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Pros And Cons Of Spaying And Neutering Animals

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There is research to argue both positive and negative consequences of spaying or neutering animals. This paper will overview both sides indicating that there are several benefits of this procedure. Making the decision to spay or neuter a pet can be a touchy subject for some pet owners and a hard decision to make. Spaying a pet means to sterilize a female animal by removing the ovaries. Neutering (also referred to as castration) means to remove the genitalia of a male or female pet but is mainly used for males. Some may also refer to the procedure as getting the animal “fixed” but this terminology holds the same meaning. An estimated 5 to 8 million animals are euthanized in the United States every year. Many organizations try to reduce these numbers by opening Spaying and Neutering clinics to prevent the increase in pet populations. Some against castration say that spaying and …show more content…

It was not uncommon to see advertisements for free kittens and puppies to a good home. People did not put the same value on animals then as it is done today. Many more households today have cats and dogs that are kept inside and treated like a family member (Jordan). A typical behavior one might observe with a cat or dog is the desire to roam the environment. Animals like to explore surroundings for many reasons (Hopkins, Schubert, and Hart 9). The pet might be wanting to mark territory by urinating on grass, trees, and fire hydrants. Instinctively, animals want to breed. Sexual hormones increase motivation to want to roam and find other animals to breed with during or after the natural cycle. Unfortunately, a roaming animal might roam into a person that will hurt the animal or into traffic where the chances of being hit by a car is increased. Spaying and neutering animals decreases the desire to roam away from their home by decreasing sex hormones

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