Feline Fix by Five Pledge

Take the pledge to show your support for early-age spay/neuter, and be a Feline Fix by Five advocate.

I am a Feline Fix by Five advocate. 

I understand the importance of early-age spay/neuter, and pledge to educate my family, friends, and community on the benefits of spaying and neutering kittens before they are 5 months old. 

• Kittens can be safely spayed/neutered when they are two pounds (or roughly two months old). They can also go into heat when they are just four months old. Fixing kittens before they are five months old will drastically reduce the number of unwanted litters and greatly improve their overall health!
• Surgeries on younger, smaller cats are shorter in duration and easier to perform.
• Spaying kittens before five months reduces their risk of mammary gland cancer by 91%. Mammary gland cancer takes the lives of an estimated 75,000 cats every year.
• Spaying kittens before five months eliminates the risk of pyometra early in life. 
• There are up to 70 million homeless cats in the US each year, many of them kittens. Shelters are inundated with kittens. Cat complaints are at, or near, the top of the list for complaint calls to public health and/or animal control. 
• Over 80% of cats relinquished to shelter or abandoned are unspayed or unneutered. Spaying/neutering generally results in reduced roaming behaviors, reduced aggression and territorial marking in males, howling and other heat-related behaviors in females. In this way, spay/neuter can be useful in keeping cats in their homes! 

For these reasons and more, I say, Fix by Five!