by IMHO 60 Replies latest jw friends
A controversial subject that hasn't been talked about here for 10 years (or so it seems on my quick search).
I think it's wrong to spay or neuter. I bet most of you will disagree.
My vet just called me an irresponsible owner for refusing to have my cat spayed.
Yes you are irresponsible. Unwanted litters are real problem, since they result in higher numbers of feral cats.
Feral cats decimate song bird populations, are a nuisance, and many of the individual cats suffer immensly.
Male or female?
If female, she is going to go in to heat twice a year. If she is not successfully mated, she will go in heat every 1-3 weeks. I know of an unspayed female cat, kept indoors with her spayed brother. As long as I knew that cat she was in heat; ragged, skin and bones, and yowling constantly. Her brother followed her around everywhere she went.
http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/pregnancybirthincats/f/Cat_estrus.htm
If male and kept indoors, he's going to mark everything in sight. If male and kept outdoors, he's going to get in to fights. Not to mention siring all sorts of kittens and exposing himself to feline diseases.
We don't have a stray pet problem here in the wilderness. If a cougar doesn't get them, a coyote or an eagle will. Last fall a young cougar was found hanging out at the cemetary, with a stash of domestic cat carcasses. Sadly, the cougar had to be put down. He was beginning to treat the town as his personal larder.
Cats and dogs most definitely should be spayed or neutered unless you are going to responsibly breed them.
As far as cats are concerned, as the wise wizard said above, not doing so makes them more likely to wander AND more likely to get into fights (if male) which result in the nastiest injuries, or they (if female) just become perpetual kitten factories which is severely detrimental to both the mother and her rapidly increasing brood.
Oh, and what jgnat said about marking and spread of feline diseases.
Cats and dogs most definitely should be spayed or neutered unless you are going to responsibly breed them.
I totally agree
My vet just called me an irresponsible owner for refusing to have my cat spayed.
And anyone with half a brain would say the same thing. It is selfish on the owners part to not have their domestic pets fixed unless they are planning to responsibly breed them. A cat that has been fixed in general lives longer than ones that aren't and have lower rates of cancer and their bodies are no longer under the hormonal stress being in heat puts them under.
Both my dogs are fixed. It's a lot less troublesome.
I agree with thoughts so far that advantages outweigh the negatives and i am an animal lover... Perhaps you could explain you position on not spaying or nutering and we can have some dialog...?
IMHO, you made a claim without supporting it. In your opinion why is it wrong to spay or neuter cats and dogs?
This is actually a great topic for discussion. Most people aren't aware of how hard on the ecosystem feral cats can be.
Unless your into selective breeding (hopefully not for a puppy mill) it makes life easier for both the animal and the owner to take reproduction out of the picture.
Ther is nothing more miserable than having a confined female cat going into heat almost continuously. If she is an outdoor cat then she will end up with a litter of kittens that will have to be placed or abandoned.
It's really a no brainer if you really love your pets.
Declawing cats? Now there is a controversy
