Longtime game show host Bob Barker offered good advice at the end of each episode of “The Price is Right”:
“Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered.”
It was an important message. A cat can live as long as 20 years but can start breeding after just five months. Gestation is just over two months, meaning it can have up to five litters in a year, with up to nine kittens per litter. Over a lifetime, that can mean close to 900 kittens.
For dogs, the numbers slow down a bit. They might have 10 litters in a lifetime, with up to eight puppies at a time depending on the breed. That can be 80 new four-legged friends introduced to the ecosystem.
An overabundance of stray dogs and cats can affect the indigenous population the same way any non-native species can. Cats can decimate bird populations. Stray animals can damage property, affect property values, spread disease and create unsanitary conditions.
But that’s stray animals, right? What do pets have to do with that? Unwanted litters can become unwanted animals released or abandoned, becoming a public nuisance.
That made the Pittsburgh program that provided vouchers to spay or neuter pets for city residents a smart investment in multiple fronts.
The best civic programs use small investments to realize larger issues in a domino effect. Covering the procedure did more than saving residents a veterinary bill. It saved them money for other pet supplies and made safe, humane care possible. It meant fewer animals ending up on the street and all those complications they create.
So pausing the program because it was being abused by people outside the city is a sad outcome.
The city and its real residents — not to mention all those cats and dogs — would be better served by recouping the money from those who fraudulently obtained vouchers.
At $70,000, the price is right for a program that has much bigger impact.
Come on, Pittsburgh. Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered.
