Neutering Your Pets

So I've been having an argument with my former girlfriend lately. The two of us live together with a cat (7 years old) who is male and not neutered. We recently moved in with another couple who also have a male cat (neutered). The couple is advocating for my girlfriend to neuter her cat because of his spraying all over the apartment and a mild aggressiveness between the two of them. She agrees with the couple and has made moves for him to be neutered in the next month.

The cat is hers. The responsibility for his care is up to her, as per an understanding we had when she got it a few years ago. It came out in conversation last night that I was opposed to the idea of him losing his testicles and she has gotten very upset with me. Possibly because I don't support her neutering him. Mind you, the decision to go through with the operation is all hers, it seems that it's my speaking against it that is what upsets her.

I don't have a very developed opinion on the matter, but my first thought is that it seems wrong for an animal to have it's biology tampered with. My first thought is that they have a right to not have their sexual organs removed and that the burden lies on the other party to justify why it should be done. Also, the spraying is part of the package. If you don't want it you shouldn't get a cat. Now with some persuasion I might be willing to consider it best for him, but my former girlfriend is refusing to talk about her motivations in any kind of detail. I think it's primarily because of our personal politics with each other.

So, would anyone like to advocate for the neutering of domesticated animals in her absence? Is there anything you think I ought to know?

If he's let outside, then I've heard not being neutered makes him more likely to get into fights and hence more likely to catch diseases like FIV (cat HIV). So for an outdoor cat you can argue that its better for them.

if he's just an indoor cat then it seems to be more about moods and behaviour.

I think its definitely good to get Female cats spayed thought because otherwise they spend their lives being kitten factories or stressing about being on-heat. Kittens are great but you let female cats have a litter every year or so then pretty soon you end up with too many kittens.

it's partly a societal thing (there are hundreds of millions of stray cats because they breed so readily) and it's partly a health thing (spaying and neutering reduces the risk significantly of some types of cancer common in cats)

get it neutered - THIS is part of the package of owning a pet, not fucking spraying urine all over the place. you get a pet, you get it neutered - irresponsible not to.

All my pets have been neutered. Didn't seem to affect them negatively.

if u disagree with idea of your cat not having any balls you could get some "neuticles" for him http://www.neuticles.com/

my cat was a fucking mentalcase before i had her neutered, from what i can tell she's feeling way better these days. also she's not constantly running head first into walls for no apparent reason anymore, nor does she sit in the dark in the bathtub and scream like some sort of hellspawn all night. obviously every animal is different, but yeah ..*cool story bro's myself*

what bothers me most is when people clip wings and remove claws. spaying and neutering seems like an unfortunate necessity.

also,

maybe ask a couple of eunuchs how happy they are? Find out if they're happy and let that guide your decision.

  On 9/28/2011 at 8:12 PM, sup said:

if u disagree with idea of your cat not having any balls you could get some "neuticles" for him http://www.neuticles.com/

what the fucking fuck.

holy fuck

also get your damn cat spayed or neutered. bcm has got it right. my cat is fucking stoked all the time and he's got no nuts. i've seen him fucking other cats. no kittens. i'd rather have no balls then be put to death because someone is an asshole who can't take care of me.

  On 9/28/2011 at 8:37 PM, Pennywise said:

maybe ask a couple of eunuchs how happy they are? Find out if they're happy and let that guide your decision.

What a fair and well thought out comparison. It further supports my theory that people that don't spay or neuter their pets are just projecting their own fears of being neutered/spayed.

  On 9/28/2011 at 9:02 PM, chenGOD said:

  On 9/28/2011 at 8:12 PM, sup said:

if u disagree with idea of your cat not having any balls you could get some "neuticles" for him http://www.neuticles.com/

 

what the fucking fuck.

They use those a lot in dog/cat shows. Very weird.

To narrow the discussion a bit:

-The cat under consideration for neutering never gets to go outside unless it's on a leash.

-The spraying is barely registers to me. The only incidents I know of are the cat spraying on my ex-gf's bag of dirty laundry and another instance when the same cat sprayed on our roommate's pair of $20 shoes and I'm told this ruined them. The dirty laundry bag apparently is not the issue because this has happened for years with no mention given. My ex-gf feels embarrassed about the ruined shoes and I suspect this is a big motivator for going ahead with the operation. I am aware of no other instances of spraying.

-The cats barely spend time together, because the neutered one spends it's days sleeping in it's owners' bedroom. There has been no suggestion that it's doing so because of any sort of domination by the un-neutered one. The extent of their negative behavior is that every few days they'll have a scrap that lasts for all of three seconds before we split them up.

In this instance it seems like a shame to be tampering with the cat's biology over a pair of smelly $20 shoes.

  On 9/28/2011 at 9:42 PM, Wall Bird said:

-The cat under consideration for neutering never gets to go outside unless it's on a leash.

What the fuck is that - I don't think I've ever seen a cat on a lead ?!

Also get it neutered you nut ....

  On 9/28/2011 at 9:42 PM, Wall Bird said:

 

In this instance it seems like a shame to be tampering with the cat's biology over a pair of smelly $20 shoes.

That's not even the issue. Responsible pet owners "fix" their pets, unless they plan to breed (It always seems like the worst pet owners want to breed btw), end of. The pet will live longer too. Fact.

I think it's kind of cruel to keep an indoor cat that isn't neutered. it's constantly going to have that urge to reproduce but it will be helpless to do anything about it, and that's probably torture for it. So in this case I think neutering would be the more humane choice if it's going to continue to be an indoor cat.

My old bass guitar teacher's family had their dog's larynx removed so it couldn't bark. That's about as mean as it gets.

i didnt read your post but neutering is essential. have you been to a rescue kennel recently? full of dogs/cats about to die. if we could get cats/dogs to wear condoms then maybe we'd let them keep their balls

So it seems like neutering your pet is some kind of common sense thing that I must have missed out on. Ultimately the cat's gonna get neutered without my having any say in the matter, so those of you expressing disgust can rest easy.

Thanks, everyone, for your input.

  On 9/28/2011 at 7:38 PM, BCM said:

get it neutered - THIS is part of the package of owning a pet, not fucking spraying urine all over the place. you get a pet, you get it neutered - irresponsible not to.

  On 9/28/2011 at 8:22 PM, data said:

my cat was a fucking mentalcase before i had her neutered, from what i can tell she's feeling way better these days. also she's not constantly running head first into walls for no apparent reason anymore, nor does she sit in the dark in the bathtub and scream like some sort of hellspawn all night. obviously every animal is different, but yeah ..*cool story bro's myself*

lol?

  On 9/29/2011 at 4:34 AM, Wall Bird said:

So it seems like neutering your pet is some kind of common sense thing that I must have missed out on. Ultimately the cat's gonna get neutered without my having any say in the matter, so those of you expressing disgust can rest easy.

 

Thanks, everyone, for your input.

I'm just surprised that you don't understand what spaying/neutering really is.

more importantly why're you living with your former girlfriend?

  On 9/28/2011 at 11:30 PM, Zephyr_Nova said:

My old bass guitar teacher's family had their dog's larynx removed so it couldn't bark. That's about as mean as it gets.

what the actual fuck.

  On 10/3/2011 at 5:04 PM, kaini said:

  On 9/28/2011 at 11:30 PM, Zephyr_Nova said:

My old bass guitar teacher's family had their dog's larynx removed so it couldn't bark. That's about as mean as it gets.

 

what the actual fuck.

yeah, old family friend did the same to their little dog. every once in a while a bark would come out of it and it would scare the dog shitless.

  On 9/28/2011 at 11:30 PM, Zephyr_Nova said:

I think it's kind of cruel to keep an indoor cat that isn't neutered. it's constantly going to have that urge to reproduce but it will be helpless to do anything about it, and that's probably torture for it. So in this case I think neutering would be the more humane choice if it's going to continue to be an indoor cat.

 

My old bass guitar teacher's family had their dog's larynx removed so it couldn't bark. That's about as mean as it gets.

that is disgusting.

One of our older family dogs had to have her voicebox removed because of a tumor. It was horrible seeing her bark but only hearing a coughing noise...

But to do that just because the dog is loud is fucked up.