Mandatory spay/neuter bill upsets dog, cat breeders

[Kadie]

Mandatory spay/neuter bill upsets dog, cat breeders
Matthew Yi, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

(02-28) 15:57 PST Sacramento -- Breeders of domestic pets are howling mad over a bill that would require all dogs and cats in California to be spayed or neutered unless they are registered pure breeds and have special, government-issued permits.

The main goal of AB 1634 is to combat the overpopulation of stray pets -- a problem that is forcing cities like Los Angeles to spend millions of dollars to expand and build new animal shelters, said the bill's author, Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys. Shelters are forced to euthanize nearly half million dogs and cats every year, he said.

"We simply have a huge problem in the state with pet over population," Levine said. "I can't tell you how many people have complained to me about cats defecating in their yards, flowerbeds ... and in sandboxes where kids play. It's a huge public safety and public health issue."

The bill, which hasn't had its first committee hearing, already enjoys political support from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a former speaker of the Assembly who is co-sponsoring the legislation.

But dog and cat enthusiasts argue the bill would likely result in unfairly targeting responsible pet owners to pay new permit fees, force breeders to go underground and in the end wouldn't make a dent in the growing population of strays.

snip...
Pet owners who don't get permits and don't spay or neuter their dogs or cats by the time they are four months old would face costly fines under the proposed legislation. They would first be issued a ticket that would give them 30 days to alter the animal without penalty, or pay a $500 fine for the first month and $50 for each of the subsequent months. Animal control officers would be required to check any pets they come in contact with.

more...
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/28/BAG8NOC0OD129.DTL

[LeighAnn]

When I lived in Cali they were passing laws to keep people from eating them

People's pets kept coming up missing....
Maybe if they'd repeal the pet-eating laws they wouldn't have this problem.

Very sorry, in a bad mood today :(

[LisaL]

1. 4 months old? The vet here wouldn't even neuter my cats

until they turned 6 months.
So, WTF would I have done with a law like this? Even responsible pet owners will get in trouble.

[roseBudd]

7. early neutering is all the rage now

[musette_sf]

10. they neuter VERY young now

most of the adoption agencies in my area, have even the 8-week-old kitties neutered before adoption.

my Miss Cleo was taken for neutering, along with her 3 brothers, at 14 weeks. the vet advised me that Miss Cleo was found to be in heat at the time of her spaying. so 6 months is IMHO too long to wait.

http://www.friendsofanimals.org/programs/spay-neuter/dont-delay.html

from this site:

"Female cats can go into estrus ('heat') at as young as 4 months." (or even earlier as i have learned.)

"More and more veterinarians are performing early-age spay/ neuter procedures on animals as young as 8 weeks of age, to ensure the animal will never be at risk of accidental pregnancy or able to impregnate."

[RC Quake]

12. I just adopted a new pup

He was neutered at 8 weeks before adoption could even take place. It's pretty standard now with rescue organizations and humaine societies.

[TorchTheWitch]

17. So did my vet

My vet said to wait until my dog was 6 months old before neutering him. At 4 months, my dog's testes hadn't even fully decended yet, so if I had had to have him neutered BEFORE he was 4 months old it would have been a much more difficult and costly precedure.

Although I agree that people should neuter their pets if they aren't a licensed breeder, this 4 month rule is incredibly stupid and goes against medical advice.

[InvisibleTouch]

18. Seriously!

Testicles sometimes aren't even down by 4 months. Unusual, but can happen. One of my boys took a long time to mature, and at nearly 2 years he's still very "puppyish" and is only now starting to show adult behaviors like leg-lifting.

[MADem]

2. I love the 'all or nothing' attitude. And that totally screws creation of NEW breeds, doesn't it?

A lot of the best animals are crosses between two or more breeds, where the bad stuff is bred out and the good qualities bred in.

This is stupid. If they want people to spay and neuter, FINE. Let them require it as a general principle. But if people have a valid reason for not so doing, then they should pay a breeding fee (as opposed to a "fine" for noncompliance) and leave all these specialized for-profit breeding and purebred associations out of it completely.

Why a pet must be a "purebred" is beyond me. I doubt those ragdoll and honeybear cats are considered pure--or at least they weren't when someone was crossbreeding them, were they?

California over-the-topness, yet again. I swear, I like the state, but some of the stupid shit they manage to come up with is embarrassing.

[Connonym]

3. Seems entirely reasonable to me

Permit fees are part of doing business in almost every field. Paying for a permit would help ensure that people who breed animals are doing it are doing it responsibly and not out of neglect. You're not likely to leave a litter on the doorstep of the Humane Society if you've deliberately bred your dog to have pups. If it cuts down on puppy mills all the better.

The bit I do disagree with is that only purebreds should be allowed to breed. It would be a sad day to see the end of mutts.

[Beaverhausen]

4. I love California

I hope this passes. Tooo many animals have no homes and have to be euthanized. :cry:

[RC Quake]

8. Although I prefer Mutts to Purebreds anyday,

I agree with this law. The shelter I volunteer for is working very diligently at becoming no kill, but it's still a long way off. All of my dogs are rescues and are better than most purebreds physically and emotionally. The difference is probably due to the backyard breeders that this law would help alleviate.

I hope it passes.

On edit: I wish they could spay/neuter the coyotes in some areas. Their poop is much worse than any stray cat. Of course, their poop IS made of stray cats.

[robinlynne]

5. I think it is a great idea. There are thousands of animals living in misery and being killed

because people don't spay and neuter. In 10 or 20 years all the animals will have homes, then we can adopt the animals from shelters in other states. It is an all around good idea. Breeders can get a license to breed, and they should pay for part of the cost of spaying all the unwanted animals. I think it should be decided based on what is best for the animals, not the people anyway.

[SoCalDem]

6. Spaying & neutering won't stop them from messing in people's yards

"Altered" animals poop too !

[RC Quake]

11. That is simply an owner issue.

I am very responsible when walking my dogs and pick up their droppings. But I think the majority just don't care. I do feel guilty if my dogs urinate in someone's front yard (which I try not to let them do, but it does happen). Dog pee kills the grass...even in small doses.

The leash law in California is supposed to take care of animals running loose that are not strays. We all know that doesn't happen though.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. That's terrible.

A special permit, sure. But it has to be registered pure bred?

[patricia92243]

13. People will just stope taking their pets to the vet for shots, etc, because they will be afraid the

vet will turn them in.

[Annces]

14. Fantastic!

Animals have rights too.

[NV Whino]

15. This is the wrong way to go about it

Set up more low cost spay and neuter facilities is the answer. Too many ridiculous laws now. In forcing this would cost a gazillion dollars.

[Catchawave]

16. In my perfect world, if breeders

would only shut up and become responsible enough to make sure their little commodities never ended up on *death row*, then let them pimp animals all they want! But hey, there's no profit in being responsible, or helping clean up those horrid puppy mills, these days :cry:

[InvisibleTouch]

19. An example of why I'd never live in California.

I've been there several times, and while the climate is okay at least in the south (but too dry for my liking), and there's some beautiful scenery, there's a definite "oppressive" sense about the place to me - like the government is always over your shoulder and messing in your business.

Now, while there are IMO good reasons to breed, it should be undertaken with care and personal responsibility. Every good breeder I know, myself included, will take back a dog at any age if the new owner is unable to keep it for any reason. Having said that, I totally sympathize with the problem of unwanted pets, and I know there are irresponsible breeders out there, and puppy mills that need to be shut down. But to enact a sweeping draconian measure that hits everyone, whether guilty or not, is taking it way too far.

Offer an incentive to spay or neuter, as is done in Ohio. When you license a dog here, you pay only half the cost if your pet is spayed/neutered - or if the animal is specifically meant for show and breeding (and you need to give documentation of that, too). That way the legitimate breeders aren't unfairly targeted, but people who don't show and breed are encouraged to get their pets "fixed", to prevent unwanted reproduction. I don't often find good things to say about living in Ohio, but this surely must be one of them.

[jannyk]

20. And anyone who has ever worked at an animal shelter is..

saying 'Thank You God'.

Do you have any idea how depressing and sad it is to have to kill last weeks unwanted strays to make room for this weeks? No kill shelters have no chance of operating without laws like these. Other than reputable registered breeders, I can think of no other reason to own 'unaltered' animals. It is not only irresponsible it is reprehensible. In my opinion, legislation is the only way to wake up lazy and irresponsible owners.

There are hundreds of low cost spay/neuter clinics in CA - many will do it for free if the owner is really in a bind. Any 'adopted' pet will be pre-altered as part of the small adoption fee - it's not optional.

[AtomicKitten]

21. I support this.

Visit an animal shelter and you will too.

Absolutely heartbreaking.

[MedleyMisty]

22. Breeders are evil

No doubt about it. Do you know how many cats and dogs are killed just because they don't have a home? There is no freaking reason to spend hundreds of dollars on some coddled purebred when there are millions of suffering pets in need, and quite frankly if I ever saw a breeder or someone who bought a pet from a breeder in real life I'd punch them. Same if I ever met someone who'd had their cat declawed. How'd you like it if I cut your fingers off, you SOB?

We took in a stray once. She'd been alone and so hungry that she tried to eat a rubber ball. She managed to eat part of it, which led to an infection. We didn't find her in time, and we only had her a few days before we had to put her to sleep.

A month later we adopted a pair of littermates from a no-kill rescue society.

Quibble about the time requirement all you want, but this law needs to be in effect nationwide.