I've said this before, and I'll say it again.

[conuly]

The opposite of spay is castrate. Not neuter. Neuter is a gender-neutral term that covers both spaying and castrating. Get it right!

Comments

[fjorab-teke.livejournal.com]

That doesn't bother me as much as when someone says "spaded" for neutering a female or uses "spayed" as present-or-future tense. The operation is horrific enough for the poor critter without references to garden shovels. :-p

*points to my silly horse* Gelding = castrated, also called "gelded" in most large farm animals...and most also have specific terms for a castrated male. A lot of times, also, a large female animal isn't neutered unless there's a significant reason to, since usually the removal of a hormonal male and the security we would hope to have in fencing is adequate enough to forego a much more complicated procedure than in a small animal.

But yes, I do also firmly believe it's in everyone's best interest that an animal, if NOT good breeding quality, be neutered if it lessens the reproductive risk and tendency toward difficult behavior. Heck, if it were so simple in humans (what with our crazy over-active hormonal systems and baby-rabies society and other issues) I'd have opted for a spaying for myself. :-p