A stern reminder about the importance of sterilization of dogs

A recent discovery of a litter of pups has once again reminded me of the absolute imperative importance of sterilizing animals, dogs and cats in particular. Nature has determined over the course of thousands of years that in order for a pack to survive in the long run that a mother dog needs to have as many babies as they possibly can. Before dogs were pets, most of these puppies would never make it to adulthood but those who did would repeat the cycle of making as many other puppies as they possibly could for the good of the pack's survival. Without this and if dogs had babies like humans or penguins do, they would not be able to survive as a species. There were just too many dangers in their daily lives and therefore replicating like mad was absolutely essential.

This is not a problem in dogs' lives anymore. There is no reason for them to have this many puppies at a time because unlike days before, they don't really have any natural predators in their lives. They no longer need a team of dogs in order to take down bigger prey so that the entire pack could feed. Existing in large numbers these days is a detriment not just to the existing pack but to all other packs nearby because there is only so much food to go around. Dogs these days have nothing to hunt, so they merely exist off of the care of humans or they tear open garbage cans in the effort to find something to eat.

This is why this recent discovery of a mum who had NINE puppies in one litter so heartbreaking and is a sort of reminder about how important it is that animals are sterlized.

These puppies were pointed out to us by nearby property owners who could hear them crying for mama all day long. We were concerned when we first got there that mama had died but thankfully she returned while we were there.

Thankfully, the mother dog was a friendly dog and didn't give us much trouble when it came to putting her in the crate to be taken to the veterinarian for a check up and also to have her sterilized so that she will not continue to populate the area that she is in like this. She was already quite malnourished and imagine how much more difficult that is going to become when all of a sudden there are 9 more mouths to feed?

We picked up all the pups as well because we didn't want to traumatize them by taking away their mother and just leaving them there alone in the dark. They will all be returned to where they are after we are done treating them. The pups are too young to be sterilized so we have asked the neighbor to keep an eye on them and left them some food. They seemed reluctant to help so I am not hopeful that they are actually going to carry through on their end of the bargain. I don't speak Thai well enough to really understand all of what was said but from what I could muster I think they had the impression that Krabi Animal Welfare is the sort of organization that if you call them we come and take the dogs away off to some magical property that we do not own. That would be wonderful if we had millions of dollars to make that happen but as it stands now our kennels are beyond full and we cannot possibly accommodate even one more dog, let alone 10.

We checked out the puppies and discovered that 5 of them are female. Lets assume that they carry mom's amazing genetic traits and are able to also have litters as huge as hers. It varies from breed to breed but some types of dogs can start to go "into heat" in as little as 4 months. Most have this happen to them for the first time at around 6 months so lets just assume that is the figure. The gestation period of dogs is generally only around 9 weeks so in a mere 8-9 months this small pack of dogs could grow from 10 to as many as 60 dogs. Of course this is very unlikely so let's just keep the figures conservative and say that it would end up being 40 dogs. Then another 8-9 months, presuming half of the dogs end up being female, we have as many as 200 more dogs and of course this number increases exponentially as the problem gets worse and worse.

Of course the above figures are just math. In reality the pack would never get to that size because there isn't anywhere near enough food and water resources for that to happen. The initial 40 maybe would but then almost all of them would die from starvation, dehydration, disease, and parasites. I've seen all of these things happen to dogs and they are a terrible and very slow way to go. This is the reason why sterilization is is the most important thing that we or you can possibly do for a stray dog. I would go as far as to say that your own dog, even if it is very well looked after, should also be sterilized because once a dog goes into heat, they have an amazing ability to all of a sudden become Houdini as far as getting out of your yard is concerned in and effort to find a mate quickly.

We all love how cute puppies are but the fact of the matter is that there is a very good chance that all 9 of these dogs are going to live horrible lives filled with suffering. There's just too many of them and since we are one of only a few organizations in Krabi province that even tries to help them, there just isn't enough resources. When the pack of dogs becomes too much trouble for the neighborhood, the people who live there will transport them and drop them off at a temple or even worse, the heartless individuals that live the world over will simply poison them.

If we can sterilize enough of the dogs in this area we can put an end to a majority of the suffering that comes along with overpopulation of stray animals. This is true anywhere else in the world as well. It is extremely unlikely that we will find and sterilize every single dog in this area, but by controlling certain areas we can put a stop to a lot of the pain that these animals would go through otherwise.

If you have the opportunity where you live, I strongly encourage you to get strays sterilized to try to help to curb this problem that will not go away by any other method. The surgery is extremely simple and cheap and in a lot of places the veterinarians will do the procedure either at the cost of the medicine or even do the procedure for free.

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if you would like to see how you can help out or simply spread the word, please visit our website at

http://krabianimalwelfare.org

_{Krabi Animal Welfare is a charity run entirely by volunteers and are a registered non-profit organization in Thailand and the U.K.. We aim to relieve the pain and suffering of dogs and cats within Krabi Province.}

เป็นผู้สนับสนุนรายเดือนหรือบริจาคครั้งเดียวได้ที่:

http://krabianimalwelfare.org

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