Save a Life: Neuter Your Animals

This is an excerpt from my argumentative essay, describing the pros and cons of why you should and shouldn't spay/neuter your pets, and my own opinion of why I think it's important to have household pets sterilized.

Due to irresponsible and inexperienced pet owners who did not sterilize their animals, “17,015 unwanted animals were euthanized in Colorado in 2007” (Davidson). Although many people want their beloved animals to mate and have cute, fuzzy offspring of their own, the puppies, kittens, foals, etc., are given away to owners who will sometimes not see those babies the way their loving owners saw them. “All these pups went to 'good' homes -- the gangrene victim to a Prime Minister's house, the rabies victim to my cousin, the abandoned farmhouse one to my son's teacher,” (“Think Again") says an anonymous writer about how her mastiff’s litter went to unforgiving and irresponsible people. Because of this abuse and neglect, the author now preaches about the many positive affects neutering and spaying a pet will make. Sterilizing a pet also has health benefits as well. According to the Denver Dumb Friends League, altering a pet will lessen it’s behavioral issues like fighting, spraying, and will lead to an overall longer life.
Although the health issues and behavioral pros definitely outweigh the cons, there are veterinarians and experienced animal owners who protest the act of neutering or spaying an animal. According to Georgia Cameron, altering a pet too early increases “the reduction in hormones produced by sterilization,” which can then lead to “bone formation issues that can adversely affect hips and joints.” Other experts say that neutering or spaying a pet can trigger problems in an animal’s weight, often giving them an unhealthy weight gain throughout their lives. For many pets, mainly cats and dogs, “obesity offers much the same health risks as for humans. . .the common practice of neutering or spaying pets makes them susceptible to gaining weight” (Battle of the Bulge). Another argument includes the breeders themselves, who enjoy breeding their pets safely for profit and for improving the pedigree of their dogs. For many breeders, they like to “witness the miracle of birth” by letting their pets have a litter of babies (DDFL).
There are strong points made by not sterilizing any pet, but when looking at the big picture, would the quality of life for an animal be worse if your pet was merely overweight, or instead being beaten, ignored, sent to a shelter, and then being put to sleep because families passed him by in that animal shelter? The choice should be clear: give pets a chance by sterilizing them so no more litters of puppies and kittens go stray. If there are any uncertainties about how to buy a dog, keep in mind that by adopting from a Colorado shelter, the animal is guaranteed to have a good temperament, an overall excellent bill of health (being sterilized), and a “forever grateful” attitude towards it’s new owner. There are so many rescue shelters across the state that it’s hard not to find the animal or breed of choice. If owners want to breed their pets, they need to have a license and their litters should be monitored more closely. If breeders are careless and waste countless lives of cats, dogs, horses, rabbits, etc., due to the limited number of adopters and shelters, they should not just be fined for this waste.