Cristina (Tina) has been with Martin Downs Animal Hospital since 2004 as a part-time receptionist.  She is originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  She moved to Florida 18 years ago.  Since moving to the United States, Tina has worked in many different jobs all relating to animal care.  She has been the manager of a grooming salon, a kennel manager, a veterinary assistant and now a veterinary receptionist.  Her family moved from Plantation to Martin County 10 years ago and she now resides in Palm City.  She shares her home with her husband, her cat "Ziggy" and the newest addition to her family, "Charlie", an umbrella cockatoo.  Tina enjoys working with Drs. Poderski and Waters along with Dr. Jolin and her entire "work" family.

LaPetit is our pick for Boarder of the Month.  She is a sweet little black and white 5 year old Papillon who is new to our Resort and Spa.  When she first arrived at our Resort, she was just a bit timid.  After a few days, she responded to our wonderful Resort Staff who gave her a lot of TLC.  

Come by and take a tour of our Resort & Spa.  Check out our exciting new programs being offered for your pets!

PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE

In every community, in every state, there are homeless animals.  In the United States alone, there are an estimated 6-8 million homeless animals entering animal shelters every year.  Only about half of these animals find homes.  The rest have to be euthanized.  These dogs and cats are not necessarily the offspring of homeless "street" animals-these are puppies and kittens of cherished family pets and even purebred animals.

Many people believe their pet's offspring would never become homeless shelter animals but the reality is that every time someone's intact male dog finds its way to the neighbor's intact female dog or the indoor/outdoor cat comes back home pregnant, the result is a litter of puppies or kittens.  Even if these offspring are placed in homes, it is still possible for them to wind up in animal shelters for one reason or another.  Spaying or neutering your pet helps prevent massive numbers of unwanted animals being born with not enough homes for all of them. 

Spaying or neutering also helps produce healthy and good-tempered purebred animals.  It allows breeders to remove dogs and cats from breeding and helps eliminate undesirable genetic traits while allowing the animal being "culled" from the breeding program to go on and have a great life. 

Intact animals tend to expend a lot of attention and energy in the direction of reproduction.  A spayed or neutered pet has more attention and energy to devote to other things such as just being a family pet.  Since animals produce litters rather than single babies, it's not necessary for a huge percentage of dogs or cats to be able to reproduce.  Most dogs and cats have careers as companions to humans.  Through this labor of love, they enrich and even extend our lives.  Spaying or neutering our pets makes it easier for us to responsibly care for our pets.  When there is no good reason to keep a particular dog or cat intact for breeding, spaying or neutering is a great way for you and your pet to live happily ever after.

Comment:

Vaginal prolapse is believed to be a genetic condition, so the recommendation is to spay any dog having this problem.  If a dog is not spayed, they have a 60-100% chance of having recurrent vaginal prolapse with future heat cycles.  Also, this genetic trait could be passed along to any of their offspring.  This condition usually occurs in dogs less than two years of age.  Large breeds such as Labrador Retrievers, German Shepherds and Pit Bulls are predisposed to vaginal prolapse, as are brachycephalic dogs like Boxers, Mastiffs and English Bulldogs.  While this condition is usually not life threatening except in severe cases, it does represent another important reason to have your pet spayed at an early age.