Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Have You Heard About The Toby Project?

Well, have you? Heard about The Toby Project? If not, perhaps you should. It's not unique but it is noteworthy. Founder Andrew J. Kaplan, D.V.M. is the person who is behind The Toby Project but it is a combined effort of people, including their advisory board.

The Toby Project is a mobile spay/neuter in New York City that is available in all of New York City's Five Boroughs. Not every dog needs to be intact. Only those owned by responsible breeders who show their cats or dogs, do proper health checks to rule out genetic diseases and show their cats and dogs to get objective opinions on whether or not they meet the standard for their breed should be intact. Those cats and dogs should also have the proper temperament before they are chosen for breeding.

Spaying before the first heat will eliminate mammary cancer; neutering prevents testicular cancer. There are other benefits to having a spayed or neutered pets including the lessening of roaming, a cleaner house since males won't mark indoors and females won't go through the messiness of heat and you won't have male dogs from miles away parked in front of your home, whining and carrying on.

The TobyProject offers free or low-cost spaying and neutering as well as rabies vaccinations. Free would be for Pitbulls as well as mixed breed cats and dogs. However, it's important to note that the fee for purebred dogs and pedigreed cats is more than reasonable, as is the fee for a Rabies vaccination.

Bringing the clinics to the owners means that there's really no excuse for not having a pet spayed or neutered, nor is there any excuse for not giving a pet the Rabies vaccination that is mandatory in every State. The Toby Project has expanded to include a feral cat spay/neuter program which will allow feral colonies to live out their lives in relative peace without creating more feral cats.

It costs $230,000. per year to operate a fully-equipped spay/neuter van. The Toby Project depends upon donations from caring individuals. No gift is too small because when put with other small donations, they can really add up.

For more information, including how you can help, visit http://www.tobyproject.org


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