How We Treat Pets in America
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How We Treat Pets in America
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Re: How We Treat Pets in America
#2Somewhat ironic to find this post two links above the one about lab rats getting tortured for "science". I guess rats are uglier.
Re: How We Treat Pets in America
#3It is worth noting that the campaign to make spaying and neutering required has also done considerable harm. Puppies are often spayed and neutered as young as 6 weeks, despite the numerous health problems associated with the practice. Even the standard 6 months causes significant increases in a number of health problems. We need to stop punishing our pets based on the notion that if we don't get them fixed early, they will breed via magic or spores or something of the sort. You can in fact prevent your dog from having sex with other dogs.
Re: How We Treat Pets in America
#4Sorry to be "that guy" but "dog days" has nothing to do with a summertime culling of stray dogs. It has to do with the "Dog Star", Sirius: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_days
This is a good article, and puppy mills (and the general unnaturalness of many dog breeds) are something more people should know about.
Re: How We Treat Pets in America
#5Soap box time!! -- I walk dogs at a local shelter. There is not a common breed that doesn't find it's way through our doors at some point during the year. Sure, you might not end up with a "certified" purebred that's going to win a dog show (do you really want one of those for your family anyway?), but with almost certainty, I can guarantee that you can find what you're looking for at a local shelter.
There is almost no reason to "buy" a dog -- the shelters are overcrowded, and the odds are good you can find what you want regarding breed/temperament if you're patient. Responsible shelters will find you the right dog if you tell them what you're looking for.
Re: How We Treat Pets in America
#6It is worth noting that the campaign to make spaying and neutering required has also done considerable harm. Puppies are often spayed and neutered as young as 6 weeks, despite the numerous health problems associated with the practice. Even the standard 6 months causes significant increases in a number of health problems. We need to stop punishing our pets based on the notion that if we don't get them fixed early, the…
"they will breed via magic or spores or something of the sort."
You obviously don't understand the problem, the problem isn't with people who are responsible. The problem is with people dump there dogs on the side of the road, the people who breed there dogs because it sounded cool, or to make money and end up not being able to sell them/give them away and end up dumping them somewhere.
I have never heard of "significant increases in a number of health problems" in spaying/neutering at the sixth month mark, this may be different for some dogs but thats besides the point. Spaying/neutering is not bad, doing so indiscriminately(like everything) is bad. I dont know where your coming from calling it "punishing" the pets. Even with the surgery itself most dogs are up & running in 1-2 days.
I would agree that spaying/neutering is not the complete answer. We should be punishing people who hurt there pets. You should not be able to have a pet if you have been proven not responsible to have one, you should be punished for doing harm to them.
Pets arn't the problem, people are. Pet over population and other problems are simply the sad side effect of humanity.
Re: How We Treat Pets in America
#7Soap box time!! -- I walk dogs at a local shelter. There is not a common breed that doesn't find it's way through our doors at some point during the year. Sure, you might not end up with a "certified" purebred that's going to win a dog show (do you really want one of those for your family anyway?), but with almost certainty, I can guarantee that you can find what you're looking for at a local shelter. There is almost…
The Wisconsin Humane Society actually assesses their animals and assigns them a color based on personality and temperament so you can find what you're looking for in a pet. I have to imagine lots of other shelters do this also.
Re: How We Treat Pets in America
#8It is worth noting that the campaign to make spaying and neutering required has also done considerable harm. Puppies are often spayed and neutered as young as 6 weeks, despite the numerous health problems associated with the practice. Even the standard 6 months causes significant increases in a number of health problems. We need to stop punishing our pets based on the notion that if we don't get them fixed early, the…
Do you have any sources for this? Vets and shelters I have had contact with indicate only a slight increased risk. I don't have their sources handy, but I do know they've researched the issue extensively.
In general, only the more "old-fashioned" vets have qualms about early spaying and neutering.
As to magic spores... well in a shelter environment if a puppy goes out intact it will likely not be fixed by the new owner, often just due to inertia, though occasionally through misguided notions of pet health (e.g. "she'll be so much happier if she just has _one_ litter). Cats of course are a whole different ball game as many people allow their cats to wander around the neighborhood.
Re: How We Treat Pets in America
#9It is worth noting that the campaign to make spaying and neutering required has also done considerable harm. Puppies are often spayed and neutered as young as 6 weeks, despite the numerous health problems associated with the practice. Even the standard 6 months causes significant increases in a number of health problems. We need to stop punishing our pets based on the notion that if we don't get them fixed early, the…
"they will breed via magic or spores or something of the sort." You obviously don't understand the problem, the problem isn't with people who are responsible. The problem is with people dump there dogs on the side of the road, the people who breed there dogs because it sounded cool, or to make money and end up not being able to sell them/give them away and end up dumping them somewhere. I have never heard of "signifi…
>You obviously don't understand the problem, the problem isn't with people who are responsible
That indicates that I do understand the problem. Trying to push responsible owners to harm their pets because other people would let their dogs breed doesn't make any sense.
>I have never heard of "significant increases in a number of health problems" in spaying/neutering at the sixth month mark
That is why I am mentioning it, because so few people realize there is a problem. There has been a blind push to having all animals spayed/neutered before they are mature, without regards to the welfare of the animals. A list of some health problems associated with desexing: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/201...
>I dont know where your coming from calling it "punishing" the pets.
I suspect you would have no confusion if it were your sex organs being removed.
Re: How We Treat Pets in America
#10Soap box time!! -- I walk dogs at a local shelter. There is not a common breed that doesn't find it's way through our doors at some point during the year. Sure, you might not end up with a "certified" purebred that's going to win a dog show (do you really want one of those for your family anyway?), but with almost certainty, I can guarantee that you can find what you're looking for at a local shelter. There is almost…
The Wisconsin Humane Society actually assesses their animals and assigns them a color based on personality and temperament so you can find what you're looking for in a pet. I have to imagine lots of other shelters do this also.
Yup, ours has you take a short quiz that matches you with a "color" representing a type of dog. We'd assign new dogs one of these colors based off of about 10 criteria that we would evaluate over a 2-3 day waiting period before they were available for adoption; it really helped lower the return rate of the pups.