The Office of the City Veterinarian has promoted the benefits of NEUTERING to control the dog and cat population and prevent unwanted litter as part of the Intensified Rabies Control Program.

Every year, thousands of unwanted dogs and cats, including puppies and kittens, are impounded and euthanized because they ended up abandoned and left wandering on the streets. To address the increasing population of dogs/cats, especially stray, and utilizing neutering, we can also deal with rabies incidences: the lesser the strays, the lesser the rabies cases.

Many pet-owners in Davao City have taken in preventing the birth of unwanted puppies and kittens- proof that many have pledged to be responsible for their pets. Lessening and or preventing unwanted litter also aids in protecting dogs and cats against serious health problems such as uterine infections, prostatic hyperplasia, ovarian or testicular cancer. CASTRATION may also reduce many behavioral problems associated with the mating instinct, such as aggressiveness, fleeing, digging, and marking, making the animals less inclined to roam and more content to stay at home.

For the year 2022, the Office of the Davao City Veterinarian aims to strengthen the neutering service for the public. Every Tuesday and Thursday, free neutering is now available at our City Veterinary Clinic located on Ground Floor, City Hall Annex Building, Magallanes Street. Although we only offer castration (the removal of the testicles from the male dogs and cats), we can prove that this is cost-effective and more efficient than spaying (to remove the ovaries of an animal so that it cannot become pregnant). The logic behind it is a 10-is-to-1 scenario (10:1).

Many claimed that ligation should be prioritized over castration since it is the female animal that will get pregnant. However, in a household with 10 female dogs and 1 male dog, there is a 100% probability that the 10 female dogs will not get pregnant if the male dog is castrated. On the other hand, if only one female dog is spayed, there is still a 90% chance that the other nine female dogs can be impregnated by the one uncastrated male dog. The 10-is-to-1 scenario will also improve the practice of responsible pet ownership since pet owners will not let their female pets from associating with other male dogs or cats and prevent them from getting pregnant. For the cost-effectivity, a bottle of general anesthetics can castrate up to 20 male dogs or cats; versus consuming a bottle of anesthetic and can only spay 5 female dogs or cats. Imagine how much savings we can get if we focus on castration than spaying or doing both surgeries.

At the start of the year 2022, we have castrated a total of 616 dogs and cats, with 432 clients served. For the past three years, districts of Talomo, Buhangin, and Tugbok has the most incident of rabies, and so we conduct regular free castration in these areas. Free castration is also done in other barangays as requested. �w�h�?�