Mandatory Spay and Neutering

[Debbieg]

I vote no! Benny had his retained testicle removed and the other left intact. He will not be bred. I did this after reading studies that show neutered dogs have a 2.3% higher chance of hemangiosarcoma than intact dogs. I lost my Eli from this disease and Benny is from the same bloodlines.

I took some flack and had to search for a vet who supported and agreed with my decision( she is also a breeder) Benny will not be bred and I take every precaution possible to ensure this.

Now I find that it costs almost twice as much for me to renew Benny's license each year as it does Jake who was neutered when he adopted him.

I feel like I am being fined for doing what I feel is best for my dog!
It is worth it for me to pay the fine.

I wish some how breeders were required to have a license, determined by some criteria, which reputable breeders would easily get. These breeders be allowed to breed, and that those without a license would be fined.

[Draugr]

If people want to decrease shelter euthanasia rates, MSN is the worst way to do it...has had exactly the opposite effect whenever it has been tried.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result every time. That's what implementing MSN to reduce the unwanted pet population is.

What does work - are speuter programs targeting at-risk populations - dogs in shelters, rescues, etc.

Using something developed to address problems on a grand scale, rather than an individual scale, is crazy. Plain and simple. You don't use MSN to get to individual owners, you use it to target large populations - unowned dogs in the shelter system. That works.

What works on individuals are programs which encourage participation, not programs which punish people into compliance.

And as has already been mentioned, I have seen, if you use MSN to target individuals, you hit the people who are already responsible and law-abiding and not terribly likely to contribute to the problem. You still miss everyone who already doesn't obey laws/ordinances like that.

Instead, how about applying the legislation on behavior. If your dog is found roaming X number of times, and has to be returned to you via AC - mandatory sterilization.

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I will note that a few months ago (almost a year, maybe? can't remember) New Orleans passed an "MSN" law that...may actually work. It isn't draconian and backwards as virtually all other implementations have been. All cats/dogs over 6 months must be speutered - unless you have reason to keep them intact. And that reason can be "because I want to." And the "testicle tax" is not ridiculously prohibitive, either. I can see that working, maybe. I haven't heard anything on it since its implementation, though, so I don't know if it is working or not.

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What it comes down to is that the government has no business legislating morality. Period. And punitive measures like this do not work. Licensing in LA county (where the country's most draconian MSN laws are in place) - is under 25% (lots of lost revenue). In Calgary, Canada, where no such laws are in place...licensing adherence is over 90%.

[msvette2u]

What would work is mandatory s/n for every dog being sold at pet stores, and no freebies allowed. King Co. (I believe) has a law that no puppy or kitten litters can be given away, when they see those ads they go get the pets and s/n before placement.
I agree shelter pets and rescues need to be s/n - and we (usually) do. But that does not account for all the animals being born and surrendered all the time.
Where are those coming from? Simply s/n shelter and rescue animals is not working. There's too many still out there, and tons of purebreds.

[msvette2u]

Originally Posted by selzer

They are more responsible with their animals than some here tend to be.

Bingo.
Sadly, we live in a fast food society where if you want it, you can have it - your way!
-doodle here there everywhere, every mix you can think of, even things you couldn't, and it's like a smorgasbord of dogs.
Our country is a gimme, gimme, gimme society and our nation's health has gone down the drains, and because of the selfish nature of people, shelters are filled to capacity and animals are put to sleep daily across the country.

As I type I am holding a 1.5lb purebred Pug (she's asleep on my chest) who was tossed in the dumpster earlier today. She has a severe eye infection and will lose at least one of them on Wednesday.
What Einstein bred this poor baby and then threw her away like so much trash??

Sick to death of this kind of thing. Whatever it takes to stop it...I'm praying something will change.

[ladyfreckles]

I disagree with any law that mandates we cut off a part of a living creature's body just because some people are stupid. Do not punish the responsible for the irresponsible.

[msvette2u]

Ah, but if only the responsible were the majority.

[OriginalWacky]

I am very much against mandatory speutering, it should be a personal choice. I am in favor of much more education on prevention of oops litters, and programs to fund s/n for low income folks. Koshka will not be neutered unless and until we feel it is needed, but the chances of him breeding is between slim and none. IF his breeder feels it would be appropriate and IF he has lots of pretty letters behind his name and IF he is healthy enough and IF there is a female that would make excellent puppies with him, then MAYBE he will be bred. I will be darn sure he doesn't have any chance to breed random litters along the way.

[nomansland4404]

More people wanting to make this country less free. Ridiculous.

[Liesje]

Originally Posted by msvette2u

Ah, but if only the responsible were the majority.

But this is not just a problem of reproductive responsibility. At least around here many if not most of the animals that end up in shelters and rescues are already spayed or neutered. People just need to be responsible for the pets, period. That includes making informed decisions about spay/neuter.

There are already things in place to encourage spay/neuter. It would cost me about 3 times as much to purchase a dog license for an intact dog as a neutered one. APDT registration offers a discount for altered dogs. The AKC ILP/PAL program is only for altered dogs.

[Lilie]

I would be more inclined to agree with raising the license fee (or something like that)and utilizing a part of that for low cost spueter programs. Said programs open to anybody with a pet. Not just low income people.

I think that most people don't get their pets spuetered because of the cost factor. Unless the owner is strongly for spuetering , they won't spend the money for it. If it was affordable, it wouldn't seem like such a hardship on the owner.

I don't recall ever seeing a celebrity donate money to a specific clinic so they can hold a low cost spueter day.