Four easy ways you can participate in animal anti-cruelty month
Taking on a pet is a major responsibility and should be viewed in the same serious light as looking after a person
APRIL is animal anti-cruelty month, so if you are an animal lover, why not show your appreciation for our furry friends.
There are many ways one can take a stance against animal cruelty, starting in the home.
Spay your female pets
Spaying may be a costly exercise, but it’s a once-off.
Consider the alternatives: the difficult task of finding homes for unwanted kittens or puppies, the extra mouths to feed, costly vets bills when one’s dog or cat suffers from one of the negative health side effects of being left ‘intact’.
In both dogs and cats, unspayed females are susceptible to pyometra (a common, life-threatening infection of the uterus) and mammary cancer.
So, spaying your beloved female cats and dogs leads to a healthier life for the animals and reduces costs in the long run for you.
Teach your children to care for family pets
Perhaps you got a puppy or a kitten because your children wanted pets, or perhaps the pets came along before the children.
Either way, teaching children how and when to feed the family pets, how to keep the cat’s sandbox clean (if your cat uses one), and how not to treat animals will set them in good stead for the future.
Teaching children the responsibilities of pet ownership will prevent them from getting a pet impulsively and not be able to care for them appropriately when the pets reach adulthood.
You will also be teaching your child how to respect animals.
Support your local SPCA
Whether you contribute financially or by donating food, toys or blankets, making regular contributions to your local SPCA or animal welfare organisation does wonders for the area’s neglected, abused and stray animals.
Without the luxury of government funding, SPCAs in South Africa cannot function without your support.
Adopt, don’t breed
By adopting a rescued animal, you are giving a grateful animal a brighter future, helping clean the streets of strays and ferals and creating space at the SPCA for another.
You are also taking a stand against illegal ‘backyard breeders’ and ‘puppy mills’, which are often more focused on the money-making aspect of the ‘business’ and not the health and well-being of their poorly looked after animals.
A pet is part of the family and should be treated as such.
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