By Chinny Krishna
The animal Birth Control (ABC) program initiated by the Blue Cross of India in 1964 and currently being implemented in all the major metro areas of India, with the help of the Animal Welfare Bord of India and special funding from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, took a major step forward with the introduction in India by the Blue Cross of Early-Age Neutering (EAN) – also known as pre-pubertal spaying – which has been in vogue in the USA for over a decade.
Thanks to the assistance of SPAY/USA, which coordinated a visit to India by Dr. Jeffrey D. young of Planned Pethood Plus in Denver, Colorado, the Blue Cross was able to conduct a workshop and training programme in Chennal, from the 18th to 25th of April, 2000. Twenty-one veterinarians from Maharastra, Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry, West Bengal, Karnetka and tamilnadu should now be ale to not only safely carry out the EAN procudure but also train other vets in this technique.
EAN can be safely carried out on healthy puppies and kittens just six weeks old. At this age, the recovery is remarkably swift and the operation is far easier to perform than on post-puberty animal. Most important, there is hardly any trauma to the animal, since kittens and puppies can be caught without any difficulty…
