Bigbee, 36, is associate manager of clinical research for animal health products at Schering-Plough, a firm that has marketed a pill for female dogs. Bigbee's job includes traveling around the country pushing the pill. Although 13.5 million unwanted puppies and kittens are born every year in the U.S., according to one estimate, Bigbee's role has not made him universally popular. "Some people," he says, "think it's almost better to be a criminal than not to be a dog lover."
Bigbee was a veterinarian in Corning, Iowa until three years ago, when his practice "lost its magic and charm" and he took the job with Schering-Plough in Kenilworth, N.J. With him came his wife, Teresa (he calls her "Mommy"), his three children and his English setter, Jeannie, who was spayed before the pill was developed.
Research on the pill, which is currently available only through vets, began 13 years ago in the Antarctic. A group of British explorers found husky sled teams were too hard to handle when the females came in heat, and they developed a compound to stop its symptoms. A refined version of this pill, which has been in use in England and Finland, is 93.5 percent effective in controlling heat and conception, Bigbee says. So far there have been no unmanageable side effects. The dog is given the pill daily for eight days at the first sign she is coming in heat.
Though his wife uses the human contraceptive pill, Bigbee is considering a vasectomy. He has delayed making the decision, perhaps because of some second thoughts about having had their pet spayed.
"Spaying is the best way to control the dog population," he says. "It takes away the option of breeding, though. There are times when I wish we could have had some pups from Jeannie. But I made the choice and the show's over."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
