PROCEDURE
Animals are anesthetized during the surgery to spare them from the pain. They typically go home within a day of the procedure. It is a relatively safe and simple operation.

TIMING
"Early-age" spay and neuter surgery on animals as young as eight weeks of age was recently endorsed by the American Veterinary Medical Association. To ensure that they will not conntribute to pet overpopulation, dogs and cats definitely should be neutered or spayed before reaching sexual maturity. However, if you have an older, unneutered or spayed pal, it is rarely "too late" to have the surgical procedure performed.

A LIFE SAVER
Neutering and spaying increases your animal's life expectancy and helps reduce the numbers of animals put to death in shelters. If you love animals and want them, neutering or spaying is the place to start.

WHY NEUTER OR SPAY?
So you can:

• Take a vacation with the money you'll save in reduced vet bills.
• Be on the cover of House Beautiful. Less chance of territorial marking (a.k.a. streams of urine) on walls and furniture.
• Sleep. No nighttime yowling during messy heat periods. (Yowling by your pet and admirers, that is.)
• Live in a nuclear-free zone. No battalions of males engaged in paw-to-paw combat to establish territory while the trembling female remains locked indoors.
• Look people in the eye. Face it. It's hard to maintain dignity after your pet has mounted the neighbor;s leg.
• Learn to speak Italian. Instead of spending hours looking for your lost pet -- who's bound to be led astray by those raging, roamin' unneutered hormones.
• Share all nine lives, or at least a much longer life expectancy, with your pal.

WHAT ELSE DISAPPEARS FOR NEUTERED/SPAYED PETS?

• Pyometra - A dangerous uterine infection (females).
• Mammary cancer (females)
• Prostrate and testicular cancer (males)
• Odds of being lost, hit by a car, poisoned, injured, or contracting a deadly infectious disease.

HEARD THESE OLD, TIRED EXCUSES?

• I don't want her to become fat.
  Too much food and not enough excercise make animals fat. Neutering or spaying doesn't.
• Not my problem. I've got a male.
  It takes two to tango and to breed. One uneutered male can be responsible for dozens of offspring in a single year.
• I want my kids to witness the miracle of birth.
  Unless you are prepared to also show the consequences of breeding admidst overpopulation -- surplus animals are put to death -- this lesson is an irresponsible and dangerous one.
• She's a purebred with papers
  One-fourth to one-third of the dogs killed in shelters are purebreds. Purebreds and their pure- and mixed-breed offspring also suffer from overpopulation -- and contribute to it.
• I already have homes lined up for all of them!
  If each of the eight great homes ready to welcome your dog or cat's offspring would instead adopt from a shelter, they -- and you -- could save eight animals who may otherwise be put to death. For every terrific family wanting a companion, the perfect animal is already waiting -- at the Maui Humane Society shelter.

SPAY & NEUTER INCENTIVE PROGRAM (SNIP)
The SNIP program was established to offer financial aid assistance to pet owners who wish to neuter or spay their pet. The SNIP certificate, which is honored by ALL the veterinarians on Maui, is available at all public libraries on Maui and at the Maui Humane Society shelter. Call the location you wish to pick up your SNIP certificate to make an appointment. It is FREE. The discounts are as follows: