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? Prevent overpopulation. Our cats are rescue cats. We don't need more unwanted pets around.
1a -Did you grow up thinking that this was was just the way things were done? No. My parents were not what I would consider to be responsible pet owners. Or at least they didn't used to be. Few of our animals were spayed/neutered.
2 - If you did not/have not spayed/neutered your pets - why not? NAa
Post by dragonfly08 on Dec 3, 2014 18:51:10 GMT -5
I never considered not doing it when I had a dog. My childhood pet was also neutered. IMO, unless you're raising a dog for the purpose of showing and/or breeding, there's not much compelling reason to keep them intact and risk contributing to pet overpopulation.
Post by alicenelson on Dec 3, 2014 18:53:36 GMT -5
I've always had my cats fixed because it's the responsible thing to do (overpopulation being what it is) and it helps control territorial marking. And, yes, I grew up with that line of thinking.
The only dogs I've had as an adult were two Rottweilers. We kept them intact in case we wanted to pimp them out. Never happened.
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, 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.
I have such a huge fear of putting my dogs under.
When I was in Thailand in January, I volunteered with an org that does outdoor spay/neuter clinic for street animals. They pick up the dogs off the street, potential healthy issues, having eaten that morning, etc - and they put them under that day, then release them that evening back to the streets.
Anyway - they do dozens - hundreds of dogs & cats /week... I asked how many animals they'd lose to anesthesia, and she was like - uh, maybe one/month? MAYBE. And those were dogs with no blood work, no serious monitoring, potential issues like mange, etc - and they would barely die under anesthesia.
It made me go whoa - all this freaking out over my dog who has so much going for them with better monitoring, blood work, better surgical conditions etc etc.
I mean, it still freaks me out. But it was eye opening!
I had a friend in college who had FAKE BALLS put on all her dogs after she got them fixed so they would still " look like men"... Obviously we weren't close friends for long because that was just the tip of her crazy.
Neuticles. They are a thing. If it means crazy people will fix their male dogs, IDGAF!
You can even pick sizes!
Obviously the biggest ones are the most popular right? I mean everyone wants HUGE dog balls?
“Life is not orderly. No matter how we try to make it so, right in the middle of it lose a leg, fall in love, drop a jar of applesauce.” - Natalie Goldberg
1. My pets are neutered/spayed. I don't want to deal with puppies. And I think backyard breeders are horrible (and my sister is one) so I've never had any desire to use my purebred show quality golden to stud out (besides, it was part of our contract). Not do I want to contribute to animal overpopulation.
Multiple reasons really. I'm a big believer in spaying/neutering your pets. Like Bob Barker.
1a. Not really. My dad didn't spay our animals growing up, so we had to deal with one litter of puppies (our dog did not do well; she had a difficult pregnancy, postpartum, and she starting running off looking for her puppies), and several litters of kittens. It was always a pain in the ass for my dad to adopt them out. I came to this conclusion on my own.
We had two purebred beagles (Guapo passed last year, but Bella is still around). For whatever reason, my mom decided she wanted a litter of puppies from them, so Bella had a litter and then we got Guapo fixed. Later, Bella had a suspect mammary gland issue and we had her fixed when they went in the biopsy that area. Thankfully, she was a-ok.
Any future dog that DH and I get will more than likely come from a shelter or rescue organization and I can't think of any reason why I wouldn't spay or neuter a future pet. No real motivation other than that it seems to be better for females and we certainly don't need the responsibility of puppies.
We've spayed and neutered all our cats. I did lose one about 20 years ago; the vet had no idea why. It sucked really hard but I will still make that choice with any animal I own. I was brought up believing this was the only responsible thing to do because there are too many unwanted animals already.
We got her from a rescue, but I would've had her spayed regardless. Many people seem to agree with sterilizing pets, at least where we live- it's very rare to encounter a non-neutered dog at the dog park.
Yes, my dogs are spayed, as were my dogs growing up. I did it partly because that's what I knew to do, it was the responsible thing, and I will not deal with doggie periods. Nope.
We spayed. She wasn't fixed when we got her and we asked the vet what would happen went she went into heat. Yeah, ain't nobody got time for that. Made the appointment that day.
1 - If you spayed/neutered your pets - what motivated you to do so? Besides Bob Barker telling me? We had to as it was part of the contract we signed with the breeder Jiggles came from. I also would have done it anyways because it is what you do.
1a - Did you grow up thinking that this was was just the way things were done? My parents weren't responsible pet owners. We had one dog who ended up having 4 litters, after the 4th, they did spay her, and our other dogs.
Both of our dogs are rescues and were neutered before we could adopt them. They were both around 1.5 when we adopted them, and each was still recovering from the surgery when we took them home.
I wouldn't have had it any other way. I adopted them in part because there are so many homeless animals -- it would be stupid to then go out and have my animals procreate. Any dog or cat we get will be neutered/spayed.
Our animals growing up were fixed. My parents waited for awhile with our cocker spaniel because she was from a breeder and supposedly show-worthy, and I think they didn't want to take off the table the possibility of puppies. But when she was in heat it was just a mess and after a few times of dealing with that, they had her spayed.
Our two current dogs are not neutered. They are both come from long lines of champion field dogs.. One has a long weird story that we were not privy to until after we had him. That puppy is the product of a vial of stolen sperm from one of the most titled field champions in the history of the sport, who just happened to have been dead for 10 years when our puppy was conceived. Our puppy kind of came to us suddenly and in the dark of night last February when he was 5 months old. We knew the bloodlines he was from but not all the intrigue about how he came to be until several months after we already had him. We started getting calls about breeding to him the week he arrived and we continue to get calls about once a month. We'll put some titles on him and then breed him 3 or 4 times before we have him fixed. That dog just turned 1 yo.
Our second puppy is only 6 months old. He is a Weimaraner like our first puppy. We imported him from Germany. He was selected for us by a trusted breeder here in the US. He also comes from champion bloodlines and he is the picture of health. We have 2 breeders who want this puppy to eventually sire a litter for them once he has titles, also. Their intent is to introduce some healthy characteristics from a pretty distant gene pool. He will also be neutered after 3 or 4 litters.
There is a pretty small gene pool in the US when it comes to Weims. The same dogs get bred over and over again and it's starting to show with the introduction of some health problems. We have two dogs that come from far enough away that they will both Introduce some good genes to the Midwestern lines.
If we did not plan to breed our pups, I would not spay or neuter a puppy. The American Weim Club recommends not spaying a bitch until after her first season and not neutering a dog until he is physically mature, around 18-24 months. This is for health reasons.
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!
Our girls aren't spayed because they show (and dogs that can't reporduce aren't allowed to show). Our other dogs have always been spayed and neutered because why wouldn't they be if you aren't breeding them?
1. Yes. It's the right thing to do. Overpopulation, cancer risk, behavior, etc. 1a. Yes
My mom told me the worst story in the world, once. She always talked about her dog that she had growing up. She loved that dog. I heard about her all the time.
Then, one day, I found out what happened to her. My mom's dad dug a hole, set her in it, and shot her. Because she kept getting pregnant and he was tired of drowning the puppies. Now, my mom grew up in poverty and her parents were from an older generation who did things the old way (her dad was born in 1909). But I was so horrified to hear this. I was just so stunned that they didn't get the dog fixed, but I guess a lot of people didn't do it in those days.
I would never own an unfixed animal. Euthanizing unwanted puppies in a shelter is not much better than drowning them in a sack.
All 5 of our pets (2 cats, 3 dogs) are fixed. One cat and one dog we adopted after they were spayed/neutered. The other 3 we got neutered as soon as they were old enough.
I have a huge heart for shelter pets, so I see no need for any of my animals to procreate. Plus I don't have the desire to deal with a female in heat.
We adopt from shelters, so they are either already fixed or we had to get them fixed within a certain time frame. Even if I wasn't required, I would have them fixed. Pet over-population and all. Plus, a bitch in heat is well - a bitch.
Our family cocker spaniel was spayed early on as well. We got her from Dad's coworker. They brought home a former bitch from a breeder who... happened to be pregnant.
Now my parents have a Cav King Charles, and they went back and forth over getting her spayed. Conveniently (sarcasm) enough DH and I watched her for 10 days while my parents when to visit my sister halfway across the US. Guess who went into heat? It was SUCH a pain. She escaped the yard and ran off twice, and I had to keep her penned up in the kitchen. Plus cleaning the kitchen tile constantly. They waited thinking they would breed her once, and make their money back from where they purchased her. NOOOOO!!! Thank god I talked them out of that.
1. Yes, my cat is neutered. Any future pets will be fixed as well.
1a. We had 2 dogs growing up. One was spayed from the beginning. The second my parents bred once, then spayed. I grew up on a farm; breeding animals and/or selling the babies did not seem unusual to me at all at the time.
Post by donnamartingraduat on Dec 3, 2014 20:36:33 GMT -5
Mine came fixed (rescues). But I would have done so anyway. My dog growing up was spayed, intact dogs are a PITA, and over population is a big problem.