Mandatory Spay Neuter

If you're into rescue and shelters and animals and all of that, I'm sure you've heard plenty of strong opinions when it comes to Spaying/Neutering pets - specifically dogs and cats. More and more, I hear about people wanting MANDATORY Spay/Neuter. Honestly, it doesn't sound like a terrible idea. It would certainly cut dog and cat populations down, but would this really HELP dogs and cats? How big of a risk are we taking with this? Do we even realize the risks involved with this?

Set aside, for a moment, any places that may do a botched job on the actual surgery itself. That's a WHOLE 'nother issue on being qualified and actually caring about animals. Also, set aside any general, given, risks of ANY surgery in itself.

I'm not 100% sure how I'd feel about Mandatory Spay/Neuter. In theory, it sounds pretty nice. There are SO MANY dogs and cats in shelters and on the streets in the United States ALONE. It's really one of the ONLY animal-overpopulation situations I actually agree with being overpopulated and not just a matter of too many people in this world.

Ferrets. Ferrets, for some time now, have been Mandatory Spay/Neuter - They're also illegal in some areas because they're SO VICIOUS and KILL BABIES and every single one of them that is outside has RABIES!! ...Fear mongers... But look at ferrets NOW compared to only about 15 years ago! Sure, we're in no immediate danger of losing the domestic ferret to extinction; they're readily available at plenty of pet stores. But, already, ferrets have an average lifespan several years shorter than only just about 15 years ago. They're now NOTORIOUS for getting sick with illnesses such as Insulinoma, and are mostly bred by ferret farms such as Marshall Farms (It's said about 80% of the East Coast's pet ferrets come from Marshall Farms. They also breed beagles. BOTH are readily sold to laboratories for all kinds of invasive testing). Would this happen with dogs as well? In a way it already does through Puppy Mills.

I think, just like breeding, Mandatory Spay/Neuter is ALSO playing "God" with things we as a human race really don't know that much about, and MANY of us really have NO INTEREST in figuring it out either. Often, puppies and kittens are just bred as dollar signs. But then if we take every new puppy and kitten we can, and spay/neuter them... It would certainly cut down on the number of the new generation's litters. And certainly not EVERY puppy and kitten would possibly be caught and spayed/neutered. But THIS snowball effect could ALSO just as easily tumble out of control, and suddenly dogs and cats are a rarity - We've sterilized 80% of the new generation and now most cannot make a next generation. Again, for a while, it's a pretty nice and simple solution if people take responsibility and make the effort to get every puppy and kitten spayed/neutered. But it's still not the natural order of things.

Now that we've got the puppy and kitten populations down and under control, who is left breeding? Puppy Mills? Backyard Breeders? Dog fighters? Hoarders? The breeder that just wants to make a buck and will forge papers and lie to make a sale? Mandatory Spay/Neuter may help population control, but what about the population? How sick will the average dog and cat be? - Not that almost ALL breeds aren't ALREADY known for certain illnesses (my girlfriend calls new puppies by their typical illness name). - What dog breeds (again, none are really perfect and they're all mutts at some point in the past) would be wiped out due to Mandatory Spay/Neuter? Maybe too much of this "positive direction" would be a bad thing.

The average dog and cat don't need to be breeding. The prosperity of these two species doesn't depend on the average person breeding them. But, again, who do we decide SHOULD continue to breed them? HOW should they be bred? Do we wipe out half of the new designer dogs? Maybe some of the breeds as well? Personally, I know, in theory, ideally we should let dogs and cats decide who's best to mate with whom, and allow them to lead a more natural life in the world, instead of always dealing with our human intervention, and mistakes. But I also view Great Danes as a SPECIFIC TYPE of dog. I would SO miss the Great Dane if they were no longer in existence. It would feel like the extinction of a species to me. But even the Great Dane isn't real. Even the Great Dane was made by people.

I think a large majority of dogs and cats could be, and probably should be, spayed/neutered. But I also still think it's ANOTHER step in a very risky direction of human intervention we should have no business being involved in. We certainly broke it. And if we think we're going to fix it, we need to do so responsibly and with caution.