Do you think it is inhumane to keep animals as pets and deprive them of natural instincts?

Question

(i'm not saying this is what i believe.. first off.. just a thought i had..k? no hateful answers lol)

i was thinking about it, as i was walking my dog and wishing my husband was home for a quickie, and i thought, wow, all these poor animals.. we fix em and keep em away from other animals.. and unless they are breeders or get loose, they don't have much sex.. in fact, most animals don't get to have sex ever in their lifetime.. i know its great and all to prevent unwanted pets, but is it cruel to prevent them from this natural instinct and force them into celibacy?

or to deprive cats of the instinct to hunt? unless ya get a mouse in the house or something, kitty doesn't get to hunt.

or a bird from flying? keeping it in a cage?

is it cruel? yes or no and why?

Answer 1

I have a farm with all kinds of animals and have researched behaviors for many years. Even altered animals have sex when they want to, there's just no consequences in the progeny department. House cats hunt whatever they want in the house. A bird should have freedom from its cage whenever possible, or a big enough one to provide for flight and varied entertainment without worry of being molested by other animals.
Today's domestic animals are poorly suited to a free life and given a choice, will choose a kind home with perks. We have a clowder of feral cats who choose, for some reason I can't fathom, to bring their weaning age wild kitties onto our front porch every year. We attempt to tame these kitties and get them homes. Their mothers watch us do this. How did they learn this? I have no idea, but they are giving their offspring the chance of a long, pampered, healthy life. These ferals don't live very long...the wild is a rough place, but the adults resist taming altogether. Abandoned dogs tend to go for the first house that'll have them or pack up. A pack of dogs is a very dangerous thing out here in the country. They can take care of their bellies, but they look terrible and you have to wonder if they really are enjoying themselves. Compared to a treasured house pet, it's not a fair trade off. In response to a previous answerer: We aren't alone in conscientiously avoiding sex so as not to have offspring, animals can do it, too. I have seen many instances of it. And people do make way too many unwanted human babies themselves. The main bonus of altering is in health issues, cancer topping the list. There are many vicous, life robbing cancers directly related to intact animals.

Answer 2

There are some animals that it would be cruel to keep as pets, such as a turtle you find crossing the road and decide to take home or a bird that flew into your window and was stunned so you decided to keep it in a cage as your new pet.
Other animals though, such as dogs, cats, hamsters. guinea pigs, etc. have been domesticated, so if they were out running wild they would probably have no chance of surviving.

For example, (not saying you would do this) say you bought a very young hamster at the pet store, and you figure it would be better off in the wild because it hadn't known human handling for very long. Soon after you release that hamster, it will very likely be killed by something or another, whether it be a car or a dog or even a coyote if you live in the country.

Hopefully I explained my understanding of this well!

God Bless!

Answer 3

I don't think it is cruel to keep pets. I have two cats and they both hunt. One however likes to hunt for sport, rarely killing what she catches-strange. She prefers to eat prepared food instead of raw. And getting an animal fixed does not deprive it of a sex life. My mom's cat was fixed and she turned into the neighborhood ho. She realized," Hey! No kittens!" and went out and had some fun! As for birds, anyone who does not allow their bird a couple hours of fly time should have their bird taken away. That is cruel.

Answer 4

I have worked with many animals as I volunteer at the SPCA and I have owned, currently own and will always own domesticated animals and I can assure you, they do not feel deprived of a cut throat, survival world that the wild has to offer them (hence the term "dog eat dog"). They much prefer to live the pampered lifestyle we offer them and to relinquish their jewels is a very small price to pay. I've never heard/seen any complaints from animals...especially dogs...they keep wanting to be with humans, so I think it's a mutual choice. Nope...not cruel...unless they are being abused by the human who owns them.

Answer 5

No. Its more cruel to let these animals produce more and more offspring that wont get fed daily and wont get the proper care that they need. Look at all the feral cats. They dont know when they will get their next meal.

And animals couldnt care less about never getting to have sex. The only animals who have sex for pleasure are humans and dolphins. And once they have been fixed before they reach sexual maturity, they dont have the urge to look for a mate anyways.

Answer 6

is it inhumane to keep animals as pets? no as long as they are treated properly. you have to understand the psychology of animals. they don't really see sex as recreational, only humans do that. for animals sex is either procreational or a sign of dominance, and in the dominance area, it is faux sex. with dogs, they are pack animals, and you have to be their pack leader with a calm assertive state of mind all the time, especially with the larger breeds like German Shepard's, rottweilers, pit bulls, etc. with dogs you give them exercise, discipline then affection. and never give affection when the dog is anything other than a calm submissive state.

as for cats, they will hunt when they want to. let a cat outside, and it will investigate the world around it, slowly establishing its territory. once it has done that, any birds, mice, insects even are fair game. they wont necessarily consume its victims. as for spaying and neutering, this is in the animals best interest since the human animal is the only one that can control its birth rate consciously.

Answer 7

I think it would be far more cruel to take the domestic animals that man has bred the natural instincts out of and release them to fend for themsleves. Could you see some Park Avenue pampered toy poodle hunting for her dinner?

Man needs the companionship of animals. It may have started when man needed their skills and labor (sheep herding dogs, guard dogs, plow horses, etc.), but we have come to value animals of all types as companions. So we will continue to breed companion animals for our benefit. As long as we no longer take animals from their natural habitat and confine them for our enjoyment, there is nothing cruel about it.

Answer 8

i think that so many animals, common house pets and most farm animals too, have become so domesticated over so many generations that i question if they even could survive in the wild. capturing born-wild animals and caging them is just plain wrong. as far as reproducing goes- since the glands producing those hormones are removed they have no drive for sex. to me, if the animal is a domestic one, thats a whole lot better than being euthanized because they are unwanted.

Answer 9

In my opinion I think it's cruel to subject an animal to sterilization, to my mind it's akin to the sterilization of the Jews in prison camps during WWII, but it's the law and if you are not breeding your dog then it must be spayed/neutered. As for cats, they are natural hunters but you also must realize that they have been domesticated for so many hundreds of years and so are no longer associated much with their wild kin. While they do hunt it's more for fun than for food. Dogs have been domesticated longer than cats and have adapted to living with humans. Many today wouldn't know how to act being free and roaming the wilderness, so we take care of them. My daughter has two cats and they have no problem hunting, in fact one of her cats caught a gold finch, the state bird of Iowa, and slowly killed it in her yard while she was watching. It did not attempt to eat the bird, just kill it. As for birds, I think it is a little cruel to keep them in cages all the time. I have a parakeet and we let him out to fly around and interact with us. He's quite the little ham.

While I don't care for the act of spaying and neutering because of the law, I will admit it has cut down on the number of abandoned puppies and mommys being dumped or thrown out because they got pregnant. A spayed/neutered animal cannot reproduce but they still get the urge. My mom's had two dogs, one female and one male. Both were "fixed" (as if they were broken) and afterwards they both had the same sexual instinct but not as strong. My mom's little male dog is always wanting to hump my female who is not fixed.

IMHO, I do agree that it's wrong to subject an animal to sterilization because we don' t have people who are responsible enough to take care of their animals and their offspring, but it's also a good thing. I just don't think it should have been made a law. As for the other animals, most are bred to live with humans and for us to care for them. With the pet foods made available for each species, they have no need to hunt for food. So it's become more of a sport for them. Most of the animals today have never known anything outside a cage or other in their entire life. So we have to ask, is it cruel to set them free and allow them to fend for themselves without any education from the parent to teach them how to take care of themselves? I doubt they could survive on their own in the wild because so many have been hand raised or bred. Please do not take any of my opinion in the wrong context as it's only meant to be conversational.

Additional note: Many of the pets we have today would not surivive outside our homes for long because of their breed. Many have been bred to be small and docile which would allow bigger more preditory animals to use them as prey. I think it would be more cruel to allow these animals of today to roam free and "wild" when they have no real clue how to live in that situation. Dogs, cats, birds, etc, do have it much better than living in the "ruff" lol.