Post by Brooke on Jan 21, 2004 17:56:04 GMT -5
Pet surgeries make case for sterilizations
By Michele McNeil Solida
michele.mcneil.solida@indystar.com
August 10, 2003
Nala, a black Labrador retriever, went to sleep at the Indiana State Fair and woke up fixed.
One down, tens of thousands to go.
During this week at the State Fair, 20 dogs and cats will be spayed or neutered in full view of anyone who wants to watch -- in hopes that showcasing this mildly gory surgery will prompt Hoosiers to get their own pets sterilized.
These public surgeries at the State Fair are nearly 20 years old, but pet overpopulation is still a big problem in the city.
Last year, more than 30,000 animals -- mostly cats and dogs -- were abandoned to the Humane Society of Indianapolis or Indianapolis Animal Care and Control. Almost two-thirds of those animals, nearly 19,000, were euthanized because no one adopted them.
In June alone, Animal Care and Control took in 1,800 animals.
"That's just too many. We can't possibly adopt that many," said administrator Jim Garrard. "Those numbers are terrible. We have to do better."
But progress is being made -- and the FACE spay/neuter clinic in Indianapolis is responsible for a lot of it. During the past 41/2 years, the low-cost clinic has sterilized 45,000 animals. And last week, the clinic started construction on a 3,000-square-foot addition that will allow it to do 17,000 surgeries a year -- up from 11,000 a year now.
In 10 years, FACE President Scott Robinson said, Indianapolis will have one of the lowest euthanasia rates in the country.
"It's great that we're making progress. But you need to keep doing thousands and thousands of spay and neuters every year to make any impact," he said.
Nala, the black Lab, was brought in as a stray July 31 to Animal Care and Control, which hand-picked the dogs and cats for the surgeries. All of the animals will be available for adoption; so far, no one has adopted Nala.
These public pet surgeries aren't unique to Indiana. State fairs in New York and Minnesota also feature them.
On Wednesday, the opening day of the 150th State Fair, Nala became the poster dog for the benefits of spaying or neutering.
A team of four animal caretakers -- a surgeon and three veterinarian technicians from Purdue University -- conducted the surgery.
Dr. Jacqui Niles, a veterinarian and animal surgeon from Purdue, was in charge.
Was she nervous about operating on Nala in front of dozens of fairgoers?
She stretched out her face in a stressed smile.
"It is a bit intimidating," she said.
The State Fair offers a contradiction in life. At 8 a.m. Wednesday, Nala arrived at the Pioneer Hi-Bred Our Land Pavilion to get fixed so she can't have puppies; just down Main Street is the nursery where new calves are born.
Nala was kept in a cage in an air-conditioned room until about an hour before the 1 p.m. surgery. The vet team gave Nala -- described as a "bit wiggly" -- tranquilizers to calm her, then anesthesia to put her to sleep.
She was wheeled into the glass-enclosed operating room with her belly already shaved. Her legs were then strapped to the table.
At the first incision, the audience reaction was mixed: Some mouths dropped open, others continued eating their pork sandwiches, a few covered their eyes.
Five-year-old Rachael Seidensticker bowed her head at the first cut. Rachael, who wanted to be a vet until she saw the bloody inside of a dog, grabbed a front-row seat for the program with her mom and sister.
"Life's full of experiences. If they got totally grossed out, I figured we could have left," said her mom, Cindy Seidensticker, who thought exposing her children to the surgery was a good experience.
While the nearly one-hour operation progressed, Indianapolis veterinarian David Carter walked the audience through the procedure. He explained that the glass-enclosed room was germ-free, that Nala wouldn't lose much blood and that the uterus being removed looks like a capital Y.
Carter's been involved with this program almost since the beginning, which is 1984, by most accounts. He said they've never lost an animal. And no one in the audience has thrown up or fainted.
Through it all, Carter emphasizes that spaying and neutering help prevent unwanted kittens and puppies. Other benefits: less aggression in male animals, reduced urine marking and a decreased risk of cancer.
But Wednesday's program wasn't enough to persuade Brenda Pfister, of Carmel, to go out and spay her Maltese. Not just yet anyway. She wants to breed the dog first, "then we'll get her spayed," she said.
But there are so many people out there who don't breed their animals responsibly, said Martha Boden, executive director of the Humane Society of Indianapolis.
"People try breeding -- they just want to see what happens," Boden said. "Then we get so many puppies and kittens that people just don't want."
By Michele McNeil Solida
michele.mcneil.solida@indystar.com
August 10, 2003
Nala, a black Labrador retriever, went to sleep at the Indiana State Fair and woke up fixed.
One down, tens of thousands to go.
During this week at the State Fair, 20 dogs and cats will be spayed or neutered in full view of anyone who wants to watch -- in hopes that showcasing this mildly gory surgery will prompt Hoosiers to get their own pets sterilized.
These public surgeries at the State Fair are nearly 20 years old, but pet overpopulation is still a big problem in the city.
Last year, more than 30,000 animals -- mostly cats and dogs -- were abandoned to the Humane Society of Indianapolis or Indianapolis Animal Care and Control. Almost two-thirds of those animals, nearly 19,000, were euthanized because no one adopted them.
In June alone, Animal Care and Control took in 1,800 animals.
"That's just too many. We can't possibly adopt that many," said administrator Jim Garrard. "Those numbers are terrible. We have to do better."
But progress is being made -- and the FACE spay/neuter clinic in Indianapolis is responsible for a lot of it. During the past 41/2 years, the low-cost clinic has sterilized 45,000 animals. And last week, the clinic started construction on a 3,000-square-foot addition that will allow it to do 17,000 surgeries a year -- up from 11,000 a year now.
In 10 years, FACE President Scott Robinson said, Indianapolis will have one of the lowest euthanasia rates in the country.
"It's great that we're making progress. But you need to keep doing thousands and thousands of spay and neuters every year to make any impact," he said.
Nala, the black Lab, was brought in as a stray July 31 to Animal Care and Control, which hand-picked the dogs and cats for the surgeries. All of the animals will be available for adoption; so far, no one has adopted Nala.
These public pet surgeries aren't unique to Indiana. State fairs in New York and Minnesota also feature them.
On Wednesday, the opening day of the 150th State Fair, Nala became the poster dog for the benefits of spaying or neutering.
A team of four animal caretakers -- a surgeon and three veterinarian technicians from Purdue University -- conducted the surgery.
Dr. Jacqui Niles, a veterinarian and animal surgeon from Purdue, was in charge.
Was she nervous about operating on Nala in front of dozens of fairgoers?
She stretched out her face in a stressed smile.
"It is a bit intimidating," she said.
The State Fair offers a contradiction in life. At 8 a.m. Wednesday, Nala arrived at the Pioneer Hi-Bred Our Land Pavilion to get fixed so she can't have puppies; just down Main Street is the nursery where new calves are born.
Nala was kept in a cage in an air-conditioned room until about an hour before the 1 p.m. surgery. The vet team gave Nala -- described as a "bit wiggly" -- tranquilizers to calm her, then anesthesia to put her to sleep.
She was wheeled into the glass-enclosed operating room with her belly already shaved. Her legs were then strapped to the table.
At the first incision, the audience reaction was mixed: Some mouths dropped open, others continued eating their pork sandwiches, a few covered their eyes.
Five-year-old Rachael Seidensticker bowed her head at the first cut. Rachael, who wanted to be a vet until she saw the bloody inside of a dog, grabbed a front-row seat for the program with her mom and sister.
"Life's full of experiences. If they got totally grossed out, I figured we could have left," said her mom, Cindy Seidensticker, who thought exposing her children to the surgery was a good experience.
While the nearly one-hour operation progressed, Indianapolis veterinarian David Carter walked the audience through the procedure. He explained that the glass-enclosed room was germ-free, that Nala wouldn't lose much blood and that the uterus being removed looks like a capital Y.
Carter's been involved with this program almost since the beginning, which is 1984, by most accounts. He said they've never lost an animal. And no one in the audience has thrown up or fainted.
Through it all, Carter emphasizes that spaying and neutering help prevent unwanted kittens and puppies. Other benefits: less aggression in male animals, reduced urine marking and a decreased risk of cancer.
But Wednesday's program wasn't enough to persuade Brenda Pfister, of Carmel, to go out and spay her Maltese. Not just yet anyway. She wants to breed the dog first, "then we'll get her spayed," she said.
But there are so many people out there who don't breed their animals responsibly, said Martha Boden, executive director of the Humane Society of Indianapolis.
"People try breeding -- they just want to see what happens," Boden said. "Then we get so many puppies and kittens that people just don't want."