I do spay and neuter. My last cats were rescues. Our current one came to us spayed and declawed when someone gave her to my daughter. The one before that was a female that was left behind when a neighbor moved; she needed a ton of dental work and we had her spayed at that time. The big, black guy we had just before her was spayed; he was a shelter rescue and it was required.
I spayed my dog because I don't want to contribute to animal overpopulation, and I know it lowers the risk of certain health problems. My parents spayed our dog when I was growing up also.
I have always adopted from shelters, so I have never had an intact pet.
Well, except my gerbils and hamsters. I don't think they were fixed
I adopted a family of guinea pigs earlier this year. One was female, and came with her brother and her father. I got the girl spayed so they could stay together and there were no accidental guinea pigs!
All of my pets are spayed because I think it is irresponsible to not do so. I'm assuming I've grown up thinking that, but I've become more aware and judgy about it as I've gotten older.
Our dog isn't fixed, we were going to show her but that never happened and then we just haven't done it. Saying that, we do NOT let her just roam outside, we do not leave her out when she is in heat (I mean we take her out on her leash which she is on always but we don't put her on her run), we do not want to breed her and will never breed her.
I have this fear that something will happen to her if she under goes surgery, I know it isn't very likely but I am so terrified of losing her. I know MY fear isn't healthy for her and that if I would get her fixed, it would greatly reduce her chances of things like doggy cancer and such. But my fear is mainly what is holding me back.
All my cats are fixed.
ETA: I am pro get your animals fixed though even if I am being a scaredy cat (dog?) about mine.
Both of our dogs are from the Humane Society, so they were already fixed when we brought them home. But I would have done it anyway because I don't think my pets should be having puppies when there so many dogs in shelters that need homes.
Our two family dogs growing up were spayed and neutered, because that's what responsible owners do. There was never any question about it. H had to have our dog neutered as a condition of his adoption.
1 - I had my kitty Oliver for 17 years. I adopted him privately. I ended up getting him neutered when he was an older kitten because he was spraying all over the place. Boris and Natasha were adopted through the humane society and were fixed before we ever met them. It's CA State law all dogs and cats must be spayed/neutered before release. 1a - Yes, all my pets growing up were fixed.
To avoid over population mostly, and to avoid different behavioral issues with the boy cats (although one was so hyper aggressive/dominant he still sprayed).
All my pets growing up were neutered (all boys) and my cats now are spayed (all girls). One came from the shelter that way, and the others we got spayed on our own when they were the right weight.
This isn't a debate. I don't care what your opinions are (well, I DO, I'm just not gonna argue about it here in this thread, LOL).
1 - If you spayed/neutered your pets - what motivated you to do so?
1a -Did you grow up thinking that this was was just the way things were done?
2 - If you did not/have not spayed/neutered your pets - why not?
Just a fact gathering mission, tis all!
There are a ton of unwanted animals being killed daily. We would have spayed Lucy if she'd come to us with baby basket intact, but she was already done when we got her.
Oh, and my older brother has an un-neutered dog, and I think he's super irresponsible for not getting him fixed. I don't know his exact reasons why (considering he grew up in the same environment I did) but I think it has something to do with boys being precious about their balls.
I have always adopted from shelters, so I have never had an intact pet.
Well, except my gerbils and hamsters. I don't think they were fixed
I adopted a family of guinea pigs earlier this year. One was female, and came with her brother and her father. I got the girl spayed so they could stay together and there were no accidental guinea pigs!
Funny (morbidly) enough, we did have an issue with the two hamsters. But not what you're thinking.
They were both male. One was a Teddy Bear and the other was a Siberian/Dwarf. One day the TB disappeared. I thought he had gotten out. A few days later I found a pile of bones and hair in the food corner of the cage. The little one ATE the bigger one. I'm assuming this was a dominance/having balls thing.
We always adopted from shelters so it was a given. But yes, I grew up thinking it was the right thing to do.
My cousin's MIL has a serious puppy & kitten problem. Like, she feeds strays and lets them in her house, but doesn't fix them. And she looooves when each litter is born. It's really sad. For a while cousin was trapping the animals and having them spayed secretly, but her MIL found out and freaked, saying "having babies is a right, not a privilege. How would you like it if you were spayed and told you couldn't be a mother?" Ughhhhh
Yes. And I sort of grew up thinking that was the way things were done, because we had cats and unfixed cats are huge pain in the butts. But mostly I just listened to my vet, knew we were not in a position to safely have an unfixed dog, and wanted our dog to attend daycare.
For future dogs, I will always spay/neuter, but I will delay it if given the choice. Our vet is pro delayed altering up to 12-18 months, and I am confident in our experience as dog people to do this safely now. 12-24 month alter delays are also fairly common in most large breed pure bred spay/neuter contracts so I suppose that works out. I do not think this should be standard practice for most dog owners.
Cats (oh god please no more cats for us) and rabbits will be fixed ASAP
Post by lavender444 on Dec 3, 2014 17:52:58 GMT -5
I'm a big believer in only breeding proven dogs who preserve the breed. I am far too lazy to ever show, so my animals will always be fixed.
We have 2 rescue dogs who came neutered. We also have a 6 month old Rottweiler puppy. She won't be spayed until she is 1.5 years. Her breeder has a lot of literature that states it is better for the dogs health to wait until they are mature before they are fixed. My vet is supportive of that. It's been proven to decrease certain cancers, as well as being better for bone and joint health. Our girl will most likely go through 2 heat cycles, which I am not excited about. But if it helps in the long run, I'm willing to suffer through it.
Post by birdistheword on Dec 3, 2014 17:56:23 GMT -5
Yes. We have always fixed our animals or they were already fixed when we got them. Our pets were always fixed growing up, and it is just something I will always do as a responsible pet owner.
Post by rageragerage on Dec 3, 2014 17:56:31 GMT -5
1 - If you spayed/neutered your pets - what motivated you to do so? I adopt from the shelter, and they require it, PLUS I am the crazy animal lady that insists that all of my friends alter. I will pay if they don't have the money.
1a - Did you grow up thinking that this was was just the way things were done? My parents lived in the country and didn't much care about altering
2 - If you did not/have not spayed/neutered your pets - why not? NA- there is no good reason.
Oh, and my older brother has an un-neutered dog, and I think he's super irresponsible for not getting him fixed. I don't know his exact reasons why (considering he grew up in the same environment I did) but I think it has something to do with boys being precious about their balls.
And I was going to offer up another story, from the other side of the coin(purse).
I'm friends with a brother/sister who both still live with their parents. Parents are old-school Mexicans (e.g., my girlfriend wasn't allowed to spend the night at anyone's house growing up. And even when she was in college, her parents wouldn't let her spend the night with me.) They have several dogs and have bred a couple of them. Don't get me started.
But when they decided to keep a male puppy from a litter their female pom had, I started BEGGING my friends to talk to their parents about fixing the dogs.
Then the puppy was bred with another dog and they kept 2 of those pups. Females.
Now I was furiously pleading. My friends both said it was their dad who was against it. No taking of balls from anyone. No spending money on unnecessary vet visits. I was so upset and trying to explain that they were going to end up with inbred monster dogs because that boy dog was going to hump his daughters AND his mother.
While his parents were on vacation, my friend snuck the boy dog out to the vet and had him fixed. He knew how important it was, but also knew that his parents would never do it. The dog is a poofy pom, so you would have to really be looking to notice that his balls are gone.
Both cats are from the shelter, so they were spayed when we adopted them.
My childhood cat had kittens, so she obviously wasn't spayed. They all died and she ended up adopting four kittens whose mother had abandoned them. I don't know why she wasn't spayed, she came from the pound.