What do you do? | Imamother

chani8

Mon, Apr 22 2013, 10:08 am

It's that time. For DP (dear pet) to get sterilized. I can't put it off any longer.

We had a puppy dumped on our doorstep over a year ago, and took him in, and now he's big and the vet is asking, when are we going to sterilize him.

I could justify neutering our cats because they were strays in our yard, and multiplying like rats, and it was for safety sake (it was seriously getting dangerous) that we took one litter (when they were old enough)to the vet and then officially adopted them after they were fixed (of course, we had to pay for it).

The stray dog problem is alive and well here in Israel, meaning there are more dogs than dog owners and I do not want this dog to make puppies. In fact, I'll never let him, if I can help it. So if I am not going to allow him to procreate, then I feel that I am justified in having him fixed. And apparently, it is better for him, health wise, to get him fixed. And I will actually pay a kind of fine for not doing it, when I go to get him registered, imu.

I am not interested in getting bashed re. halacha. I really just want to know what you do, and what you think about the whole issue of overpopulation of cats and dogs and what you think is the solution. I recall reading an article about a problem of stray cats in the Old City and rather than sterilize them, which is against the Torah, they waited until it was a dangerous problem and then had the cats caught to be killed, IIRC. Is that really better than spaying them? Dogs are the same way. They run around in gangs and terrorize the neighborhood. It can be scary at times. What is your opinion on this? What do you do about your pet?

Ima2NYM_LTR

Mon, Apr 22 2013, 10:11 am

Ive heard that if you sell your dog to a non-Jew for a day, then its not your dog when they do it. Not sure how possible that is in Israel, with less of a non-Jewish population to chose from. Not sure how accurate this is...and dont remember where I heard it

With my cats, one was already fixed. the other was too young, but it was on the shelters tab, so I didnt worry about it.

chavs

Mon, Apr 22 2013, 1:20 pm

Its much safer for the dog to get spayed or castrated, it prevents certain types of cancer and infection. In male dogs, it prevents aggression, in female dogs it prevents moodiness.
When a female is in heat, she is quite likely to go searching for a male and all the males in the neighbourhood are likely to try to find her. If she manages to run away she is at risk of road accidents as well as unwanted pregnancies.

When we had all our pets done we sold them for the day. It was very simple and they all recovered within a few days and were running around. It really is worth it imo.

greenfire

Mon, Apr 22 2013, 7:20 pm

the way I see it - the pet is homeless unless I take them in ... and if I don't take them in they will bring more homeless kittens into the world & I cannot possibly save them all - so it's pikuach nefesh

I fostered 2 kitties this summer - it was hard not to because the girly was injured & the boy was her brother ... so I got some help from outside sources - animal protective league - they were vaccinated and neutered & spayed and PAWS took care of it ~ I merely took care of the kitties ...

although the cat fights with our own cats were a bit much ... couldn't keep them for too long [even though I love them]

amother

Mon, Apr 22 2013, 8:31 pm

Am I the only one who finds this whole "tricking God" type of thing (and we do it all the time, not just in this instance) unnerving? Why does it make sense to have these ridiculous loopholes pretending we're not the owner when we're not. . . I'm not saying not to do it, of course I would (and do in other situations) do the same thing, it's just really weird to me and disingenuous.

ValleyMom

Mon, Apr 22 2013, 10:13 pm

Call me crazy but I think Hashem KNOWS when I would sell the puppy to the vet or a non jewish neighbor for the day.

We did what any responsible dog owner does in the USA. We are brought our female dog in to get taken care of.

I am sure hashem undertsands and appreciates that I am taking good care of his creatures and I am being an honest individual by not attempting to "trick" hashem into believing we sold our pet for a few hours.

That is just beyond weird.

amother

Mon, Apr 22 2013, 10:24 pm

ValleyMom wrote:

Do you sell your chometz for pesach? What about times (I've had this) when a women is (according to her) totally bleeding/spotting and she brings it to the rav and he says it's okay, so therefore it's okay, even though she thinks it's not, but if he says it is, it is. There are a million instances (these are the only two I can think of for now) where we (as instructed) "outwit" the system, we pretend and trick Hashem and merrily go on our way. . . I don't get it!