Wellington Veterinary Hospital offers discount during National Desexing Month

Dr Clancy Wright of Wellington Veterinary Hospital said a lot of her clients are "really feeling the pinch at the moment" as the cost-of-living crisis worsens, but said desexing your animals can save you money in the long-run.

"We've had quite a lot of clients saying we can't afford it and we're also seeing the same clients come back in a few months time in a lot of trouble because their [female dog] is pregnant and they're now having to plan for an emergency c-section because they were mated to the wrong dog, and that's more than a couple of thousand dollars [in cost]," Dr Wright told the Daily Liberal.

READ ALSO: 'Keen for a win': Rare breeds ruffle feathers at annual poultry show

"They then have to pick between, do we try to go naturally or avenues for financing. It's such a preventable problem. We are seeing a lot of it which is really worrying."

July is National Desexing Month and according to the National Desexing Network, unwanted puppy and kitten litters pose a real problem in Australia. While progress has been made to reduce the euthanasia of cats and dogs in many cities and shires, 28 per cent of cats are still euthanised in pounds and shelters, the network says.

Further, cats in particular are "prolific breeders" having ten kittens each year on average. This can result in 111,111 kittens being born from one undesexed cat in just five years.

Dr Wright said her clinic felt strongly about trying to prevent the oversupply of cats and dogs in the region.

"Australia has a really shocking problem with too much indiscriminate breeding, accidental and poorly-planned breeding, and breeding for the sake of breeding, which is not ideal for animal welfare reasons," she said.

"We have a high kill rate through pounds ... and we feel quite strongly in helping our clients avoid those situations as well as having a positive impact in our communities on a broader scale."

Other reasons people don't desex their animals are wanting to have a 'legacy pet', and misinformation about behaviours.

"Unfortunately there's a lot involved with making [a legacy pet] happen including the production of more than one pup, which is where we get the oversupply," Dr Wright said.

IN OTHER NEWS

"There are a number of individuals who believe with working dogs that they work better if they're not desexed, but in my opinion it's the other way around - if they're not desexed they are far more likely to go looking ... [leading to] far more disruptions to their working ability ... "

National Desexing Network spokesperson Dr Joy Verrinder said managing unwanted litters was a considerable cost to the community and stressed the animals and the people who had to manage and try to rehome them.

"Cats and dogs desexed in July are less likely to be pregnant or in-season, which makes it a quicker and easier procedure for the animal as well, and less costly for owners," Dr Verrinder said.

Wellington Veterinary Clinic is offering a discount on desexing during July.

Reading this on mobile web? Download our news app here. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you alerts for breaking news as it happens.