They say it is a cats right to bear a litter of kittens, same for a dog. What right do you have to say they shouldn't breed?
An interesting question.. It is complicated by the fact that the domesticated dog / cat population is something of a human creation. If we were talking wild animals then my view would be no right at all, leave them to it as the wild animal population tends to balance itself. Where cats and dogs are concerned, we have created a large population of domesticated dogs and cats... having done that, humans bear a certain amount of responsibility to consider the interests of that population. Overall, if dogs and cats were allowed to breed without control we would then create (have created?) an overpopulation problem, so overall it is in the better interests of cat / dog welfare if they are neutered / spayed. The human creation of a huge domestic cat population (and I am very much a cat person by the way) also has other welfare implications for other wildlife populations like birds and mice.
As long as you can care for the offspring, I see no problem having them!
But the flip side is that rescue shelters are pretty much permanently full and people deliberately adding to cat/dog populations does not help that situation one bit. There's a further consideration that cats (particularly) are raving carnivores and the greater the population, the more animals are killed to feed them. Dogs can be quite happy on a veggie diet mind you.
Now if they end up in a box on the street or you're breeding for money, that's irresponsible.
Agreed, and there are posters who won't answer the question about if they sold their puppies and if so how much for.
They're not just animals! They're family members! And a lot of people do see them that way! Everyone, no matter the species has the right to be a parent. Becoming a parent it life changing for any animal, especially humans.
Agree they are not just animals - absolutely. This raises another interesting set of questions since people are completely inconsistent and essentially hypocritical in their beliefs about animals they live with and animals they kill, eat, or consume from. It is interesting you mention that species shouldn't have a bearing on the right to be a parent... If you extend that line of thinking then arguably the inevitable conclusion is that species is not a basis for discrimination. Although attaching rights in the literal sense to animals isn't always appropriate - going along the Peter Singer line of thinking, you would not wish to give your cat the right to vote (though it may well choose more wisely than some voters...), however, species should not be a basis for discrimination and that all species do have the right to equal consideration of interests.
Just moving onto the point about being a parent being life changing for any animal, I would tend to agree... Having accepted that thought, apply it to cows. On what basis is it acceptable to deprive a cow of its child (which causes the same level of distress as if a human had a child taken away at a couple of weeks old), several times during its life, so that humans can consume dairy products?
but they system is already heavily burdened by all of the animals needing homes. But using this to make money or for peoples own selfish needs just makes me angry.
I agree, the system is overloaded.
On the money point, it is interesting again to extend the logic. Is there any difference in the ethics of making money out of breeding cats compared to breeding cows or any other animals?
Some will probably consider I've gone completely off topic now, but it is all inter-related. Until we treat all animals equally and stop discriminating on the basis of species, then ultimately animal (and human) welfare will not improve.
