The Numbers Game

Most people are unaware of the effects of not getting your dog or cat spayed or neutered can do.  Below are a couple of examples of what could happen to the population of dogs and cats if they are not either spayed or neutered.

The Prolific Dog

This illustrates the population potential of a single female dog and her descendants over a mere seven generations.

1st year - 4 offspring (2 females)

2nd year - 12 offspring

3rd year - 36 offspring

5th year - 324 offspring

7th year - 4,372 offspring

The Exponential Cat

Millions of unwanted and homeless cats are born in our country each year.  During the peak of the kitten season - from late April to September - pounds and humane shelters kill unwanted and abandoned cats at the rate of over ONE PER MINUTE.  Others less fortunate are left to wander - easy prey for larger animals, easy targets for automobiles and easy marks for cruel pranksters and fanatics.  If they do survive these hazards and the elements, they soon attain maturity and bring forth five or six kittens, mostly females, to continue this vicious cycle.  Every cat owner whose pet is un-spayed or un-neutered, and allowed to roam, must bear the guilt for the terrible over-population.  Remember - one female cat's cumulative offspring in ten years could total over 80 million!

2 litters per year

2.8 surviving kittens per litter

10 year breeding life

In 10 years multiply to 80,399,780

The Truth About Those Black Tongues

Does the black spot on your Labrador's tongue mean he's really a Chow mix? That mixed breed puppy in the shelter with a partially black tongue -- is that a sure sign he's part Chow?  The answer to both questions is:   No!  

The Chow Chow's blue-black tongue is one of the breed's most well known physical characteristics. It's also the most misunderstood. 
The Chow is one of the most ancient breeds and is the ancestor of many breeds of today. The orgin of the Chow's black tongue is a mystery; we don't know how or why he came to have it.  
We do know that the Chow is not the only breed with a blue-black tongue. The Chinese Shar-Pei shares this trait as well.  A few other animals have black tongues, too:  the giraffe, polar bear, and several breeds of cattle including the Jersey. We also know that blue-black spots on tongues are very common in dogs - more than 30 pure breeds are known  to have members with spotted tongues. Spots on tongues are simply deposits of extra pigment, like birthmarks and freckles on people.  Dogs often have spots of dark pigment on their skin, too, hiding under their coats.  These spots can be large or small, many or few.  

If a Chow's tongue has a pink spot on it, does that mean it's not purebred?  No. Chow puppies' tongues are pink at birth. They darken to blue-black by 8-10 weeks of age. Some tongues don't  cover completely and they may have small spots or splashes of pink. Elderly Chows and Chows with the dilute coat colors of cinnamon and blue sometimes lose tongue pigment as they age and develop pink spots. 

What if the dog looks like a Chow but has a completely pink or mostly pink tongue?

 Knowledgeable Chowists agree that such dogs are not purebred Chows and might not have any Chow parentage at all. The Chow is a member of the spitz family, a large group of breeds that includes the  Samoyed, Siberian Husky, Malamute, Akita, Shiba Inu,  Pomeranian, Norwegian Elkhound, Keeshond, etc. They all share basic physical characteristics:  a similar body structure, over-the-back tail carriage, upright triangular ears, and a dense offstanding coat.  A Chow-looking dog with a pink tongue is more likely to be a mix of one of the other spitz-type breeds.

Breeds known to have members with spotted tongues:

Airedale, Akita, Australian Cattle Dog, Australian Shepherd, Belgian Sheepdog, Belgian Tervuren, Belgian Malinois, Bichon Frise, Bouvier de Flandres, Bull Mastiff, Cairn Terrier, Chinese Shar-Pei, Collie, Cocker Spaniel, Dalmatian
Doberman Pinscher, English Setter, Eurasier, Fila Brasileiro, Flat-coated Retriever, German Shepherd, Golden Retriever, Gordon Setter, Great Pyrenees
Irish Setter, Kai Ken, Keeshond, Kerry Blue Terrier, Korean Jindo, Labrador Retriever, Mastiff, Mountain Cur, Newfoundland, Pomeranian, Pug, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Rottweiler, Shiba Inu, Siberian Husky, Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier
Tibetan Mastiff