It is an important responsibility of pet owners.
With the Humboldt and District SPCA being overrun with cats and dogs, they want to remind people to spay and neuter their pets.
"The situation is bad everywhere," said Wanda Price of the SPCA. "Nobody wants to spay and neuter."
Price said the issue locally was brought to light during two separate situations she had to deal with over the last month.
The first occurred a few weeks ago when a woman brought two kittens into the SPCA because pets were not allowed in her rental.
"I explained we were full and I gave her I don't know how many options," said Price. "She chose to go to the vet clinic, which was one of them, but she would have to pay because she was from St. Brieux."
When the woman went into the vet, she refused to pay and told the clinic if they didn't take the kittens she would just dump them.
Price received a call from the clinic, telling her about the situation and that they advised the woman to take the kittens to the Saskatoon SPCA. Shortly after, the woman came back to the Humboldt and District SPCA.
"Half an hour later she came back here and had both of them in her arms, purring away, with tears in her eyes," said Price. "I looked at her, I told her I didn't know what to tell her."
Although she didn't want to turn the woman away, Price explained there were already too many cats and not enough kennels. She then advised the woman to take the kittens home and either post them online to give away or take them to Melfort or Saskatoon.
"This girl told me she was going to take them home and get on the three sites I told her about," said Price. "That was a Thursday."
On the Saturday morning, a man was walking his dog on the Humboldt Golf Course and his dog found a half frozen kitten. He took it home and phoned Price as soon as possible, asking for help since the kitten was frozen and in pain.
"He brought it in, I looked at it and said, 'Oh my God... there's another one,' because I recognized the kitten right away," said Price.
The man and his dog went out to look for the other kitten right away. Luckily, the second kitten had found some shelter under some bushes and was in much better shape.
"(The first kitten), she was in bad shape," said Price. "I didn't think she was going to make it through that day."
The kitten didn't move from the makeshift bed Price set up for it that day at the SPCA. Its feet, tail and ears were frozen and it was screaming from the pain, she explained. As it thawed, three of its legs swelled up to at least twice their normal size.
Price couldn't leave the kittens at the SPCA since there were no open kennels and they were in bad shape, so she ended up taking them home where she could take care of them. Luckily, both kittens are doing well and the one is only going to lose part of its tail.
Although it was not her fault the kittens were dumped, Price felt partially responsible for them.
"The man told me, 'don't you dare think that it is your fault that someone was that stupid. You believed her,'" said Price. "And I did believe her. She was crying about them."
She is now unsure of how to proceed in a situation like this one.
"People need to know you can't just dump these animals," said Price. "It scares me to turn them away because I don't trust anyone."
In a second situation that occurred last week, Price took in two pregnant dogs after a man rescued them from his friend.
"This guy went to his friend's place and noticed these two dogs outside, pregnant and thin," said Price. "He asked what was going on and his friend said he should just shoot them."
After hearing that, the visitor loaded them up in his car and took them home for a few days while he was trying to decide how best to proceed. He finally decided to take them to the SPCA.
"He came out here and dropped off the two dogs because he didn't want to see them shot,"said Price.
Both dogs are malnourished and very thin, Price said.
"It is sad. It is not their fault they got pregnant and then the owner wants to shoot them," said Price. "People complain it is too costly to spay and neuter but when you think about it, it is a one-time cost and it is well worth it."
She explained spaying and neutering results in a better behaved dog, who will be more likely to stay home and doesn't mark their territory. It also has health benefits, since it eliminates the risk of cancer of the uterus in females.
"There are so many reasons to do it," said Price.
Although Price took in the dogs, there is no available space for both as well as their pups - 16 of them were born over the weekend between the two.
There isn't enough room for all those animals at the shelter.
"We are at our limit," said Price. "There isn't a kennel open... it is not going to be good, but what can you do?"
She explained the man who brought them in didn't want to have them put down but had nowhere else to turn.
"I phoned the Saskatoon SPCA, but they have distemper so they can't take them in and this guy wasn't going to go anywhere else either," said Price. "He was a good guy. He even gave me $100 to help with medical costs and they weren't even his dogs."
She believes the situation could have been avoided if the man's friend would have spayed his dogs. She encourages everyone to spay and neuter their pets.
"It is so important," said Price. "People think it is not a big deal when their farm cats - or acreage or town (cats) - have kittens or their dogs have puppies. They go on Kijiji and other sites and give them away but they are just making the problem worse. These animals are not going to get spayed and neutered, the majority aren't and it is just continuing with no end in sight if people don't start doing it."
The only other option is to euthanize the animals, which isn't what the SPCA is for.
"That's not why I'm here. I'm not here to kill animals," said Price. "I think it is the person who has the animal's responsibility to take care of it, one way or another. We should be the last resort not the first resort."
