MORE than 400 Redlands pets have been desexed during a two-month RSPCA campaign, a significant increase on last year despite fewer Queensland vets taking part.
Operation Wanted saw participating vets reduce their desexing fees by 25 per cent between June 1 and August 1.
The increased Redlands take-up comes despite nearly nearly 50 fewer vets taking part in the campaign across the state.
"A total of 155 veterinary practices took part this year," RSPCA Queensland spokesman Michael Beatty said.
"There was also a drop in the number of councils taking part which makes the results even more encouraging."
The total number of animals registered across the state in 2020 was 16,740, an increase of 39 per cent from 2019.
"The RSPCA estimate that the total number of pets de-sexed during Operation Wanted 2020 would have exceeded 20,000," Mr Beatty said.
"This increase occurred despite having fewer veterinary clinics participating."
In the Redlands, 266 dogs and 156 cats were desexed.
About one third of female cats in Queensland were desexed before they reached they were six months old.
The age at which female cats are de-sexed is important because female cats six months and over will have reached puberty, and are likely to be pregnant or have had a litter before desexing occurred.
"A frightening 68 per cent of female cats fit this category," Mr Beatty said.
"A higher percentage of male cats are de-sexed before puberty than female cats.
"There are probably a few reasons for this - it's cheaper, owners don't like male cat characteristics such as urine spraying, fighting and roaming ... and owners are not concerned about litters being born."
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