Athens, GA-

Love is in the air not only for us, but for animals too. Spring time means mating season for cats and dogs.

You may be seeing an increase of stray animals wandering the streets during the Spring, but that can easily be prevented.

Athens area Humane Society offers discounted spaying and neutering services called Beat the Heat during February and March.

John Izzo from the Animal Control Center says, “Spaying and neutering is the first step in ending pet overpopulation and therefore the number of animals that end up unwanted or without homes. Those are the ones that end up in animal shelters.”

The idea of Beat the Heat is to reduce the large number of litters born in the Spring.

“When it gets warm out, the animals are roaming around a little bit more and they tend to get pregnant a lot faster around this time of year,” says Amanda Newsom from Athens Humane Society.

Spaying and neutering your pet not only helps with overpopulation, but it helps animals live a longer and healthier life.

“It helps them to have less physical problems in their older age and behavioral problems also,” says John Izzo.

If you are a concerned pet owner, spaying and neutering is a harmless procedure. It can be done to pets as young as 8-10 weeks old. Spaying a female cat before the first heat cycle is actually beneficial, rather than waiting after it has already occurred. The “Beat the Heat” program is offering a special rate of $45 to fix female cats and $35 for male cats through March.

Danielle Barker and Martha Kim