It reduces suffering of potential unwanted offspring and the suffering of local bird populations so I would argue that it’s unethical to not spay or neuter your cat, even if the individual cat suffers a bit from it.
I think there is an interesting argument on whether it’s ethical to keep pets at all however
I had an indoor female cat that I left unfixed. In about three years of getting into heat without getting pregnant, her hormones went wild. She was in constant heat, losing weight, getting gland flare-ups and other serious health problems. In the end I had to have her fixed to save her. If I did it in the beginning, it would have been much less suffering for her.
#1 Pets are like teenagers, they are gonna try to have sex without you knowing.
#2 I don’t think it’s healthy or ethical to keep an animal indoors 24/7. Even pet animals need unstructured (not unsupervised) time outside to have play and use their instinct beyond just taking them for a walk. I’d apply that equal to dogs and cats although it’s probably more important for dogs.
It reduces suffering of potential unwanted offspring and the suffering of local bird populations so I would argue that it’s unethical to not spay or neuter your cat, even if the individual cat suffers a bit from it.
I think there is an interesting argument on whether it’s ethical to keep pets at all however
I’ll consider that argument once we have a healthier society. Until then, I need my cat to make it, and my cat seems pretty damn fond of me.
Even if you don’t let your cat outside?
I had an indoor female cat that I left unfixed. In about three years of getting into heat without getting pregnant, her hormones went wild. She was in constant heat, losing weight, getting gland flare-ups and other serious health problems. In the end I had to have her fixed to save her. If I did it in the beginning, it would have been much less suffering for her.
#1 Pets are like teenagers, they are gonna try to have sex without you knowing.
#2 I don’t think it’s healthy or ethical to keep an animal indoors 24/7. Even pet animals need unstructured (not unsupervised) time outside to have play and use their instinct beyond just taking them for a walk. I’d apply that equal to dogs and cats although it’s probably more important for dogs.
Would you propose waking on a leash then? We don’t want the cat to kill everything around. We walk our dog a lot, but not our cat. Maybe we should.