Disadvantages to spaying/neutering a dog/cat?

[Dalchini]

Besides Inactivity and not being able to reproduce, what is the other reasons for not spaying and are they true?

[sylphishone]

Male cats are much more likely to get feline urological syndrome if they are neutered too early.

[CrazyCatLady]

Spaying and neutering does NOT cause inactivity. That's an old wives' tale, and it's bullshit.

There is absolutely no medical reason not to spay or neuter at an appropriate age. There's a finite risk of anesthetic problems, but those are greatly outweighed by the risk of pyometra, unwanted pups or kittens, mammary tumors, testicular tumors, prostate problems, and injuries incurred while hunting for mates.

After vaccinatint, getting a pet spayed or neutered is the single most important step you can take to safeguard its health.

[kanicbird]

Spaying and neutering does NOT cause inactivity.

From experence (not that I was a cat ) I find this to be untrue. Cats will not travel as far from home and become more content not being as active. It's really not a big deal and moch prefable to having wondering cas which disappear for 3-4 days, but I don't think distorting the truth does anyone one any good. At least from my limiyted experence

[Horrifying Howler Monkey]

All my sled dogs are neutered and I have not noticed any drop in activity or energy level. Just because an animal is not wandering does not mean the energy level is less (just that he isn't looking for nookie).

[keithnmick]

If you're a cat lover you won't get all the toms in the neighbourhood paying your house a visit at 1am and singing/fighting in the back yard looking to serenade your little lady.

Spay em. If you want a kitten there are thousands upon thousands of them out there looking for a good home.

[Chronos]

It's really not a big deal and moch prefable to having wondering cas which disappear for 3-4 days,

You think fixing will stop that? All of the cats which have cohabited with my mom have had the habit of occasionally wandering off for a few days at a time. All of them are/were fixed within the first year (before we get any "surprises"), and most of them are/were female, if that makes a difference. Mom's never worried about them, because they invariably show up again within a few days.

Now, obviously, their reasons for wandering are different than those of intact kitties, but they do it anyway. I think that they just like exploring, and maybe eating fresh food every now and then ("fresh", by cat standards, meaning that it's still chirping/squeaking when you bite its head off).

[fruitbat]

I would like to echo Crazy Cat Lady's advice except to say if given a choice between spaying or neutering my animals and vaccination I would choose altering. There is no reason not to alter your animals and no defensible reason to choose otherwise.

[Dalchini]

Sorry for my ignorance. I do understand the benefits of neutering and I certainly hate the fact that there are millions of unwanted animals. I just thought that inactivity was one of the side affects. So is it a myth that altering affects the personality?

[CrazyCatLady]

Originally posted by kanicbird
From experence (not that I was a cat ) I find this to be untrue. Cats will not travel as far from home and become more content not being as active. It's really not a big deal and moch prefable to having wondering cas which disappear for 3-4 days, but I don't think distorting the truth does anyone one any good. At least from my limiyted experence

Distortion, my ass. Spaying/neutering reduces the tendency to roam, yes. However, that is not the same thing as inactivity. Inactivity is, well, just that. People are afraid that getting their pets sterilized will make them do nothing but lay around the house all the time, and that is simply untrue. Removing the reproductive organs has absolutely no effect on how much energy the animal has past the recovery stage. It just keeps them from expending that energy on hunting for mates.

If you'd like to argue this point in greater detail, I'd suggest you do some reading on the subject. The AVMA puts out pamphlets on the subject, or you can check out their website. You can also ask your veterinarian. Or you can become a veterinary technician yourself, and argue from your less-limited experience with spayed and neutered animals.

[CrazyCatLady]

No, Dalchini, it doesn't affect the personality at all, any more than having a hysterectomy affects a human's personality.

Often animals are a little sluggish for a day or two post-operatively, but that's due to the anesthesia and having an abdominal incision, not the lack of gonads. After that wears off and the incision heals, your pet should be perfectly normal. As it ages, some of that puppy/kitten energy will start to wind down, but that's true in unaltered animals, too.

[Calliope]

Originally posted by Dalchini
Sorry for my ignorance. I do understand the benefits of neutering and I certainly hate the fact that there are millions of unwanted animals. I just thought that inactivity was one of the side affects. So is it a myth that altering affects the personality?

No, it can indeed alter the personality, but I assure you it's for the better. An overly aggressive, macho dog will generally become a nicer, more cooperative dog when the testosterone leaves his system. But inactivity is not a side effect of neutering--ask my terrier.

[Lissa]

My spayed female dog has developed a couple of minor problems. She started "dribbling" and had to be put on hormones, and she's developed a fatty growth on her chest, which the vet says isn't a serious issue unless it starts causing her pain. Again, though, these complaints are easily dealt with and don't outweigh the benefits of spaying her.

[Nametag]

There is one major disadvantage of neutering male pets: you have to listen to the B.S. from ignorant owners who believe all the myths about neutering, or who just think that it's "wrong" (mostly guys who shrink from the idea of "losing their manhood" and think that it's somehow the same for dogs). You may also have to drag their hormone-driven savages off of your pets.

[bubba jr]

You guys are all complaining about alteration of personality and responsibility, but, my biggest problem with spaying my cat, she didn't get done until she was almost 2 years old, is that, I'm afraid I will never have another cat like her. I honestly agree with the spaying neutering thing (obvously), however I also feel it is a shame to put an end to her gentics, especially since she is one of those cats, that when people come over, you have to check their coats to make sure they aren't smuggling her out.

[CrazyCatLady]

Yeah, I've got one of those, too. She's like a dog in a little cat suit, and she's gorgeous to boot. Everyone loves her, even people who don't care for cats. There's no reason to think that her personality would pass on to kittens, though, any more than a human's personality is particularly like his or her parents'.

[j.c.]

Let's make a new rule that CrazyCatLady is a special topics moderator for all pet issues.

[elmwood]

When I got my female PWD as a puppy, the contract from the breeder stated that I had to have her spayed; I had no choice Bailey was considered "pet quality," and the fact that her dam paraded around in the spotlight of the Westminster Kennel Club dog show didn't necessarily mean that she was breeding material. She was spayed at six months, and after a few groggy days, it was back to normal. Her personality seemed no different, except that she was a bit less needy for attention.

I've heard that if you have two dogs, the best combination is spayed female/neutered male. There is supposedly less fighting for dominance than any other 15 combinations of spayed and neutered male and female pairings.

I can vouch for this point of view. A year ago, I rescued Guinness, a four year old neutered male PWD, and he beacame a part of the elmwood pack. After a couple of days of very rough play and dominance humping (Bailey, the bitch, won), Guinness and Bailey got along like littermates. They share toys, they'll both eat out of the same food bowl if they're inclined, and they have absolutely no space or territory issues.

Guinness, despite being snipped, definitely has the personality of a boy; he's a bit goofy, he has a deep voice (PWDs are similar to Basenjis in that they don't bark much; they tend to chortle and "talk"), he has an in-your-face lovey-dovey disposition, and he's always willing to play. I don't know what his personality was like pre-neutering, but he's always been a wonderful dog under my watch. Bailey is gentle, sweet, empathetic, careful, extremely intelligent, and she has a higher pitched voice. Despite their different personalities, it's nearly impossible to separate them.

[elmwood]

Gawd, my last post sounded pretentious. Sorry.

[alohaaloha]

Having been in the Animal Care and Control profession for 28 years (gosh, I AM old!!), I felt compelled to reply. So many of you have stated excellent reasons as to yes, "neuter is neater".

The #1 reason I have encountered over these years (followed by macho reason #2) has to do with unrealistic concerns of weight gain...which is related to the unaltered animals NOT straying away for 3-4 days at a time catting around (no pun intended). According to many veterinarians I have worked with over the years, altered animals generally require about 1/4th less food than they did while they were out running around all the time. Same with people.

FOOD makes animals fat; lack of exercise makes animals fat...not altering. Same with people.

I certainly understand the posts regarding the great animals that their friends would like to have one just like them. However I, too, found that cat...at the local Animal Shelter!

In my career, I and my staff have had to kill tens of thousands of animals (no, I am not proud of that fact) that could not find a home because there were/are too many from the ignorant people that felt they should breed their animals and get mixed breeds, which are a dime a dozen. Yes, I know a few found homes for all the litters, but we got all the litters everyone else could not find homes for...

Sorry to get gory on you..

YES!!! Neuter your animals! All of them. They will be healthier, happier, you will be happeir with your pet...and those unwanted animals in our shelters across the country will stand a better chance of getting adopted. Neutering is a WIN-WIN situation!!!

[Dalchini]

Now what about the guarding breeds like Rottwiliers and German Shepherds? Will they guard without their, "manhoods"?

[Shrinking Violet]

Originally posted by keithnmick
If you're a cat lover you won't get all the toms in the neighbourhood paying your house a visit at 1am and singing/fighting in the back yard looking to serenade your little lady.

So would someone be good enough to inform the huge black'n'white bruiser who turns up on my patio every day to "serenade" my two little spayed sisters that he's wasting his time!!!

(Unless it's the idea of "twins" which gets him going .... )

Julie

[FairyChatMom]

Originally posted by Dalchini
Now what about the guarding breeds like Rottwiliers and German Shepherds? Will they guard without their, "manhoods"?

My border collie mix is a spayed female and she has a real sense of property - just ring the doorbell and find out! If she is protective, I don't see why any other dog wouldn't be.

[Dragon Phoenix]

Colour me confused. When we took our dog (male cocker spaniel) to the vet at the age of 6 months (he's now 1 y), we asked whether neutering would be a good idea. She said that there was absolutely no reason to neuter the dog.

[keithnmick]

Here's a good Q & A on the subject, by an organisation that includes the AVMA and a whole lot of other similar groups. It also showcases the spay/neuter stamps:
http://www.americanpartnershipforpet...eranswers.html

As I've said before, my wife is a small animal (dog and cat) vet. She absolutely believes in neutering pets. When she lived in Philly working on her degree the number of morons who would show up at the dogpark with an intact pit bull or other "macho" breed (I have nothing against the breed, just the morons who get a macho breed and keep it intact to fuel their ego) which would then run around acting aggresively towards other dogs or trying to hump them was only outnumbered by the number of unowned pitbull mixes that would have to be killed as there were no willing owners to take them.
Males piss a lot less in the house when you fix them too. I consider that an advantage.

[ENugent]

Originally posted by Dragon Phoenix
Colour me confused. When we took our dog (male cocker spaniel) to the vet at the age of 6 months (he's now 1 y), we asked whether neutering would be a good idea. She said that there was absolutely no reason to neuter the dog.

Get a new vet. That's incredibly irresponsible.

[CrazyCatLady]

Yeah, what ENugent said. Unless she misspoke or you misunderstood, and she actually said (or meant to say) that there's absolutely no reason not to neuter the dog. (I think that's pretty likely, as every vet I've ever known has been quite vocal about those stupid #%#(*&^'s who don't get their pets altered.)

Guarding and territoriality doesn't have anything to do with having gonads. Dogs are pack animals, and it's their instinct to mark and protect pack territory. My Dolly has been guarding me since two weeks after I adopted her, and a week after her spay. (Yeah, I know, but we were having a busy week and couldn't do an extra surgery for a few days.) Some dogs are more protective/more territorial than others, but that's far more an individual temperament thing than a breed thing or a spay/neuter thing.

[troub]

Originally posted by ENugent
Get a new vet. That's incredibly irresponsible.

I agree. I've never ever ever ever heard a vet dismiss spaying/neutering like that, and I've been to good and not-so-good ones. They usually almost beg you to do it, if not only to prevent unwanted animals, they also stress the many health and safety benefits.

Also, as elmwood alluded to in her post (referring to "pet quality" purebreds), even if you have a purebreed dog it is still irresponsible to mate it with any dog (even another "purebred" of the same breed) to make "purebred" puppies. This should generally be left to "real" breeders (not the backyard kind), because backyard breeding leads to the propagation of congenital defects such as hip problems, etc. Breeding should be done to "advance" the breed.

[CrazyCatLady]

Yeah, what ENugent said. Unless she misspoke or you misunderstood, and she actually said (or meant to say) that there's absolutely no reason not to neuter the dog. (I think that's pretty likely, as every vet I've ever known has been quite vocal about those stupid #%#(*&^'s who don't get their pets altered.)

Guarding and territoriality doesn't have anything to do with having gonads. Dogs are pack animals, and it's their instinct to mark and protect pack territory. My Dolly has been guarding me since two weeks after I adopted her, and a week after her spay. (Yeah, I know, but we were having a busy week and couldn't do an extra surgery for a few days.) Some dogs are more protective/more territorial than others, but that's far more an individual temperament thing than a breed thing or a spay/neuter thing.

[Jaypool the Great]

This is not the way. Neutering cats is not the way to go if your protecting your male cat from roaming all the same. Spaying male cats does not make them lazier if the male cat himself has a very crazy personality, I agree, but spaying them but being obvious about it to your cat may make it angry with you. My grandma had a cat and it was neutered, it does not make any difference to whether it is aggressive or not because that cat was born to be crazy. It scratched me, my dad, my grandma, my whole family. I was looking at this cat for nine years, and it was neutered. And it was hyperactive. It was aggressive. Conclusion: If your cat was born to be hyperactive, spaying it will make no difference. I may be young, but I have spent my whole life with cats and I know they don't probably like it. This cat R.I.P in 2008, and I had spent my time in these 4 years in cat shelters to help them. They were all spayed, and it makes no difference, because they are all unwanted. 40 Freaking cats were spayed and abandoned in ONE street. I ask you, HOW THE HELL DOES SPAYING MAKE A DIFFERENCE? You think that your cat may get run over by a car if you don't spay it, but if you had a child with a mental disorder and ignorant to world dangers, you would NEVER dream of spaying an innocent child. Same with cats. They are just entering puberty, I wouldn't like MY life to be ruined just to shut me up from looking for a boyfriend. Put your feet in their paws, wont you? Stop being so selfish, wont you? This is all I have to say.

[garygnu]

I'm finally seeing the drawbacks to letting Google bots index the boards.

[steviep24]

Maybe they become zombies?

[Hilarity N. Suze]

Forget it jake it's zombietown

[johnpost]

zombie or no

"Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered."

[Ulfreida]

Dog person here: spaying does not seem to change female personality at all. There are some health risks -- urinary incontinence being one, but I don't think they are common enough to make a difference in the decision. I've neutered three male dogs at four and five years of age. It does change their personality -- in regards to other male dogs and female dogs in heat. Otherwise, not discernable. If they protected you before, they'll still protect you.

There is one reason to keep an intact animal, and that is because you intend to breed it. Speaking as someone involved in livestock herding with dogs, if you need a specific kind of dog (and the inherited talent for herding livestock is extremely specific), you have to select for it. And no, getting a dog out of the pound which looks like a Border Collie is not going to cut it.

Otherwise, for the vast majority of dogs, surgery is the way to go.

It is more common than not for rural people who use dogs for herding livestock, to keep all their dogs intact, even if they don't intend to breed them. There are some oops litters but these dogs are under a lot of control. I'm guessing that there are other dog subcultures in which this is true too.

[Jaypool the Great]

Its not fair. The human population far exceeds the cat population. Besides, there are probably much more human orphans than cats in cat shelters out there. If cats get neutered, why don't we just CUT EVERYBODY'S BALLS AND OVARIES?! NO! We don't. We are mature and civilized enough to realize 100 years ago castrating humans is not right. Why is neutering cats so "normal", then?

[Chronos]

There are lots of things that wouldn't be right if done to humans but which aren't at all problematic when applied to animals. Ownership, for example. Or breeding programs. Or slaughtering for meat.

[Ulfreida]

Originally Posted by Jaypool the Great

Its not fair. The human population far exceeds the cat population. Besides, there are probably much more human orphans than cats in cat shelters out there. If cats get neutered, why don't we just CUT EVERYBODY'S BALLS AND OVARIES?! NO! We don't. We are mature and civilized enough to realize 100 years ago castrating humans is not right. Why is neutering cats so "normal", then?

Nothing "normal" about either one. Neutering pets has to become more widespread because humans are stupid, careless and shortsighted and let their animals breed without taking responsibility for the offspring. The burgeoning human population is a product of exactly the same qualities, emphasis on the shortsighted. We happen to lack the political will to address the latter problem, that's all.

Mass sterilization of human beings is a much cheerier prospect than what is actually going to happen as we continue to vastly exceed the carrying capacity of our planet.

No, I'm not a misanthropic pessimist who is way off topic, why do you ask?

[Jackmannii]

Our female black Lab, far from being a zombie post-spaying, demonstrates the same insane/devil-possessed traits that she did before surgery (for instance, running manically in tight circles when overstimulated/frustrated/overcome by loony impulses).

The only difference I ever noticed after neutering any of our beasts was that our male spaniel stopped lifting his leg on indoor furniture, items of clothing etc.

[DrDeth]

Originally Posted by sylphishone

Male cats are much more likely to get feline urological syndrome if they are neutered too early.

That's not a reason to not have them altered, it's a reason to choose carefully WHEN to have them altered.

[Jake]

Originally Posted by Lissa

My spayed female dog has developed a couple of minor problems. She started "dribbling" and had to be put on hormones, and she's developed a fatty growth on her chest, which the vet says isn't a serious issue unless it starts causing her pain. Again, though, these complaints are easily dealt with and don't outweigh the benefits of spaying her.

I had my dog spayed and she had urinary problems. Dribbled like Magic Johnson. Of course I kept her for a long and happy life.

[Kamrusepas]

Originally Posted by Jaypool the Great

This is not the way. Neutering cats is not the way to go if your protecting your male cat from roaming all the same. Spaying male cats does not make them lazier if the male cat himself has a very crazy personality, I agree, but spaying them but being obvious about it to your cat may make it angry with you. My grandma had a cat and it was neutered, it does not make any difference to whether it is aggressive or not because that cat was born to be crazy. It scratched me, my dad, my grandma, my whole family. I was looking at this cat for nine years, and it was neutered. And it was hyperactive. It was aggressive. Conclusion: If your cat was born to be hyperactive, spaying it will make no difference. I may be young, but I have spent my whole life with cats and I know they don't probably like it. This cat R.I.P in 2008, and I had spent my time in these 4 years in cat shelters to help them. They were all spayed, and it makes no difference, because they are all unwanted. 40 Freaking cats were spayed and abandoned in ONE street. I ask you, HOW THE HELL DOES SPAYING MAKE A DIFFERENCE? You think that your cat may get run over by a car if you don't spay it, but if you had a child with a mental disorder and ignorant to world dangers, you would NEVER dream of spaying an innocent child. Same with cats. They are just entering puberty, I wouldn't like MY life to be ruined just to shut me up from looking for a boyfriend. Put your feet in their paws, wont you? Stop being so selfish, wont you? This is all I have to say.

As someone who "works" with the local animal rescue, reading this is horrible. Please don't spread your ignorance. Spaying and neutering makes a HUGE difference in controlling the amount of homeless animals.

ETA: I also have to add that animals don't really want sex. They just do it because of their instinct. When you spay or neuter them, it takes away the instinct to reproduce (or at least suppresses it. Someone correct me if I got this wrong, I'm not a vet). They don't miss it. They just don't feel it anymore. You cannot compare human sexual behavior to animals.

[boozilu]

Our rescue dog is currently in heat (for medical reasons we cannot get her spayed for a few more months), and let me just say that I would take urinary dribbling over what we have today any day!

[Sister Vigilante]

Spaying makes a difference because it means those 40 cats won't each have 8 kittens 4 months from now, making the grand total 320 cats.

[Anne Neville]

The Neville kitties are spayed. From the amount of purring they do, I don't think they believe this has ruined their lives.

Luna in particular seems to like her life the way it is. I somehow don't see her wanting to change everything so she could have kittens. We're going through preparing to have our baby. It's a lot of work and we know our lives will change a great deal as a result. I know the preparation is somewhat less work for cats (they don't have to buy car seats), but I'm sure their lives change. I don't see Luna liking that.

Reversible birth control isn't really an option for pets, except maybe something like Depo-Provera or Norplant. I wouldn't like to try to give my cats birth control pills every day, and I doubt anyone would want to try putting condoms on male cats or dogs. Humans who don't want to have too many kids have those options.

Humans have sex even when women are not fertile. Cats and dogs don't do that. If they had sex because they enjoy it, they would probably also have sex when the females are not in heat.

Originally Posted by Jaypool the Great

This is not the way. Neutering cats is not the way to go if your protecting your male cat from roaming all the same. Spaying male cats does not make them lazier if the male cat himself has a very crazy personality, I agree, but spaying them but being obvious about it to your cat may make it angry with you.

Spaying a male cat would be... er... difficult.

[Sailboat]

Originally Posted by Jaypool the Great

This is not the way. Neutering cats is not the way to go if your protecting your male cat from roaming all the same. Spaying male cats does not make them lazier if the male cat himself has a very crazy personality, I agree, but spaying them but being obvious about it to your cat may make it angry with you. My grandma had a cat and it was neutered, it does not make any difference to whether it is aggressive or not because that cat was born to be crazy. It scratched me, my dad, my grandma, my whole family. I was looking at this cat for nine years, and it was neutered. And it was hyperactive. It was aggressive. Conclusion: If your cat was born to be hyperactive, spaying it will make no difference. I may be young, but I have spent my whole life with cats and I know they don't probably like it. This cat R.I.P in 2008, and I had spent my time in these 4 years in cat shelters to help them. They were all spayed, and it makes no difference, because they are all unwanted. 40 Freaking cats were spayed and abandoned in ONE street. I ask you, HOW THE HELL DOES SPAYING MAKE A DIFFERENCE? You think that your cat may get run over by a car if you don't spay it, but if you had a child with a mental disorder and ignorant to world dangers, you would NEVER dream of spaying an innocent child. Same with cats. They are just entering puberty, I wouldn't like MY life to be ruined just to shut me up from looking for a boyfriend. Put your feet in their paws, wont you? Stop being so selfish, wont you? This is all I have to say.

Just because you're personally uncomfortable about castration doesn't mean you should uh...whatever the above is...rant.

The part about 40 cats spayed and abandoned in the street sounds like you're misinterpreting or misrepresenting a Trap-Neuter-Return program.

Originally Posted by Jaypool the Great

Its not fair. The human population far exceeds the cat population. Besides, there are probably much more human orphans than cats in cat shelters out there.

Estimates for stray and feral cat population in the US range from 50 million to 70 million.

Comparable orphan statistics seem to be harder to come by, but this government .pdf from 2004 seems to say maybe 4 million (it says 73.2 million children, of which 6% live with no parent) but that presumably includes children without parents due to abandonment and imprisonment, not necessarily all orphaned.

So although the numbers are sketchy, it looks like this claim isn't likely to be true.

[Sailboat]

Originally Posted by Anne Neville

I doubt anyone would want to try putting condoms on male cats or dogs.

If you thought belling the cat was tough....geez!