Your thoughts on spaying and neutering dogs?

I am for it. There is no excuse not to, there are already way too many unwanted cats and dogs in shelters and on te streets. Unless you are a respected reputable breeder, there is no reason to have intact animals.

It's not at all cruel in my opinion and is actually a necessary thing dog owners should do today. The only reason they shouldn't get fixed is if a medical problem won't allow it or if they're a reputable breeder. And for people who think it's cruel, there are many health benefits to spaying a female before a certain age and the dogs don't know the difference, and feel no pain if it's done right. I know it's debatable, but that's my opinion. :)

To keep a dog in a confined area and force it to suffer from sexual frustration periodically (in the female) to continually (in the male) is much more cruel to the dog than the surgery. When the dog is spayed or neutered at 4-5 months as vets currently recommend, the pup will never experience sexual feelings at all, so it will never know the difference. Having puppies is not something that dogs dream about, they just don't care till their maternal hormones kick in, and then when the hormones wane they don't care again. Going through pregnancy and delivering puppies and having them suckle their teats till they bleed and the dogs hair falls out because the puppies are taking all the mothers nutrition is not something that is good for the mother dog in any way. It is life threatening and draining, worse than the surgery would be. An unless a male is used for stud where he frequently inseminates females on a regular basis, he will suffer sexual frustration that will come out as aggression, mounting and humping behavior, and roaming to look for females that can result in him being hit by cars or getting lost or getting in dog fights or sent to the pound. Plus, if animals that are not of good breeding status are being bred, their mixed breed puppies add to the overpopulation problem with resulting euthanasia of hundreds of healthy dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens each year. Finally, unspayed females and unneutered males suffer health problems not experienced by their fixed counterparts: breast cancer, uterine cancer and infections, anal tumors, scrotal cancer, testicular cancer, prostatic infections and prostate enlargement.

For all these reasons, vets and those that work with animals and love them always have their own pets fixed as soon as possible. Its the best thing to do for their health.

It's cruel not to spay or neuter your animal. A female in heat is physically uncomfortable and a male can become aggressive. It is incredibly irresponsible not to have it done, calling it cruel is an irresponsible pet owner's excuse not to actually take proper care of the animal, don't be that person.

I find it cruel, foolish, and irresponsible NOT to spay and neuter. I could not imagine letting my animals reproduce! How could I guarantee that these animals, the ones that I brought into this world and that I am responsible for, were placed in loving, safe, PERMANENT homes with owners who would be able to give them everything they needed for the rest of their lives? I couldn't! And the animals would more than likely be abused, neglected, or put to sleep in a shelter. Suffering and/or dead because I didn't spay or neuter.

NO THANK YOU! I will never be that person.

I'm for it, in the case of those who do not have dogs worthy of being bred and worked.

It's what's better for dogs and for people alike.

If more dogs were spayed/neutered instead of allowed to roam and breed in anyway, half of the garbage dog's with unstable temperaments and even more of the millions of homeless mutts/mongrels would not be roaming streets and filling up shelters.

If you have crap bred dogs, or dogs with unstable temperaments/malformations or unknown genetics, they should be spayed/neutered.

There is ABSOLUTELY NO NEED to have an intact dog capable of bringing more crap into the world to fill up shelters unless you have a dog that *I say again* is worthy of being bred, is proven to be of working quality or is going to be used for some kind of "work" beneficial to humans.

Also the benefits of spaying/neutering dogs FAR OUTWEIGHS the risks and cons. I'm not saying EVERYONE should spay/neutered. I believe that if you are responsible enough o keep you intact animal confined appropriately, there is no reason why you can't keep an intact dog. But in this day and age, why burden yourself with watching a b*tch in heat 24/7 when you could spay, and get rid of the issues and all the complications that come with it ALL together.

What I find cruel is people letting their dogs get irresponsibly pregnant, and not caring what happens to the puppies. Or people who purposely breed dogs for the money, and not to improve the breed.

I think Spaying/Neutering is important. I would Spay my dog, but she has a low tolerance to anesthesia. Meaning we could lose her if she was put under it, and we don't want to risk it.

It is a good way to control population. There are already so many animals on the street and in shelters. So I think it is more humane to spay/neuter than to have more kittens and puppies that may end up without care. There are already so many without loving families. Also animals that are unfixed can be harder to live with. Female cats in heat, more aggressive male dogs, etc.

No I don't find it cruel having an intact dog fixed, especially a dog that shouldnt be used for breeding. It lowers the risk of many health issues that both the male and the female dog can get; and in the long run, having a dog fixed is much MUCH more easier on the wallet as the owners of fixed dogs dont have to worry about the treatment costs for when health issues that intact dogs get, Owners of intact dogs have to worry about their b*tch going into heat or how unsettled,anxious and whingy she may get [plus the blood[, they don't have to worry about their in heat intact b*tch trying to escape the backyard and home in order to fulfill the urge to mate. Owners of intact males have to worry about their behavioural issues [aggression with other males[especially with other intact males] ], an owner of an intact male has to be sure there is no way for their dog to escape when they get a whiff of a b*tch in heat.

Unless an owner can be responsible enough to own and properly assure they can prevent their intact dogs from escaping and were doing the responsible thing to assure no dog gets prego then I think all dogs should be fixed. In fact I think it should be the law to have ALL dogs fixed unless they are being used as breeders [from responsible and reputable breeders who purchase know what they are doing]

I went on a road trip down south and I saw so many dogs just walking down the highway with no where to go. You know what happens to them? They either die on the road or get caught and get put up for adoption. If they aren't adopted within about ten days then they get put down. We have way too many animals on earth, why make more? We should adopt and care for the animals we have :)