Veterinarian in Gresham Supports Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month
Animal cruelty is pervasive and even now a helpless animal is being subject to some form of brutality. To heighten awareness for this growing atrocity, the ASPCA has declared April “Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month”. Paws and Claws Medical Center, your veterinarian serving Gresham and Troutdale, actively supports ASPCA’s efforts and motto: “All animals are entitled to protection under the law.” Here are some of the issues that cause suffering for so many innocent animals.
Dog Fighting
When dogs are raised to fight, they are trained to be aggressive and often part of the training involves attacking and killing ‘bait,’ specifically a small animal, or an innocent dog. In a ‘real’ fight, injuries range from catastrophic blood loss to broken bones. The losing dogs are killed, discarded or further brutalized. A veterinarian is rarely, if ever, brought in to treat these poor animals.
Puppy Mills
Today there are an estimated 10,000 mills in the U.S. The breeding dogs and their pups are kept in cages that are in deplorable condition. Proper breeding is usually not a concern and often the pups have many health problems.
Animal Hoarding
Perhaps it will surprise you that up to 250,000 animals are victims of hoarding each year. Most hoarders have good intentions, but get carried away and can no longer afford the proper care for their animals.
How to Solve?
As the veterinarian serving Gresham, we recommend a number of ways to counter animal cruelty. First is animal rescue. So many of our patients are rescue animals and their devotion to their new owners is amazing. In fact, we have our own resident rescues, felines Pearl and Greddy who keep us in line daily. Next: spay and neuter. To prevent adding to the many abandoned, unwanted pets in shelters, we urge all our clients to have their pet spayed or neutered.
If you want to learn more about how you can help keep animals in the Troutdale and Gresham areas be safe from abuse and cruelty, contact our vet at:
Paws and Claws Medical Center
26745 Stark Street
Troutdale, OR 97060
(503) 405-1476