I just had my dogs spayed, and I'm wondering if I've offended the gods/am a horrible person.

[Ruadri Canmore]

My family and I had my dogs spayed and nutered today, and I'm trying to determined whether this is offensive against the gods and even if it is not have I still committed a great moral transgression?

My religion is a complicated thing but the ancient Celtic gods are a big part of it. From what I understand fertility and sex are sacred things and so by having my dogs spayed I fear I may have done something the gods find offensive and would be considered morally reprehensable to Celtic and pagan minds.

On the other hand my impression of the Celtic gods is that they are beings who value common sense and practicality, a value that is similarly held by Celtic and pagan people. We live in the city, we would not be able to take care of more puppies if our dogs became sexually active. And besides our dogs are both from the same little so it would be incest as well. To a practical mind this means that the right thing to do both in the eyes of the gods and in the abstract moral sense would be to have them spayed.

Yet they were just brought home from the vet and I am overcome by the feeling however irrational that I have been complicit in a horrible crime. One of my core beliefs is that sexuality is a right and is as vital to a person as food or sleep. That being able to control your own sexuality is one of the most sacred and vital rights a person has. Ever since I became aware of sex and sexuality I have viewed those who try to control the sexuality of others, even just by verbal means, as evil and deranged.

Yet here I am guity of hiring someone to perform a surgury which will prevent two creatures from ever having any sexuality at all. I know they are dogs not humans, that it makes logical sense to have them nutered for the reasons I mentioned above. But still when they were brought home and I saw the place where the vet had made the incision into one of my dogs an inner voice screamed at me that I had mutilated my dogs and that I was a monster. If I were a Christian I think I would describe the feeling as though I had been dammed. At the very least I feel I'm a hypocrite.

And even if I haven't offended the gods or having the dogs spayed is the lesser of two evils, there is the Threefold Law to consider. I've had my dogs nutered, will the Threefold Law or karma or fate or whatever inflict castration or some other horrific injury on me as a result? Or is that not how it works?

I sit here and these questions keep running though my mind, am I a monster for having done this?, will some sort of punishment be visited upon me?, If I did what is rationally right then why do I feel like **** for having done so?, why the **** do I feel such an overwhelming sense of horror, dread and shame?

Does anyone have any thoughs on this?

 

[Draka]

Dogs and cats, left to their own sexual desires, can make dozens of offspring in just a few years. Without someone to care for all those animals a lot of them get sick, malnourished, or killed by traffic or other animals. Not to mention that, especially the females, cats and dogs that have been spayed or neutered are usually healthier in the long run. I'm sure you know all the good reasons for having your pets "fixed" and that those led you to have it done. Don't you think the gods also know these things as well? Intent is also something that is very important. You didn't have your dogs fixed to hurt them or punish them. You had valid reasons to have it done. Your intent was good, so don't sweat it.

 

[nnmartin]

do you think the Goddess would allow a human to be spayed?

I think the OP has a good question as surely the notion of spaying is going against the wishes of Nature.

I was more or less forced to have my dog spayed once, and I felt very guilty about it.

It's probably a necessary thing to do in a modern society but I doubt the Goddess of Nature would be too keen.

That is my two cents on the matter, and although I'm not a Wiccan I do have some similar beliefs.

 

[Heathen Hammer]

Im torn as to what to say.

I actually went through similar feelings. But I also tried rationalizing it using the reasons you used.

At one point in my life I was married to a 'collector' personality; always an excuse to avoid fixing a breeding pair of dogs and for a few years I lived with 10 dogs, in a 2-bedroom NYC home. It was a living Hell.

Look, our Gods are understanding of the turning of the world and after all, neutering for various reasons has been practiced by our ancestors too, and usually not as medically precise, either. Cripes in some countries farmers still do it to non-anesthetized animals using their teeth.

Keeping their stones does cause many types of male animals to be aggressive in their mature years. Many females die of rep-organ cancer after their menopausal years.

I understand the emotional sympathy, and on a personal level you need to come to terms with your specific pet, as to what was done to them. If they forgive you, I guess that's all there is to it.

Good luck.

 

[Sylvan]

I think our pagan ancestors has enough practical sense to manage population control, both of their animals and of themselves. Most of them practiced population control on a human level even more severely, leaving undesired children to die of exposure... sacrificing their enemies after taking their territory and realizing they needed to manage population density, killing all the men and taking all the women, and so forth. Many practiced forms of slavery as well, despite having many noble traits. ,

Don't compare yourself to Christians.. they have crippled their moral resolve generations ago and now look what has happened to them. Being a pagan in the modern world is a great excuse to reevaluate everything humans have done to ourselves and our environment in the last dozen centuries. Back in the day when we all had fleas and ticks and didn't bathe we needed LARGE amounts of dogs. We used them for hunting, heat (many of our ancestors literally slept in the midst of piles of dogs for warmth*), defense, and as a result of our hard lives they died in great numbers so population control made no sense. In every country you see uncontrolled dog populations (i'm thinking India.. Egypt..South America... rural USA..) you see the corpses of dead dogs rotting in alleys and street corners, and basically no one giving a ****. Because they are dogs, and that is what has always happened to them.

I assume of course that you are talking about real dogs and not some kind of miniature inbred monstrosity. Because I personally have FAR more moral qualms with the continued breeding of these dogs for their cosmetic qualities than I do with removing their junk. None of those dogs should be allowed to breed, in my fascist opinion. But then again I am known for being a Nazi about pets. Don't get me started about 'exotics', and the whole "domesticated prarie dog" FUBAR.


*Read "Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond for a fascinating if uncomfortable theory on how sleeping with big piles of dogs for generations contributed to western European cultural dominance by making its populations into huge disease vectors.

 

[Barrackubus]

Here is a popular quote....i had my dog or cat fixed...what exactly are you fixing by removing a creatures divine right to express sexuality. My dog has no testicles, but he's been fixed, I didn't know he was broken, was he born that way? My opinion is that those operations are only in place to control an animals instinctive nature to reproduce, which can be an inconvenience to owners, um, excuse me it's an animal, and animals will be animals.

 

[Sylvan]

True enough. But what do we create by feeding animals ourselves outside of 'the state of nature' and giving them a life entwined with us? One that used to be functional, but is now largely ceremonial. Unchecked populations of rats, pigeons, etc are a problem for large populations of humans and this problem often needs to be fixed. Forgive my callousness but this seems to be a pretty similar situation.

 

[Freedomelf]

*Read "Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond for a fascinating if uncomfortable theory on how sleeping with big piles of dogs for generations contributed to western European cultural dominance by making its populations into huge disease vectors.

Great book, but a difficult read for a layman. It was mandatory for a college honors sociology class, but parts of it were hell.

I'd like to answer the OPs question with a question....do your animals still love you? Are they still coming to be petted and nuzzling up to you. They know you took them to that place (unless you got someone else to do it.) Yet they love you anyway. Why would gods love us less than animals?

I have a lot of guilt over getting my son circumcised merely because the doctors, back then, assumed everyone wanted it done for "the health benefits." When the doctor told me to sign the form because it would keep my son from getting diseases due to sanitation, I signed it without even thinking (still under meds, too...they did it a few hours after birth.) I don't for one minute believe that the Gods or God loves me any less for it. Maybe I love myself less for it, but you know what...this is the mortal life. In the eternal life, the important one, your dogs are going to be whole and so is everyone else.

I suggest you forgive yourself; the gods have already forgiven you and so have your animals. JMHO

 

[Lokabrenna]

I think you did the sensible thing by spaying and neutering your pets. I don't think any deity would hold it against you. It's such a common thing nowadays. My dog was spayed and she doesn't appear to love us less now that she's had the operation.

I think what would be worse is if you didn't spay or neuter and ended up abandoning the animals or had to put them in shelters (not saying you would do that). Unchecked fertility in animals can be a very bad thing, that's why prey animals have predators to prey on them and predators usually have low birth rates, too much of either is bad.

 

[Monster!]

You shouldn't feel guilty, you had good intentions and your dogs aren't trying to kill you or anything, you've sorted out a possible problem as well so I don't think your in trouble x