Interview! Dr. Philip Bushby, Professor of Humane Ethics and Animal Welfare at Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine

"I long for the day when I can walk into a shelter and not find any cats in the shelter — and it's achievable."

Dr. Philip Bushby, a veterinarian and well-known advocate for early age spay/neuter, can't remember a time that he didn't want to be a veterinarian. He became interested in veterinary medicine at a very early age by helping nurse sick puppies back to health, and then, at veterinary school, he fell in love with surgery. It wasn't until Dr. Bushby did an internship at an ASPCA (then animal control) animal hospital in New York City in the 1970s, however, that he began to learn about the staggering pet overpopulation problem this country was facing.

Today, as Professor of Humane Ethics and Animal Welfare atMississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Bushby is passing on his passion for spay/neuter – especially pediatric spay/neuter and how it can help end pet overpopulation – to students through the school's innovative programs. Beginning in the early 1990s, Dr. Bushby began bringing veterinary students into animal shelters around Mississippi to perform spay/neuter surgeries, and today the program has grown to include two mobile surgical units. Most of the surgeries are done by the students, under proper supervision, and most students graduate having performed at least 75-85 spay/neuter surgeries through the program—far more than a typical veterinary school graduate. Dr. Bushby hopes that his students leave his program with an understanding of the issues shelters face and the issue of pet overpopulation — things Dr. Bushby himself was never exposed to as a veterinary student.

Dr. Bushby is also a very strong advocate of the Feline Fix by Five program, which encourages private practice veterinarians to spay/neuter cats by the age of five months, rather than the old standard of after six months of age. He feels that if everyone began following this program, and if everyone was supportive of TNR programs, we could fix the feline overpopulation problem.

Many groups, from professional veterinary associations to animal welfare organizations, have endorsed the concept of early-age spay/neuter, and while Dr. Bushby understands that embracing this idea means a major change in mindset for many veterinarians, he hopes that eventually, we will all realize that not only is there no harm in spaying/neutering cats by the age of five months, the benefits are enormous. If vets — or the general public — aren't able to change their mindset, however, and get on board with helping actively solve the pet overpopulation problem, Dr. Bushby feels that the least they can do is to stop working against those whoareactively working to solve it through high-volume spay/neuter and TNR programs.

To learn more about the Feline Fix by Five program, visit felinefixbyfive.org. To learn more about Dr. Bushby's work and his programs at Mississippi state, visit the Facebook page for Humane Ethics in Animal Welfare at facebook.com/msuethicswelfare or email Dr. Bushby at [email protected].