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There are too many pets all over the world, but too many are being euthanized. According to statistics provided by the ASPCA website, around 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized each year, and each year around 710,000 animals are returned (Shelter Intake and Surrender, n.d.). 1.5 million is a huge number which shows how many pets die unnaturally each year. Many people concerned about this problem and think it is immoral and bad to let pets die because of unlimited space. However, scientists have finally discovered that sterilizing pets is a good way of controlling their numbers, and of avoiding euthanasia. This is done by way of gonadectomy, which is the surgery of removing gonads (Orchidectomy (Gonadectomy), n.d.), also known as castration, or neutering (Castration, n.d.). Using gonadectomy to solve the problem of pet overpopulation has a long history. In 1970, Dr. Leo L. Lieberman, president of the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Association, a group of veterinarians, animal control officers, and representatives from different animal welfare organizations get together to talk about the problem of pet overpopulation (Howe, 1998). From this discussion, they came up with the idea that neutering animals before they were adopted would be the best way to control their overpopulation. Lieberman had learned that many practitioners had been giving gonadectomies for many years, and decided to start performing them on young animals. Nowadays, the American Veterinary Medication Association (AVMA) and other organizations accept pre-pubertal gonadectomy and perform it in many veterinary hospitals (Howe, 1998). However, the procedure remains controversial, with some claiming that it is risky for the animals, for example by not allowing them to reproduce, as well as by putting them at a higher risk of having health issues later in life, such as diabetes mellitus, immune deficiencies, obesity, skin disease, or urinary tract obstructions (Spain et al., 2004). On the other hand, however, there are those that state that giving every pet a gonadectomy is very beneficial to the animals since it leads to lower rates of euthanasia and abandonment, as well as of illnesses brought on damage to other organs. Also, these people state that giving a gonadectomy can also prevent the problems that brought by reproduction itself. My opinion is that veterinarians should be allowed to give gonadectomies to pets, and it is justifiable to do so because their benefits outweigh their risks in a number of ways: they can improve the behaviors of pets by lowering aggression to solve the problem of pet overpopulation and decrease rates of euthanasia and abandonment; they can decrease the risks of reproduction which pets face; and finally, they can lead to health benefits to pets such as decreasing the rates of mammary neoplasia and pyometra among them.
Pets are living organisms just as humans are, so they have the same feelings humans do, such as pain, which is a distressing feeling caused by strong or harmful stimuli (Pain, n.d.); happiness, which is a mental or emotional state of well-being (Happiness, n.d.); and loneliness, which is a complex and usually unhappy feeling because of isolation (Loneliness, n.d.). People adopt pets and treat them as friends or family members, and thereby achieve happiness and other benefits from them; therefore, people owe them a debt and should not allow them to feel too much pain and loneliness. When there are too many pets in an animal shelter, and no one comes to adopt them, the animal shelter will decide to euthanize some of them, ending their lives, in order to gain more spaces. It is an immoral act and should not be allowed. Since humans keep pets in the shelters or homes, they have a duty to protect their lives, keep them healthy, and prevent unnecessary deaths. Besides, pets as living organisms which have rights to decide the way of living and death, human are not eligible to deprive their rights. Fortunately, giving them gonadectomies will help keep them from suffering (experiencing) by lowering their reproduction rates. On top of that, giving gonadectomies to pets can solve some of their behavior problems and increase adoption rates, giving them homes and preventing them from feeling lonely. In addition, they can prevent pets from suffering the pain caused by some illnesses, such as mammary neoplasia, pyometra, and neoplasia of the reproductive organs (Mckenzie, 2010). It is immoral to let pets suffer too much pain, and gonadectomies are a way of preventing it. Moreover, when pets have homes and do not have any illnesses, they are happier, and it is our duty to give them as much happiness as possible after we have adopted them and accepted them as family members. In short, it is justifiable and moral to give gonadectomies to pets, since they can reduce their feelings of pain and loneliness, and make them happier.
It is justifiable to give gonadectomies to pets because they can let pets suffer less pain and loneliness which result from reducing the euthanasia and abandonment rates due to pet aggression and other behavior problems. According to Mckenzie (2010), most of the researches concerned that neutering will affect behaviors, which is consistent of owners surveys that report the biting or other problem behaviors to animal control agencies or shelters. Behavioral problems and lack of preparation are the most common reasons for adopters to return dogs to shelters or to send them to new homes (Howe et al., 2001). Most adopted pets become like family members after they have joined a new family. However, when pets have behavioral issues such as biting, fighting, and spraying urine, owners will be reluctant to continue to keep them, and have unhappy feelings toward their pets; they will gradually think that the pet is not really part of the family anymore, and want to send it back to the shelter. After an owner has sent back a pet for these reasons, the shelter will have even less space for animals, and will have to resort to euthanasia, with the problematic animals being the first to fall victim to this. It is immoral to let pets suffer such unnatural death and feel the pain and lonely which brought from coming back to the shelters. According to an article on the Petful website, 2.7 million pets are euthanized in animal shelters in the United States every year, or about 36 percent of the pets who are in the shelters. The article also indicates that the top three reasons why animal shelters euthanize pets are illness, aggression, and overpopulation (Gray, 2015). In addition, according to another writer, the rate of giving euthanasia to healthy cats in animal shelters is estimated at 4.3 to 15.4 million cats a day, which gradually become a serious problem in the United States and that these number also mean that these cats were never adopted from shelters because there are not enough people to adopt them, while at the same time many cats are brought back to shelters because of behavior that is unacceptable (Spain et al., 2004). All these numbers show how bad it is to perform euthanasia on cats and dogs, and that people need to do something to stop it. The relationship between pets and their owners is essential to the survival of the pets (Mckenzie, 2010). It is immoral to euthanize pets, since their lives should not end in this unnatural way. People do not have the right to end their pets lives due to aggression and other bad behavior problems. These kinds of behavior are not inherent characteristics of the animals, and can be dealt with through a change of environment or gonadectomy. Scientists have found that intact male dogs are more likely to show aggressive behavior, and that castration can reduce aggression and other behavior problems. One study has shown that roaming behavior decreased 90%, aggression between males decreased 62%, urine marking decreased 50% and mounting decreased 80% after castration (Mckenzie, 2010). In other words, having a gonadectomy can dramatically decrease aggression and other bad behavior. Pets that do not exhibit these types of behavior they will not be euthanized, and can readily be adopted by a family, reducing their suffering and increasing their happiness. This makes it justifiable to give a gonadectomy to a pet, since it prevents the pet from being euthanized due to its bad behavior, and also eliminates the pain and loneliness which results from it being abandoned in a shelter, replacing these with the happiness of being part of a family.
Furthermore, apart from the fact that giving gonadectomies to cats and dogs can reduce euthanasia and abandonment rates by improving their behavior, giving them to pets also can reduce euthanasia rates by solving the overpopulation problem, which reduce suffering the pain and loneliness result from having euthanasia and becoming abandonment. According to statistics provided by the Oxfordpets website, 6 to 8 million cats and dogs enter shelters each year, of whom 3 to 4 million are euthanized each year and 3 to 4 million adopted (Animal Overpopulation, n.d.). In other words, around half of all cats and dogs in shelters are euthanized each year; it is unacceptable that so many cats and dogs should be forced to die in this unnatural way. Cats and dogs are living organisms and have rights; they should not be deprived of their lives in this way. Cats and dogs have the right to choose how they want to live and when they want to die. However, giving gonadectomies to them can prevent their unintended reproduction, which means that fewer pets will be euthanized and less pets suffer the pain from death. It is important to reduce the total number of unwanted puppies and kittens since this can reduce the relinquishment and euthanasia of these animals and also failure to neuter is one of the important reasons caused pet population problem (Mckenzie, 2010). Although the cats and dogs in animal shelters consist of both tame and feral animals, most of them are wild, and so controlling the feral population is an important part of solving the overpopulation problem. If pets do not have gonadectomies, they can produce as many offspring as they want, leading to more and more feral pets in the wild and more and more of them in shelters as well, resulting in overpopulation and in greater numbers of these animals being subjected to euthanasia. If pets produce unintended offspring and their offspring cannot feel any happiness, and will ultimately be euthanized, the pets should not be allowed to reproduce. Gonadectomy is therefore an important way of keeping pets from having unintended offspring and preventing euthanasia. Most people treat pets as friends or family members, and they therefore have a duty to protect them and not let them suffer pain or be killed. If pets are given gonadectomies, they will no longer produce offspring, and their offspring will not be sent to animal shelters to be euthanized, leading to them having short but painful lives. In short, it is justifiable to give gonadectomies to pets in order to decrease the rates of euthanasia and allow them to suffer less, and gain more happiness.
Along with it being justifiable to give gonadectomies to pets to decrease euthanasia rates, it is also justifiable to give gonadectomies to them to reduce the risks associated with reproduction since it can reduce the pain and illness brought from reproduction. People mostly treat their pets as friends or family members, and we receive love and happiness from them in return; therefore, we have a duty to let our pets feel the same happiness. Ensuring that our pets suffer as little pain as possible is a way to fulfill our duties. Reproduction has risks for both pets and human. In an article written by Brennen Mckenzie (2010), he states that dogs can be infected by a bacterium called Brucellcanis, which can cause disease in both dogs and humans. This bacterium will lead to dogs experiencing serious infections in their bones, eyes or nervous systems and bring lots of pain to pets. A gonadectomy is a way of ensuring that the pain which results from this bacterium will be eliminated. In addition, reproduction can cause female pets to suffer from dystocia, which around 2% of female dogs and 5.8% of female cats experience (Mckenzie, 2010). Although most forms of dystocia can be treated, pets still suffer of great deal of pain from the illness. As the friends or family of pets, it is our duty to ensure that they do not experience unnecessary pain, and a gonadectomy is a way of doing so. In short, it is justifiable to give gonadectomies to pets to reduce the risks of pain associated with reproduction.
Furthermore, giving gonadectomies to pets is justifiable not only because it decreases the risks associated with reproduction, but also because it has a great many health benefits for pets. If pets have healthier body, they can get less illness and feel less pain. People mostly treat their pets as family members or friends and keep them in their homes, and therefore they have a duty to promote the health of their pets and prevent them from getting serious health problems. According to an article written by Mckenzie (2010), pets are in danger of getting mammary neoplasia, pyometra, and neoplasia of the reproductive organs if they are left intact. It is common for dogs to get mammary tumors, and they are more likely to get this disease when they are older. A study done in Norway has found the crude incidence of malignant mammary tumors is 53.3%, and the risk is significantly changed by breed and age (Mckenzie, 2010). It is immoral to allow pets to suffer the pain of mammary neoplasia, and owners should prevent their pets from getting this serious disease by giving them gonadectomies. Pyometra is another disease intact pets are at risk of getting. Pyometra is a bacterial infection which occurs through repeated estrous cycles. Although pyometra can be treated with medication, 46% to 95% of pets will be infected, and 25% to 28% will see a recurrence of the illness (Mckenzie, 2010). The treatment, in other words, is not necessarily a cure. However, some scientists have found that spaying can reduce the risk of pyometra in pets (Mckenzie, 2010). Based on all of this, we can conclude that it is justifiable to give gonadectomies to pets, since it is an owners duty to prevent his or her pets from getting serious diseases such as pyometra and mammary neoplasia.
Meanwhile, although many people believe gonadectomies are justified for the many benefits they entail, some continue to disagree, and point out undesirable effects such as obesity that can result pets become unhealthy and may suffer pain from it. When people adopt pets from shelters, they are the owners of the pets, and have the duty and responsibility to keep them healthy. Obviously, it is unhealthy to let pets become obese, and on this basis, it would not be justifiable to give them gonadectomies. A study done by Nguyen et al. (2004) found that sexually intact cats gained significantly less body fat and body weight (53.8 ±5.79%) than sexually intact cats (27.11±5.79%). In addition, some veterinarians have indicated that there are some connections between dog obesity and musculoskeletal disorders, cardiovascular problems, glucose intolerance and diabetes mellitus, hypertension, immune dysfunction, and bladder and mammary cancer (Lund et al., 2006). Since it is immoral to allow pets to experience the pains associated with obesity, it would not be justifiable to give them gonadectomies. However, even though it has been shown that gonadectomies will lead to pets having problems with obesity, the 2004 study by Nguyen and his colleagues also shows that feeding a low energy diet to pets can prevent them from gaining weight and becoming obese. Therefore, since this problem can be dealt with through alterations to the diet, in a way that does not cause any pain, this argument against giving gonadectomies to pets is invalid.
In conclusion, I propose that it is justifiable to give gonadectomies to pets because they have more benefits than risks associated with them. They can not only improve the behavior of pets, including their levels of aggression, but also deal with the overpopulation problems that lead
to high rates of euthanasia and abandonment, as well as decrease the risks of reproduction which pets face. On top of this, they also have a number of potential health benefits, such as lower rates of mammary neoplasia and pyometra among pets. Since most people treat their pets as family members or friends, it is their duty to ensure that their pets are as happy as they are, especially since pets contribute a great deal to their own happiness and wellbeing. Additionally, after one has adopted a pet from a shelter, one has a duty and responsibility to keep that pet safe and healthy. Therefore, it is justifiable and moral to give gonadectomies, since these lead to less pain and greater levels of happiness. Some people believe that it is not justifiable to give gonadectomies to pets because they will lead to the pets becoming obese and suffering the unnecessary pain associated with this. However, a study by Nguyen et al. (2004) has shown that feeding a low energy diet to pets can reduce their weight gain and prevent them from becoming obese. In other words, it is still justifiable to give gonadectomies to pets since obesity can be prevented easily, and they will not be forced to suffer any unnecessary pain. At the same time, however, although the evidence now available shows that giving gonadectomies has many benefits for pets, should contrary evidence become available in the future, it would be necessary to reconsider this position.
References
- Animal Overpopulation (n.d.). Retrieved May 24, 2017, from http://www.oxfordpets.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61
- Castration. (n.d.). In Wikipedia online. Retrieved May 24, 2017 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castration
- Happiness. (n.d.). In Wikipedia online. Retrieved May 24, 2017 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness
- Howe, L. M. (1999). Prepubertal Gonadectomy in Dogs and Cats – Part I. Compendium on continuing education for the practicing veterinarian, 21(2), 103-110.
- Howe, L. M., Slater, M. R., Boothe, H. W., Hobson, H. P., Holcom, J. L., & Spann, A. C. (2001). Long-Term Outcome of Gonadectomy Performed at an Early Age or Traditional Age in Dogs. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 218(2), 217-221.
- Gray, A. (2015, July 07). 3 Big Reasons Why Animal Shelters Euthanize Pets. Retrieved May 24, 2017, from http://www.petful.com/animal-welfare/why-do-animal-shelters-have-to-euthanize-pets/
- Loneliness. (n.d.). In Wikipedia online. Retrieved May 24, 2017 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loneliness
- Lund, E. M., Armstrong, P. J., Kirk, C. A., & Klausner, J. S. (2006). Prevalence and Risk Factors for Obesity in Adult Dogs from Private US Veterinary Practices. International Journal of Applied Research in Veterinary Medicine, 4(2), 177.
- McKenzie, B. (2010). Evaluating the Benefits and Risks of Neutering Dogs and Cats. CAB Reviews: Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural Resources, 5(045), 1-18.
- Nguyen, P. G., Dumon, H. J., Siliart, B. S., Martin, L. J., Sergheraert, R., & Biourge, V.C. (2004). Effects of Dietary Fat and Energy on Body Weight and Composition After Gonadectomy in Cats. American journal of veterinary research, 65(12), 1708-1713.
- Orchidectomy (Gonadectomy) (n.d.). Retrieved May 24, 2017 from http://www.aissg.org/32_GDCTOMY.HTM
- Pain (n.d.). In Wikipedia online. Retrieved May 24, 2017 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain
- Shelter Intake and Surrender. (n.d.). Retrieved May 24, 2017, from https://www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics
- Spain, C. V., Scarlett, J. M., & Houpt, K. A. (2004). Long-Term Risks and Benefits of Early-Age Gonadectomy in Cats. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 224(3), 372-379.
- Spain, C. V., Scarlett, J. M., & Houpt, K. A. (2004). Long-Term Risks and Benefits of Early-Age Gonadectomy in Dogs. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 224(3), 380-387.
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