Quote Originally Posted by sunshinenorcas View Post
I don't think any of those are remotely comparable though, the closest would be declawing a cat (which I don't agree with and think it's pretty cruel to the cat). None of them take away the animals ability to eat or kill prey. None of them change the animal from what it is innately. It's more akin to pulling the teeth of a big exotic so that if it bites you, it won't be as bad, or if there was someway to make constrictors not constrict anymore.
And spaying and neutering both have benefits for dogs that aren't breeding. Spaying a non breeder takes away the risk of ovarian cancer and neutering a male dog can help alter his behavior, and it's a heck of a lot safer for OTHER PEOPLE out in public. If you are at a dog park, and one female dog is in heat and if you have unaltered male there, even with a few others who are fixed... it's not fun or safe, and a dog fight waiting to happen. I've worked with lots of unaltered and altered dogs, and I'd take a neutered one every time. It does do a lot for their temperament. Plus it can cut down on PEE ON ALL THE THINGS.
Docking and cropping has its roots in working dogs to keep their ears and tails from being mangled while out on the field, and in that scenario, it is for the animals benefit. On a day to day basis... eh, I personally wouldn't go out of my way to crop or dock, but I've heard done correctly (and at the proper age) it doesn't affect the dogs hearing. I don't know ferrets, but declawing cats IMO is inhumane :/
The argument that venomoids can't digest food is false. I've kept lots of hots, they all ate f/t prey and they never envenomated it. Just us keeping previously wild animals in captivity change what the animal is. Isn't devenomizing a hot making it safer to the keeper and the public? As far as docking and cropping, the rationale is putting the dog through a procedure because that how it's traditionally done? Doesn't seem like a good reason. Remember people talk about venomoid surgery being unnecessary and for the convenience of the owner. My point is most of these procedures are not inhumane if done by a vet under anesthesia (although I could make a good case for declawing and cropping ears both of which seem very painful and take a long time to heal) and one can argue their necessity also.