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I don't neuter my dog? Wtf. The vast majority of Northern Europe also doesn't neuter their dogs. Hell, Norway apparently considers it animal abuse (which I thin

I don't neuter my dog? Wtf. The vast majority of Northern Europe also doesn't neuter their dogs. Hell, Norway apparently considers it animal abuse (which I think I agree with mostly due to the negative effects of lacking hormones) The Norwegian Animal Welfare Law of 2010 §9, 2nd paragraph reads “Det skal ikke gjøres operative inngrep eller fjernes kroppsdeler på dyr uten at det foreligger forsvarlig grunn ut fra hensynet til dyrets helse.” - “No surgery or removal of body parts of animals can be done except when there is a proper reason considering the animal’s health”. That means no tail dockings, no ear cropping, and no castrations.

tsimionescu 5y ago
This is a tangent, but I recently spent some time trying to decide whether to neuter my cat. I don't know how different this is for dogs, but female cats tend to act as if they are in quite a bit of distress while in heat. They also tend to enter heat something like one week per month unless pregnant, and they go back to the same cycle a few weeks after giving birth. So, a female cat in nature can either endure being in heat with no relief about a quarter of her life, or give birth about three times a year (wrecking her body). I'm not convinced neutering her was a less humane choice (neutered female cats also have the longest lifespan on average).
- thih9 5y ago
  I think in dogs there is the additional issue where neutering is often used as a replacement for proper training.
BucketsMcG 5y ago
It's complicated, though. I'd have preferred to keep my male dog intact, but once he matured he was constantly getting attacked by other males, and it made walks miserable for him, not to mention dangerous. To see how castration would affect him, we gave him a hormone implant which has the same effect, but wears off after a few months. He didn't get attacked any more, so we made it permanent. He leads a safer, happier life now because we made that choice. It has certain downsides, like some loss of muscle tone and a greater tendency to put on fat, but it's totally manageable. It doesn't completely cut testosterone production, it just reduces it by 90% or so, as some is still made in the adrenal glands.

tsimionescu 5y ago

This is a tangent, but I recently spent some time trying to decide whether to neuter my cat. I don't know how different this is for dogs, but female cats tend to act as if they are in quite a bit of distress while in heat. They also tend to enter heat something like one week per month unless pregnant, and they go back to the same cycle a few weeks after giving birth. So, a female cat in nature can either endure being in heat with no relief about a quarter of her life, or give birth about three times a year (wrecking her body). I'm not convinced neutering her was a less humane choice (neutered female cats also have the longest lifespan on average).

thih9 5y ago
I think in dogs there is the additional issue where neutering is often used as a replacement for proper training.

BucketsMcG 5y ago

It's complicated, though. I'd have preferred to keep my male dog intact, but once he matured he was constantly getting attacked by other males, and it made walks miserable for him, not to mention dangerous. To see how castration would affect him, we gave him a hormone implant which has the same effect, but wears off after a few months. He didn't get attacked any more, so we made it permanent. He leads a safer, happier life now because we made that choice. It has certain downsides, like some loss of muscle tone and a greater tendency to put on fat, but it's totally manageable. It doesn't completely cut testosterone production, it just reduces it by 90% or so, as some is still made in the adrenal glands.