Don't delay, neuter today!

I'm late posting this but... I have a reason and I'll explain it in a minute.  The topic of my rant today is:

Spay Day USA-No More Homeless Pets!
Tuesday, February 23rd 2010

Spay Day is an annual campaign of The Humane Society of the United States and 
Humane Society International to inspire people to save animals through spay/neuter.

Did you know that one female cat (and her offspring) can produce 420,000 offspring in just 7 years??  Yep, that's right folks-- 420,000!!!!  Dogs & their offspring can produce 67,000 puppies.  Holy moly, that's a lot of kibble!   Before you question my statistics, let's go into a little lesson about the kitty & puppy version of the "birds & the bees".  One cat/dog can have an average of 5 babies/litter... within 6 months, those "babies" are capable of reproducing.  Do you see where this is going??  Uh-huh,  yep, that's why there are all those vans parked at Wal-Mart on weekends, hawkin' puppies and kitties.  


So... what happens to all those puppies & kitties that don't make it to a loving home?  Well I'm here to tell ya:

-For every person born, 15 dogs (17-million/year) and 45 cats (30-million/year) are born.

-Of the above numbers-- 20-million will end up in shelters and 15-million will be euthanized.

-As many as 25% of dogs entering shelters each year are purebreds.

-Approximately 61% of all dogs are killed in animal shelters.

-Approximately 75% of all cats entering shelters are killed.

-It costs approximately $100 to capture, house, feed, and eventually kill each stray animal -- a cost which you, the taxpayer, eventually pay.

So, if you think it's unimportant to neuter your animals.... think again!  Have you ever seen a starving animal??   It isn't pretty.  Those lovey, cuddly balls of fur become feral and their inner instincts take over.  They hunt, prowl and become aggressive.  They get diseases that spread to domesticated animals and sometimes to people.  They become a nuisance to society by getting into trash or killing livestock (like chickens, etc.).  All this in turn can cost you more money than would have been spent if you'd just paid to have them neutered!

So... I'm sure you are wondering about my point for being late with this post.  Well, wait no further.  

I'm exactly 4 days late with this post.  There are 24 hours/day * 60 minutes/hour * 60 seconds/minute * 4 days= 345,600 seconds.  Statistically speaking, a baby is born every 5 seconds.  So that means there were 69,120 babies born since Tuesday.  If you take my previous information and apply it to this data.... there have been 1,036,800 dogs AND 3,110,400 cats born since Spay Day.  Roughly 58% of those animals will end up in shelters.  

I'm not okay with those numbers and you shouldn't be either!  So, get off your asses and neuter your animals.  Try skipping your morning latte a couple days a week and put those funds towards your community's animal shelter's spay & release program.  If they don't have one... maybe you should peel yourself away from Facebook and start one (this a great link from the ASPCA about forming your own shelter)!  

Deserving?

An interesting thing was said to me last Saturday night.  "The Saints deserve to win the Super Bowl."  My response was, "hmmph, why?"  "They just do," was the super logical response.  I wanted to say, "Why?  Because their city got hit with a hurricane a few years ago and it will make them feel better?"  Seriously???  So when Haiti rebuilds the island, are they gonna deserve to win the Olympics or the Miss Universe Pageant?  Ummm, I don't think that will fly with the other countries competing. 

This leads me to discuss the word "deserve".  So, of course I had to consult my handy-dandy dictionary to review the "proper" definition of the word.  Well... the real definition just seems different than the context applied by some people in modern day vernacular. 

Most people seem to use the word "deserve" in a manner that does not mesh with the "real" definition.  It used to mean that when you worked hard, you rated a reward.  Now, it seems that people are lazy and feel they deserve said reward without ever lifting a finger or exerting themselves in any way.  

This train of thinking leads my mind to the words written within the Declaration of Independence:

"we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

I'm not sure how you guys interpret it, but nowhere in that eloquent piece of writing does it say DESERVE.   It says, you have have a right to pursue-- which basically means, GET OFF YOUR ASS AND WORK for things. 

Yep, I'm annoyed at the mindset of the modern man... 

Storms, Stress & Sprains

The week from Hell has occurred and I'm currently annoyed with the entire human race & Mother Nature... To sum it up: work overload, snow storm, illness, fell on ice and hurt myself (yeah, yeah, Karma is a biotch) and finally I assembled the bunk bed from a place worse than Hell.

Needless to say, blogging is an annoyance at the moment so, I will continue in a few days with a new round of sassy comments and witty insights.  Until then, I'm going to curl up in the fetal position and suck my thumb like a big ole baby.  I'll make sure to wash my hands when I'm done.