Vegans and pets?........

lol... not all men do

And it does tend to make dogs more... ummm, subdued? So yeah they might be depressed.
love,
mom

 

Not spaying or neutering your pet is irresponsible and unethical unless you have other effective means of preventing your pet from breeding. If you allow your dog or cat to breed, you are contributing to a critical and chronic over-population problem.

I do direct rescue. I don't go looking for it, but there are so many animals in need that I have been in the right place to directly rescue five dogs.

Suppose you have two dogs, and you allow them to breed, and they produce 6 puppies. You then sell or give the puppies away, ensuring that you are finding good homes and not ignorantly handing them over to a re-seller who will just sell them to vivisectionists or to people who will neglect or abuse the puppy. Even if none of those dogs end up in a shelter (and odds of all six remaining in their original homes actually aren't very good), by producing 6 more dogs in a climate of overpopulation, you are essentially condemning 6 shelter dogs to death.

We have bred these animals to be dependant on us for their health and well-being, and we are failing them miserably. It is impossible for us to home all the animals in shelters today, and millions of pets are euthanized every year in the United States alone.

My American Eskimo dog, Sequoia, was purchased from a pet store. She has AKC papers. A family purchased her and took her home. The adult male in the household used to get drunk and/or high and take out his frustrations by beating and kicking a dog who weighed less than 20 pounds. It's a miracle he didn't kill her. His live in girlfriend begged me to take her because she was sure that he would kill her one day.

My mixed breed border collie/shepherd dog, Shadow, was acquired by her original owners from people who were giving away puppies at a Wal-Mart parking lot. They had drug problems of their own and would often disappear for days or weeks, leaving their new puppy tied to a barbeque in the back yard on a 6 foot long chain with inadequate food and water. She finally managed to slip her collar and dig under the fence to my yard. Not realizing what the neighbors were doing to the dog, I attempted to return her numerous times over a 10 day period (yes, that's right, if she wouldn't have escaped, she would have most likely died if dehydration at the end of a 6 foot chain). When I had given up, the owners finally came home and went into my yard and took her back. My husband had to actually go knock on their door and force them to relinquish the dog.

Nube, my oldest terrier mix, was rescued as a puppy literally out of a trach can because the people who owned the mother didn't want to spay her, but didn't want puppies either. Nube was bald from mange when she was pulled from the trash can, and it is a miracle that she survived at all.

Peta, my newest acquisition, is also a terrier mix. Her brother and her were dumped out of a big rig at a Wal-Mart distribution center where they were nearly run over by the numerous trucks coming and going. The idiot owner didn't care that he was dumping his dogs out in an area without a shelter. If my husband wouldn't have gone to the sheriff's office to collect them, they would have been gassed. My other dogs didn't like the male, so I paid to get him fixed and arranged for my next-door-neighbors to adopt him. I know he's happy because I see him all the time, and if they were unable to keep him for any reason, they would return him to me.

For every story like these with a happy ending, there are thousands with a bad outcome. Allowing your pets to breed is breeding additional pain and misery in a world that already has too much.

 

No. My point is that at some point in an ethical human/animal relationship, the human must take control. The OP is correct that this is inconsistant with treating as autonomous equals.

As others have pointed out, autonomous equals is not the only ethical realtionship possible.

 

am not vegan, but..

I went to a shelter. I left with a cat. He choose me, and I accepted his offer.

I don't like to think I own him, other than I foot the bills he runs up on cat food, litter and trips to the vet. He protects me from big mean men, I protect him big mean birds. If he gets lost, I go find him... but if I get lost, he comes to find me. We are a partnership... one doesn't work as well without the other... and we both understand that.

 

I moderate at an animal rights forum [where the majority of members are vegan*] and the overwhelming general consensus is pro-neutering**.

Animals are not capable of making informed reproductive choices, so as their guardians we have to act in the best interests of them and any potential offspring. As has been noted avoiding adding to the already critical state of over population is a big concern. Neutered animals are often healthier in the long run, and less inclined toward antisocial behaviours (which could prompt them being abandoned).
We are taking control to a degree, but that is unavoidable in any aspect of animal care.

References ...
* http://www.animalsuffering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12

** http://www.animalsuffering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3498 &
http://www.animalsuffering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1991