"How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways! - Top three Ways to Love Your Pet"

A MESSAGE FROM THE DESK OF BRENDA BARNETTE, LAAS GENERAL MANAGER WHO OVERSEES THE PROTECTION AND WELFARE OF OUR CITY'S ANIMALS  

City of Los Angeles  Department of Animal Services

221 N. Figueroa Street, Suite 500, Los Angeles, California 90012 / http://www.laanimalservices.com/

 For Immediate Release                                        

April 28, 2011                                                                

Contact: Brenda F. Barnette, General Manager

Email: Brenda.barnette@lacity.org                                                                                    Phone: (213) 482-9558

How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways!

Top Three Ways to Love Your Pet

 Number 3:  Spaying/Neutering -- A Change for the Better

You get a healthier pet.  Spayed/neutered pets are less likely to get injured in fights or get lost.  They live twice as long and are less likely to develop certain cancers.  This means lower medical bills.

You get a happier family member.  Spay/neutered pets are calmer because they are more focused on being a loving member of the family; and with adequate daily exercise and a reasonable diet, they don't get fat.

Your pet and your house will be cleaner.  Spayed females will not have heat cycles that soil your rugs and furniture.  Neutered males are less likely to mark furniture and rugs with urine.  This means less special cleaning bills.

Spaying or neutering your pet is a good investment.  Once you multiply the increased food, basic supplies, veterinarian and advertising costs to find homes for the animals, you will see that the cost of altering your pet is very smart investment.

Number 2:  Microchip your pets.

A microchip is a tiny electronic transponder about the size of a grain of rice.  The chip is embedded under the pet's skin using a simple, relatively painless procedure similar to a routine vaccination.  Each chip bears a 10-digit number that can be traced to the pet's guardian.  When your lost pet is found, anyone with a scanner – animal care and control agencies, adoption centers, veterinary clinics – can quickly reunite the family.

Microchips are available from veterinarians, some vaccination clinics, and public shelters at an average cost of $15 to $75, sometimes with additional registration fees.  Los Angeles City Shelters include a microchip for all dogs adopted from City Shelters.  We also microchip non-shelter animals for $25.

And the Number 1 Way To Love Your Pet:

Get Your Dog Licensed NOW!

Make sure your dog's license is current because it protects your dog if he/she accidentally gets out and gets lost.  License tags give you the peace of mind to know that Los Angeles Animal Services will be able to reunite you with your pet if she/he is turned in by a Good Samaritan or is picked up by one of our officers.  It is not only a great safety net for your dog, it is the law.

Do not delay; get your dog a license TODAY!

·         Fees: Spayed or Neutered: $20.00 with proof of rabies vaccination and proof of spay/neuter.

·         Not Spayed or Neutered (if qualified): $100 license plus $235 breeder's permit fee.

Call the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services at 888-452-7381 (TTY Hearing impaired: 877-875-8205) or visit our website at http://www.laanimalservices.com/ to find out how you can get your dog license today.

Golly, only $335 per dog, per year, for a license! Wow, let me call right away! What a bargain. If I have three dogs, that's only a THOUSAND dollars per year. For dog licenses.  No problem, I'll just cut back on food for my children. And what's that you say? I need to beg for government permission each year, or else my dog will be forced to have unnecessary surgery? Where is the hoop? I am ready to jump! How high?

Dear, dear. Seems Ms. Barnette has been swilling some serious AR Kool Aid. Well, after all, she USED to be a breeder, just like she USED to eat meat, but not any more. Maybe her brain is fogged from lack of Vitamin B-12? Just like the rest of her vegan friends. And maybe....just MAYBE....that KoolAid is laced with some serious psychedelic stuff!

Well, first, before I can address the string of lies in this propaganda, let me pick my jaw up off the floor. Gee, a government official who lies to us? Who would have thought?....I am absolutely SHOCKED!

Ready? Here we go:

Neutered pets live twice as long and are healthier? Where is the proof of this? The scientific evidence proves the exact opposite. Many studies that show that keeping all the original parts is the appropriate course of action if you want to promote health and long life. Ovaries promote longevity. Testicles and their precious hormones protect against prostate and bladder cancer. Intact animals have significantly lower rates of hemangiosarcoma, osteosarcoma, hip dysplasia, hypothyroidism, diabetes, pancreatitis, and senile dementia.

Happier family members who won't get fat? Baloney! Many studies show a link between speuter and obesity. When you lose essential hormones and your metabolism slows down, you easily get fat. And really, the dog is happier? You know this how? Behavioral studies show that sterilization increases fearfulness, shyness, and studies show that dog-to-human aggression actually increases! Oops!

Your house will be cleaner? I guess Ms. Barnette forgot that 20-30% of spayed females develop urinary incontinence. They even have a special name for this problem; it's called SPAY INCONTINENCE. Your house won't smell real great with pee all over the place; but seriously, for any dog with a housebreaking problem, or the minor problem of discharge during a season, whether that pet is intact or neutered, it is a simple matter to buy bitch britches or belly bands. Get over it already.

Guess what, neutered dogs get into the mud and get skunked just the same as those who are intact. Duh!

Spaying and neutering a "good investment"? After paying hundreds for unnecessary surgery, you then get the added bonus of extra vet bills for other health problems that come along with sterilization.

 But hey, since your pet likely won't live as long as it would if it kept all its vital organs, then I guess you will save a lot of money. Dead animals don't eat or have medical bills.


Typical AR swill. Do any of them have any kids? Two-legged ones, I mean. Do they turn up their noses in disgust changing a diaper, or at the messes kids make? Would they slice out their child's organs and then lie about their reasons for doing so? Yet they think nothing about doing exactly that to these victims "family members".

Guess when Animal Rights nuts make those claims of how "pets are part of the family", it's just lip service. Who would treat a family member like that?

      Someone with a VERY dysfunctional family.