I think that Italians generally have a different attitude to neutering pets to the UK. I have heard neutering described as 'cruel',' unnatural' and 'not fair,' by many people. I remember telling a group of Italian teachers that my cat was at the vet's being spayed and they were quite baffled. 'Why?' said one. 'What a shame,' said another. I was surprised by their reaction. I'd never thought twice about it at home. All my animals were 'done'.
At the canile where I volunteer, the dogs are not routinely neutered and I asked them about that. One aspect obviously is the cost, which I completely understand. 'We do it on request,' said Domenico. 'but to be honest, quite a few people don't want it done.'
I am equivocal on some things, but not this. Unless used for breeding, animals need to be neutered. Period. This is despite a horrific experience we had here which still makes me feel sick today, twelve years later. We had found a lovely little stray dog and taken it in. We named him Truffles. He was quite a randy little thing and following our usual policy, we took him off to our vet to be neutered. He was not a very good vet as it turned out, but we didn't know it at the time. He botched a simple operation, nicked the dog's bowel, and it died three days later. That was the day I learned the Italian expression 'sta morendo' (he's dying.) I also learned that the phrase: ' I heard a cry and realised it was coming from me' was not just a fiction writers cliché. I howled in anguish as my little dog died. I thought I would never forgive myself and that the guilt would never go. 'It's my fault,' I repeated over and over again.
But I still believe in neutering. There are too many stray animals. We took the two semi wild cats that have kind of adopted us to be spayed. The older female, who must have spent most of her life pregnant or raising kittens most of which did not survive, started playing. She started enjoying herself. It was nice to see.
Apart from giving me the greatest torment, getting the animals neutered also gave me my biggest laugh. We finally had our stray Mikey done. He was quite well endowed, shall we say, for such a small dog. I waited anxiously for the vet to phone. (The new vet.) 'He's fine,' he said, to my great relief. 'What would you like me to do with them? '
'Excuse me?'
'Well, some owners like to keep them.' His voice was professional, deadly serious.
'Keep them?'
'Yes, you know, as a kind of memento.'
Thoughts flashed through my mind. What could an owner do with a pair of dog's testicles? Make earrings? Paperweights? Threats?
'No, thanks.' I said. I think I'll leave it. Them. But thank you for the offer.'
'Prego, signora,'
And I put the phone down and howled again, but it was the right kind of howling this time!