Want to increase spay/neuter, microchipping, training, and vaccination rates in your community’s pets? Success depends not on combatting “irresponsible pet ownership,” but providing services to low-income families.
Would you like to see higher rates of spay/neuter, microchipping, vaccination and training in your community's pets? Who wouldn't, right?
But when your organization envisons programs to make that happen, those intended to combat "irresponsible pet ownership" are setting themselves up to fail. That's because spay/neuter status correlates most strongly not with how "responsible" a pet owner is, but how much income the pet's family makes.
From a study conducted by Alley Cat Allies and published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association:
The study, “Population characteristics and neuter status of cats living in households in the United States,” found that family income was the single strongest predictor of whether pet cats living in households are neutered. Over 90% of cats in households earning $35,000 or more per year were neutered, compared to 51% of cats in households earning less than $35,000.
Pit bull advocacy and rescue group BAD RAP bases its programs on the assumption that dog owners want to do right by their pets, but lack the access to services that can make that happen. Experience proves them right; watch what happens when they bring spay/neuter, microchipping, vaccinations and training to the pets of people in underserved communities:
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