Spaying/neutering pets

[MaggieTheCat]

I always thought it was kind of a "duh" thing to get your pets spayed or neutered unless you want to breed them, but I'm wondering what everyone else here thinks. Pretty much every article I've ever read about getting a puppy or kitten advocates getting it spayed/neutered when it's old enough. There are various benefits to doing so, the most obvious being that you won't end up with an "oops" litter of kittens/puppies that you don't want or can't take care of later on. There are also various health and behavioral benefits to getting an animal fixed. I'm not quoting any particular source here, but here's an article on castrating male dogs that has some good info: http://www.peteducation.com/article....2+2109&aid=911
That website has a lot of other articles on spaying/neutering dogs and cats, too.

Anyway, I was recently on another message board and there was a topic about neutering male dogs and the benefits of doing so. I was surprised to see several responses from people who were against neutering dogs. Most of these people had had bad experiences with neutered dogs themselves...one said her dog's behavior changed drastically for the worse, he was not as active and was hiding under the table a lot (this was about 3 days after the neuter.) Another person said her dog was in a lot of pain for a couple days after the surgery and that the incision got infected, and the "cheap" spay/neuter clinic she had originally taken the dog to wouldn't help her so she had to take her dog to an actual vet clinic and dish out $120 for antibiotics. In both of these situations, the people were complaining that they didn't know these "consequences" of getting their dog neutered, the person who did the surgery didn't properly explain it to them, and that neutering their dogs was a bad idea and they don't recommend that anyone get their dog neutered.

Small rant: Okay, to the first person, do your homework. Animals usually mellow out and become more laid back after getting spayed/neutered. Especially after only a couple days after the surgery, yeah, the dog is going to be acting weird. I'd like to see if she's still complaining a month after the surgery. To the second person, are you freaking kidding me? You're having your dogs balls chopped off and you don't realize that he's going to be in pain and that it could potentially get infected? Again, do some freaking homework. I can't believe people like this are allowed to own animals, let alone have children.

Totally different rant there, sorry.

Anyway, my original question here was supposed to be, what do you guys think of getting pets spayed/neutered? Are there (valid) reasons not to, besides if you want to breed the animal?

[protege]

All of my cats have been 'snipped.' Mainly, because I don't want any kittens, even though they're cute and playful. I've had enough dropped off at the farm, that I don't want more...unless I adopt them from a shelter.

Years ago, when I was little, it was fun to have a litter of kittens to play with on the farm. Grandma's cat, Kirby, apparently found a stray (who we called Sue Ellen), knocked her up...and then hid the 'family' under the front porch. They were all given away when they were old enough. No more kittens to play with

About 15 years later, she got another cat, Kitty. He was a kitten when he first arrived...and was a bit "wound up." Very high strung, in fact. He got snipped because Grandma didn't want him to breed. She also had it done so he'd settle down a bit. After he got snipped, he was a totally different cat. Much calmer, in fact.

[KellyHabersham]

All three of my cats have been fixed........only problem has been that the eldest female was spayed after she went into heat for the first time, and I've heard that this sometimes causes personality changes. (this cat has always had issues, but they become more obvious after she'd been spayed)

On the other hand, my other female cat actually got more social/friendly after she was spayed, and my male cat continued to be agressive/territorial.........but then, he was also a feral cat when I'd gotten him.

[blas87]

I know I deserve a good slap for this, but my kitty Baby still hasn't been spayed.

We found her as a small kitten. We never got her declawed or spayed (declawing is an entire different topic, so I'll avoid that).

My excuse, and it's poor, is that by this point, I think she's getting older (she is almost 9) and that spaying her may worsen her temperament (as if it couldn't get any worse) or with our luck, she'll die within a year of being fixed.

[Parrothead]

Blas, the shelter I volunteer at just adopted a 15-16 year old cat, and he got snipped January.

On topic, all my pets are fixed, and they're all fine.

[blas87]

Truth is, when I come across a cat friendly apartment (that doesn't break the budget) or get my actual own home, I did have plans to have her declawed and most likely spayed as well.

The problem is, I cannot find a pet friendly apartment that won't end up costing less than $700-$800 a month (along with those non refundable pet deposits) and owning my own home is not seeming to be forseeable for like, the next 5 years. I think she's better with my family and Bear the dog. Since day 1, she's always thought the dog was her mother, and I couldn't take the family dog to a home with me, let alone find a place that would allow large dogs.

[fireheart17]

All of our cats have been fixed as soon as they were old enough. there were a few additional benefits besides the obvious...all of our cats are male btw.

-less likely to roam. (they're indoor kitties, but we do take them outside)
-less likely to spray all over the place (in other words, they'll actually GO in their tray)
-less likely to get into fights.
-lot calmer.

The only problem we had both pre and post surgery was to stop the eldest cat from licking the youngest cat in that particular spot...

[BookstoreEscapee]

My cats were fixed when they were about 5 months old. A few weeks before that they boy was starting to jump on his sister in a decidedly non-brotherly way. Luckily she wasn't interested and would swat him away. It definitely stopped that behavior once he was fixed. At some point the girl got very timid (she's afraid of every little noise or movement and prefers to spend most of her time on my dad's bed) but I don't know if it was shortly after she was fixed, or much later (they're almost 4 years old now). She was actually the brave one when they were younger; and the first to try to escape the room they were kept in when they first came home (we would go in to play with them and after a week or so we started letting them out with supervision; they didn't get the run of the house for several weeks).

A friend of mine lives in a 2-family house (she lives downstairs and her mom and sister live upstairs) and they share the yard. Between them they have 4 dogs - her yellow lab (girl), her mom's bassett hound (girl), her sister's black lab (boy), and the bassett hound/black lab puppy (girl) that they kept for her niece. There were 11 puppies, 3 died at birth and they found homes for the rest. Still, none of these dogs have been fixed. I have no idea why and I'm surprised there haven't been more oops puppies.

[Android Kaeli]

All of the pets I've had and still have, have been snipped as soon as it was possible for them to be. As much as I love kitties and wouldn't mind having more, I really don't want to add to the already high pet population. Plus I don't really want to be held down with another pet -- as much as I love my cat, he's the last pet I'm having for a long time.

[Fire_on_High]

We've got 4 indoors kitties, all fixed...the girls came to us spayed, the boys were neutered at 6 months. Never had any regrets about doing so, tho one of the girls has a very strong mommy instinct and "adopted" one of the boys when we first bought them home.

We've been feeding a stray tom but we can't seem to work things out to be able to neuter him...he goes berserk if kept inside, but we can't be sure he's safe for the surgery if we don't, so...

Three times we've tried, three times he's foiled us. So...at this point he's had his shots, we know he eats twice a day most days, and he gets flea treated. Not perfect, but it's a better life than he would've had otherwise.

[Green_Fairy]

i haven't had too much experience with non-fixed animals because even to this day, all my pets have been fixed. however, last time i was at a vet's office, i got to talking with a guy in there. he had his dog fixed a few moths prior at a different vet and apparently they didn't close properly and his dog almost died. so...like any surgery, there are risks.

and...has anyone ever heard of neuticles?

[jedimaster91]

Anyway, I was recently on another message board and there was a topic about neutering male dogs and the benefits of doing so. I was surprised to see several responses from people who were against neutering dogs. Most of these people had had bad experiences with neutered dogs themselves...one said her dog's behavior changed drastically for the worse, he was not as active and was hiding under the table a lot (this was about 3 days after the neuter.) Another person said her dog was in a lot of pain for a couple days after the surgery <snip--pun fully intended>

The spay surgery didn't seem to phase my beagle at all. We picked her up, helicopter tail-wagging, jumping up, doing her "pet me!" dance, and generally being her usual excited self. Ever tried keeping a beagle puppy on speed calm and quiet for over a week? That was not a fun week.

Some friends of ours did end up with an "oops" litter because they still had Ziggy's brother and her mom, both of which were intact. Yes, they had a litter of inbread beagles. Thankfully, the pups turned out fine. And oh so cute. Hubs told me I wasn't allowed to go see them because I might bring one home. Ziggy's brother has since been neutered using the "farm method."

I'm a huge fan of fixing pets. I can't imagine what my coonhound would be like if he wasn't neutered. Neutering males can definitely curb aggression issues and territorial behaviors, but it's more effective to get them snipped before those hormones kick in. I volunteer once a week at my town's low-cost spay/neuter clinic, and it's great. The surgery is not a huge deal and as long as the owners take care of the incision, everything turns out dandy.

[telecom_goddess]

My cats are both fixed. My girl had one litter of kittens and then I had her fixed. The boy got snipped a long time ago. The thing is I think getting cats fixed should be free or damn near free. Everyone pushes to get it done, and rightfully so, but it shouldn't cost an arm and a leg.

I had mine done for really cheap but I had to go through hoops to get coupons for it and stuff...it was kind of a pain.