Is it animal cruelty to have dog spayed or neutered?
Do you think that it is animal cruelty to get your dog fixed at the vet? Doesn’t it hurt the poor puppy to have the surgery? I just asked this question at a pet forum too (see http://www.bestforpet.com/dog-health/1336-cruel-spay-neuter-dog.html) but one person says that it may be cruel but we have no choice. Can’t we just not let the dog breed and avoid any surgery? It has to hurt them a lot. I think it does.
Thanks!!
Glenn from New Orleans, Louisiana
:O)
It’s wonderful that you’re so empathetic to how your dog’s feeling – the world would be a much better place is everybody respected animals like you! That being said, I don’t think that you should consider spaying or neutering a pet to be cruel. A vet loves animals just as much as we do – that’s why they’ve devoted their life to caring for them. The surgery itself will be done with your dog heavily sedated so he won’t feel a thing. There will be some discomfort as he recuperates but that will be manageable and if you see signs that he’s in significant pain, the vet can help with that as well.
And, in fact, spaying and neutering help to prevent cruelty to animals by preventing the creation of pets that may be unwanted, become strays, abused or euthanized.
So, please, try not to beat yourself up about your decision.
Here’s a link to a powerful poem on dog neglect and abuse – something that can often be prevented by spaying or neutering your pet.
http://www.agirlandherdogs.com/category/the-neverending-fight-against-cruelty/
I hope your dog has a speedy recovery!
it hurts them for a couple days. better than a lifetime of being in heat or running around trying to escape from your house to find a mate (i was from New Orleans too so we both know how bad that will be if it gets away from you and takes off).
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No it is not cruel to have you dog spayed or neutered. Unfortunatly lots of people just say oh well I just won’t let my dog have babies and they end up getting pregnant anyways. By having your dog spayed or neutered you are actually doing them a favor. There will be no sexual frusteration or moodyness and it also cuts down on cancer
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It’s not pleasant to have any surgery but there are very good reasons for it. Think about it…think about the surgeries humans have . They do cause temporary pain but in the long term, it’s the right thing to do.
There are many benefits to having dogs spayed and neutered. And when it is done while they are young, they recover quickly.
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It is cruel not to alter them. You can never be too safe. Even if you try to keep the dog or cat away from other animals, stuff still happens, and there are too many kittens and puppies on the streets and in cages at your local shelters. I understand you don’t want your animal to feel pain, but animals bounce back right away. It is a procedure vets do constantly; they do it quick and good and your animal is back home before you know it. Listen to Bob Barker and always get you pet spayed or neutered! =) Please!
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It does not hurt the dog to get them spayed / nuetered. They are put to sleep and they do not feel a thing. They do need recovery time because the body needs to adjust because he just had all of his hormones taken out.
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Any surgery is going to be painful. Does that mean it’s ”cruelty” to do a hip replacement on a dog with hip dysplasia, or do surgery to amputate a severely injured leg, or surgery to put back together a shattered shoulder?
Surgery is painful, but if it BENEFITS the animal, then it is not cruelty.
Declawing & debarking….those are cruel. Cropping ears, cruel. Things done merely for our convenience: cruel.
Something done for the health & well being of an animal – necessary. Spaying & neutering preventions overpopulation, but also protects the animal from many disease.
Neutering: decreases the chances of developing prostatic disease and hernias, and eliminates the chances of developing testicular cancer.
Spaying: decreases the incidence of breast cancer (the rate goes down to almost zero if the spaying is done before the first heat cycle!). It eliminates the chance of developing a serious and potentially fatal infection of the uterus experienced by many mature unspayed animals (pyometra).
References :
http://www.vospca.org/archive/spayneut.html
I would ask a vet and say you really care about your dog and you want what is best for it , Also ask if there is a way where it wont hurt him . I think they put dogs to sleep , you should ask about that .
Good Luck
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Of course it NOT!!! They put the puppy to sleep and when an animal is spayed or nutered they live LONGER. You want them to get spayed/nuetered so they also cannot have babys… there is alreadu too many pets that are unwanted in this world. It does not hurt them either.
Rachel
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good question glen, but no it doesn’t actually hurt the dog, its actually proven that if you fix your dog they will live longer, heaps of dogs have been fixed and they seem fine, it dose hurt, but not a lot. but its up 2 you!! =]
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It is just the opposite. You are helping your pet. It is healthier for them to be spayed and neutered. My puppy was spayed, she slept for about 10 hours, then she was back to bouncing off the walls like she always is. Think about the positive rather than the negative. The doc will provide pain meds for up to 10 days too.
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It’s not cruel to spay or neuter an animal. In fact, it’s the best thing you can do as a pet owner. Not only will your dog be healthier and happier, but you’ll be making a positive step towards ending pet overpopulation.
Every year in this country 3 million dogs and cats are euthanized because no one wants them. By having your dog fixed, you can be sure that you won’t contribute to the problem.
References :
http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/why_you_should_spay_or_neuter_your_pet.html
This is a touchy question. I don’t believe it’s cruel to spay or neuter your pets. They are sedated during the process and heal from it in just a few days. As far as them missing the act of mating, how can they miss what they know nothing about. The procedure makes male dogs less aggressive towards people and other dogs and a female never goes into heat again so you won’t have all the un-fixed dogs in the neighborhood hanging around your house all day. My dog is 3, male and the sweetest animal I’ve ever owned. I don’t think it’s cruel at all.
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They usually heal in a few weeks, and for most of that it would not hurt. The only discomfort they would feel would probably be a day or two after the surgery. It is not cruelty at all.
Sure, you could not let the dog breed and keep them intact. But accidents happen. Even the most careful dog owner could have an accidental breeding. An unneutered male dog could climb your fence and jump on your female in heat before you could say boo. Your male dog could rip away from you too go breed with some bitch. You have no idea what could happen.
Plus heat cycles are awful to have to deal with. Constant humping from males? Not something I want to go through. Ovarian cancer? No thank you.(Granted not all intact dogs hump or get cancer but you get the idea)
A dog being in slight discomfort for a day does not outway the benifits of spaying and neutering to me. I’m sure you have been in slight discomfort for a day or two and you aren’t scarred for life or being treated cruelly.
Its something we as responsible dog owners have to do. There is no question about it.
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No, it’s crule to NOT spay/neuter your pet. Just go to an animal shelter. Those are all results of not spaying and neutering, and half of those animals are being put to sleep.
Fixing your dog is saving lives and preventing certain types of cancer, and behavior problems. It’s a very easy procedure that takes less than 20minutes and it’s an easy recovery.
Leave breeding to the real professionals.
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No I don’t think it is cruel. Dogs that are spayed or neutered have a decreased chance for certain cancers. Cancer is cruel and if you avoid cancer in any way for your pet then that is the best thing.
Moreover, without spaying and neutering there is a great increased chance for unwanted puppies. I don’t think that anything is a bigger concern to any dog lovers than the millions of dogs and cats that are put down every year. The only reason for these deaths is because there are too many and not enough homes.
After a pet is spayed or neuter your dog will get pain pills, so it doesn’t have to be painful at all.
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It’s more cruel to let the female have litter after litter of puppies or for the male to be unadoptable because he is constantly trying to get to other dogs. Any surgery comes with pain, but that is handled with pain medicine and dogs come thru spay or neuter surgery fairly fast. You can’t just not let a dog breed, the urge is there to breed and being denied it constantly would more and likely lead to an aggressive dog. The surgery takes away the ‘urge’ and makes a more calm dog.
It’s true, we do need some dogs to breed,. otherwise we would have no puppies or dogs in the world, but people who let their dogs breed all the time and then have unwanted puppies are one of the reasons for needing spaying and neurtering.
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No, its not cruel to fix your pet. If anything its inhumane if you let don’t fix your pet. Millions upon millions of dogs die each year because a dog got knock up by the neighbors dog. 7 puppies were born and no homes for all of them. I wish there were a responsible way to take care of it. But the truth of the matter is not all pet owners are responsible.
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I think that it cuts down on the possibility that your dog could get cancer later in life. It doesn’t hurt the puppy, and the vet will give you pain medicine for the puppy. Didyaknowthat dogs don’t get scars either.
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Well, yes it might hurt a little, but if you don’t do it, they attack anything that moves to "mate it" They will attack other dogs or people or animals or couches or ANYTHING!!!!!! It is best for you and the dog to get him/her spayed/neutered. You don’t want him/her attacking your dinner guests, kennel people or your dog walker. Believe me, my friend hadn’t had her dog spayed yet and she couldn’t even take her near other dogs for fear that they were annoyed by this. If you get a dog PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, get it spayed/neutered
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Please spay or neuter your dog. It is not cruel to do so — it is cruel and irresponsible NOT to do so.
The pain from surgery lasts a few days, and you can give your dog pain pills to help. The pain of a cute puppy that grows into an unwanted dog lasts for years.
My two dogs are rescues that were literally left on the street by their previous owners. One was a puppy with a broken leg, and the other was pregnant adult that was heartworm positive. Abandoning is an animal is cruel. Making sure that no more unwanted animals are brought into the world (where approximately 3-5 MILLION are euthanized EACH YEAR) is the ultimate in kindness and responsibility.
Don’t believe me? Go visit an animal shelter. Those dogs are basically in prison. They are stuck in a little cell, and they are often scared, confused, and very lonely. And these are the lucky ones — look at the stray dogs in the street who are starving and injured and have been so mistreated by people in the past that you can’t get near them to help.
Animal surgery is no more "cruel" than people surgery. I’ve had four surgeries myself, and it’s not the end of the world — I would’ve been worse off if I hadn’t had them. Please, get your dog spayed or neutered, and encourage everyone else to do the same.
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no, i don’t think it is cruel to have them spayed or neutered because say your female dog ran away and she was not spayed and she came back pregnant. that is i got my dogs spayed.
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It’s not that painful and you are doing your dog good. You should worry about other things such as cancer and other diseases. If you talk to your vet, he/she will encourage you to have her spayed. Listen to your vet! There is nothing cruel about doing what’s best for your dog and spaying her is a responsible thing for a dog owner to do.
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I don’t think spay and neuter is cruel. However, I don’t think its the best decision for every dog either. In female dogs there are some definite benefits to the procedure. And if an owner simply cannot be responsible enough to care for an intact animal and prevent unwanted breedings, then perhaps it is for the best for that reason as well. That said, its also been shown to INCREASE truely deadly cancers (as opposed to treatable cancers, like testicular cancer) as well as interfere with growth rates and possibley lead to an increase in agression. Its really a decision best left to the individual owner, who can weigh their commitment to the animal and the individual animals risk factors to make the best decision. Pain should not be a deciding factor, unlike the old days, recuperating pets are now given very good post op pain meds and should be a little sore, but not in pain after the procedure. Here are some links that examine the pros and cons of spay and neuter….
http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermH... (shows castrated dogs are at MORE risk for serious health problems and cancer than intact)
http://www.dpca.org/BreedEd/PDF/EarlySpa... (early spay and neuter affects closure of the growth plates and bone growth)
http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/pdfplus... (very lengthy, basically shows the pros and cpons are not clear cut and need to be decided on an individual basis, journal published)
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It’s wonderful that you’re so empathetic to how your dog’s feeling – the world would be a much better place is everybody respected animals like you! That being said, I don’t think that you should consider spaying or neutering a pet to be cruel. A vet loves animals just as much as we do – that’s why they’ve devoted their life to caring for them. The surgery itself will be done with your dog heavily sedated so he won’t feel a thing. There will be some discomfort as he recuperates but that will be manageable and if you see signs that he’s in significant pain, the vet can help with that as well.
And, in fact, spaying and neutering help to prevent cruelty to animals by preventing the creation of pets that may be unwanted, become strays, abused or euthanized.
So, please, try not to beat yourself up about your decision.
Here’s a link to a powerful poem on dog neglect and abuse – something that can often be prevented by spaying or neutering your pet.
http://www.agirlandherdogs.com/category/the-neverending-fight-against-cruelty/
I hope your dog has a speedy recovery!
References :
http://www.agirlandherdogs.com/category/the-neverending-fight-against-cruelty/