rates in our community. Spaying and neutering will not only help end pet overpopulation, it will also lengthen your pet’s life by eliminating the possibility of certain reproductive cancers and will reduce or eliminate behavioral issues. Another perk to spaying and neutering is that females no longer have messy heat cycles and males are less likely to spray to mark their territory.

There are also some secondary advantages to spaying and neutering your pets. For instance, animals that are intact are much more likely to become lost because they instinctively want to escape and hunt for a mate, even if you generally keep them indoor or in fenced areas. (Pets should always have proper identification, whether it be a collar with a tag, a microchip, or ideally, both.) There are also some behavioral issues, such as aggressiveness, that can be easily addressed by spaying or neutering.

The Athens Area Humane Society’s Spay & Neuter Center is located at 1781 Mars Hill Rd., Watkinsville, GA 30677 and can be reached by calling 706-769-9155. The AAHS Spay & Neuter Center is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00am to 4:00pm (closed 12pm-1pm for lunch) and Friday from 8:00am to 10:00am. Please call 706-769-9155 or visit www.AthensHumaneSociety.org for more information about the spay and neuter program.