My kitten still isn't. I am just trying to save up for it right now actally! I really want to get her in before she hits a year. And before she goes into heat!

We got my Boston Terror, Sully, done 6 months to the day he was born. Didn't want to take any chances. He did not get a cone, and came home right after the procedure. It was so sad though. He went right into his bed (where he never layed before...only kept his toys) and shivered all night.

two of my three dogs are. the two that aren't are show dogs. the breeders will decide if they will be bred. if not, they will sprayed/neutered immediately.

what a funny picture
my little cutie is definitely fixed!

All my pets have been fixed! Well, except for Callie, our new cat. But that will be taken care of on Thursday!

Cuba has been fixed he spent one night at the vet and to be honest I am glad that they insisted on it. On top of that they used a laser and he did not have to have stitches or wear a collar. He only took pain meds for a day after he got out of the vet and was fine by the weekend. The laser was worth the extra $50.

North looks so cute in this pic!

My little girl was spayed at about 6 months. My vet is awesome - she brought my puppy to my house after she left the office for the day, so my puppy could sleep comfortably at home. Of course, it helped me sleep better that night as well

Arlo was fixed at six months. It made a huge difference in his temperament, and he was in and out in an afternoon.

All my pets have been fixed. My mother has two dogs that aren't, but they're show dogs and are under her watchful eye 24/7.

I would never not get a pet fixed - especially since both my cats (and two of my dogs) were rescues.

I think its irresponsible to not fix your pets unless you are breeding them. The people (IE MY INLAWS!!!) who say they are more "manly" with being not fixed need to take a lesson in pet ownership.

Lauren,

Tell the inlaws that their problems may be solved if they look into Neuticals; nut implants that are inserted after the animal has had the real deals removed. I sh*t you not! You can read up on them at neuticals.com *shaking head and laughing*

I have to disagree with Lauren. It's just as irreponsible to keep them unfixed for breeding purposes. The breeding of dogs, ESPECIALLY by unlicensed breeders, takes homes away from perfectly good dogs in shelters.

of course, I spay or neuter all my animals as soon as they can possibly have the procedure.

She got fixed soon after we got our dog. We had a hard time keeping her calm the few days after like was recommened, she just wanted to run around and play.

SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS!

Absolutely, she is fixed. I would not have it any other way.

My dog is a mix and she was born because two neighbors did not fix either of their dogs.

My new Boston Terrier is too young right now (he's 10 weeks), but my cat is spayed. She went in heat right at six months while I had houseguests and it was horrible. Needless to say, she was spayed the next week. Animals behavior always improves after spaying or neutering, too.

Brando's going in on Friday! He's 8 months..I'm a little nervous to be away from him for a night, but I'm sure he'll be fine. Lauren- my in-laws to be are THE SAME WAY! Both my bf's father, brother, and best friend from home (all Italians and into their "cajones," ya know?) downright refuse to get their dogs fixed because they think it's stealing their manhood. I think it's irresponsible. It took a lot of coaxing to get my bf to agree to Brando's procedure, but he finally saw it my way.

My dog is fixed. I got him at the animal shelter, so it's pretty much automatic...

My cats were fixed at the breeders'. It's so sad that pet overpopulation is still an issue.

Yep, both cats.

Mandy, the fact that you're getting cats from a breeder certainly isn't helping the overpopulation problem.

i used to think it was cruel or something but all of the pets I have owned since I was 18 have been spayed, all the fosters, all the strays, all the adoptees, all fixed. its a pain, and the recovery week for the females can be trying but its all worth it.

My cat is fixed and now he's a fat *ss alhough he's still really cute!

My beautiful Stella is a rescue and I got her fixed at 4 months on Valentine's day. She's actually a star for it! She was the model for the new low-cost spay and neuter clinic at the Maryland SPCA for cats and pit bulls- they took lots of pictures and you can see the whole blog about it (including links to video clips of her and me that were on the news) here-
http://baltimoregal.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-baby-goes-under-knife-on-tv....

On another note, I don't think it helps to criticize people for getting animals from breeders. In a perfect world that would be the only way to get animals! It's a free country and not everyone is "for" rescued or "mixed" animals- although you'd hope they donate to animal rescues since they can pay so much for purebred animals.

Spaying/neutering is absolutely NECESSARY. I've heard its good for the pet too... prevents all sorts of health conditions...

Aw, look at cute lil North! I have pics just like that from when Mia got fixed.

Poor thing, she had it done when she was five months old - I got her in June and they told me I had three months to do it (adoption place). She took the entire weekend to recover.

Foxie, you can keep your judgment to yourself. What good is coming from you being rude? You don't know my story, and until you are perfect, you are in NO position to pass judgment.

Both dogs & both cats are fixed

I agree MandyJo. Everyone has the right to buy THEIR dog from a breeder or not. I love all animals and wish I could save them all BUT I buy from breeders. If everyone spayed & neutered, there wouldn't be so many shelters. That is not a good breeders fault.

No my dog isn't fixed because he's a pure bred american bulldog and I plan to breed him after he's 2.

Raja just got fixed the beginning of this month and did NOT like the cone on her head- she ripped it off and destroyed it after 2 days.

Jeny PLEASE PLEASE fix your dog and do not breed him. If you breed him, you are contributing the problem. I volunteer at a shelter and see the effects of overbreeding/ not fixing every day.

I agree that it is soooo irresponsible not to fix your pets. I fail to understand why people who are not licensed breeders think they should breed their pets. If you want a purebreed there are plenty of reputable breeders out there.

Personally, I would never get a pet anywhere other than the Human Society. But I do understand that some people like their purebreds, in which case there are responsible ways to get them. In fact, there are quite a few purebred rescues out there as well.

There are so many purebred animal rescues and with the increase in pet homelessness shelters around the country are seeing more and more purebred animals come in. There is no reason not to adopt. Until the animal population is under control and big cities, like Miami - where I'm from, don't have to kill animals that are rescued, everyone should be adopting. There is no reason a healthy animal should be put to sleep while people are carelessly letting their animals have babies. Check out the archives at the MiamiHerald.com. There was a huge article that made Sunday's paper about how the foreclosure epidemic is effecting pets. It breaks my heart to see how careless some people can be. I'll try to find the link to post.

my big dog was fixed right away as we got her from a humane society and i'm pretty sure they required it asap. our little dog was fixed about a year after we got him. my parents didn't think it was a priority since he's male and he's not really in contact with other dogs, excepting our other one, but in the end they couldn't stand him constantly marking his territory so they thought his being fixed would help.

as for the purebred/rescue dog thing, personally i will only adopt cats and dogs from rescues but as long as you're buying from a reputable breeder and not a puppy mill than i don't see a problem with it. it's a free country, you gotta do what you gotta do. i think mutts are cuter but i know a lot of people who have their hearts set on a specific type of dog. we got our shih tzu from a breeder because my mom had her heart set on a shih tzu and our local rescues never seemed to have any.

my 2 cats and my dog are all strays and I can say that I would never buy from a breeder...I live in Hartford and I see SO many stray cats and dogs and I know there are plenty in the shelter...and all 3 of them are neutered!

While I have rescued all my pets, I don't think it's fair to judge people that buy from breeders or are breeders themselves. Good breeders care about the health of the animals and bettering the breed. Not everyone wants a rescue, some people want a certai dog. My parents had wanted a whippet for YEARS, searched rescue sites and never found one they wanted. So they finally went to a breeder. She's the love of their life. Are they bad people because they didn't rescue a dog? no. I know there are plenty of deserving animals at shelters (that's where I got B-Bop) but that's not what they wanted. Breeders are not the enemy, people will get what they want, rescure or otherwise. It's the irresponsible pet owners that don't realize how much care an animal needs then just dump them. I don't care if I was HOMELESS, I would not give up B-Bop.

There are reasons not to adopt that don't just deal with wanting a purebred or not. My bf and I could have cared less about the breed as long as we could welcome a sweet, loving dog into our home. I'm all about rescuing so we checked out several shelters and applied for adoptions. We were declined every time. They looked at us as a young couple (we're 24), who wasn't married (we've lived together for 2 1/2 years), and lived in an apartment and figured we were unfit to adopt. After 6 months or so, we finally gave up and got our pup from a breeder. He's well fed, well loved, well exercised, and wants for nothing. People often give us a bit of a tude when we say he's from a breeder, but what can I say? We tried. I still give money to rescue centers and will hopefully be allowed to rescue in the future. But we really wanted a puppy in our family and this was our only option.

I'm just pointing out the obvious. You're encouraging breeding, which takes attention and money away from cats who are in need. Your defensiveness on the subject is just guilt.

of course my cat is!

Both of my dogs are fixed. Kassie was fixed way to young. They lady that had her got her fixed at 2 months She was already fixed by the time we got her so we had no choice. Jeffrey was fixed at 1 yr.

There are various reasons that people adopt from breeders instead of shelters. Some people do research to find the absolute best match for their lives, and then cannot find that breed in rescues or shelters. It's nice and noble to want to adopt from a shelter, but until everyone at once decides to stop adopting from breeders, they will still be born. My Cupid was in his mommy's belly when I adopted him, and my Opal had already been born; I didn't pay anyone to create them for me. If I didn't get them, someone else would have and we would have missed out on the greatest, most enriching asset to our lives and theirs. There couldn't be a better match than us to them and vice versa. Our perfect pets don't always come to us by perfect means. I find it incredibly hypocritical to sit in judgment about things one knows little about. I take better care of my cats than 90% of people I've ever met, my world revolves around them. God forbid I research and gain knowledge about what is best for me and two puring creatures and then make it happen. My gosh, what would happen to animals in shelters if everyone were so pro-active and responsible? Oh, there wouldn't be any. Guilty...if guilt always felt this purrfect, the world would be a lot scarier than it is.

Do you know how supply and demand works? It doesn't matter when you bought them, the fact that you bought them at all means that you're contributing to the demand (not to mention the trendiness).
As far as finding out what breed is most suitable for you, clearly this is just about looks (except for something like determining a pet suitable for someone with allergies), because all cats' personalities vary and it's completely crazy if you're trying to say NO cat at the shelter matched the kind of personality you're looking for. Shopping for a certain breed is sheer vanity. Of course you love your cat, no one is doubting that. But do you love *ALL* cats? That's what's important.

See, the problem is that you don't know about specific breeds. Similar characteristics are intrinsic and very common to see in all dogs or cats of a specific breed. It's genetics. If dogs were completely blank slates, they wouldn't be pack animals and males wouldn't have leader insticts. Cats are the same way; ask anyone who lives with a certain breed and they'll tell you the same thing. Some cats actually like water--no, not ALL cats of that breed will hop in a pool with you, but not all brown-eyed girls have brown hair either. Logically, you have a better chance of finding an animal that you can live with in the way in which you want to live by doing research than you can going to a shelter and saying: oooh this one's cute, or, this one came to be first so there must be meant to be. Not to say we can't form bonds with any type of animal, as strongly whether it was researched or not.

As for supply and demand, I suppose the cats that have already been born due to breeding should just die then. You don't get it--until people have to stop breeding, there is a similar "overpopulation" problem with bred cats and dogs also. It's just not as trendy and self-righteous enough to say 'save the purebreds'. Luckily for them, not as many people have to 'save' them. Reputable breeders have it under control and are not the problem.

Everyone knows that shelter animals need homes. Everyone knows that, IN THEORY, adopting from a shelter is better than adopting from a breeder. The problem is that if people stopped doing one or the other today, many animals across the globe would die. EITHER WAY. It's a balance that needs to be kept, and THAT is what people need to open their closed-minds to see instead of focusing on the obvious.

All of my cats are fixed, its so irresponsible not to do so, and i believe its selfish to not fix your pet because you want to breed them, what other reason besides money and superficial reasons are there for breeding a pet?

As for shelter vs buying from breeders I cant judge anyone on where they got thier pets, SOme cats have certain personality or physical traits exclusive to thier breed, and people search them out for that reasons.

Mandy dont worry about Foxies comments, your a good cat-mommy and every cat needs a good home regardless of where it came from.

I realize that cats that are already born to breeders are in need of homes also. But what you're failing to acknowledge is that rescuing a *shelter* cat instead of a *bred* cat would save *future* cats. Contributing to adoption over breeding would cut down on breeding and, thus, save future cats. Please adopt next time!

Canela is FIXED!

My little cats are both fixed. Fiona was spayed by the Humane Society when I adopted her, but Eliot had to wait until he was 6 months. He was was a sickly stray kitten when I took him in, so I had to wait until he was stronger. My vet is also kind of old-school in that he prefers that kittens be 4-6 months old before they're spayed/neutered, especially if they're indoor cats.