Basic Trope: Animals are afraid of the idea of getting neutered.
- Straight: Alice is in the middle of telling her guest, Bob, that she just got her rug sterilised. She then looks over at her cat, Charles, and says, "Speaking of sterilisation...", prompting Charles to dash from the room.
- Exaggerated: Charles passes out at the very mention of sterilisation.
- Downplayed: Charles looks a bit squirmy when Alice says, "Speaking of sterilisation".
- Justified:
- Charles doesn't understand that vets use anaesthetic and believes it would hurt to get him sterilised.
- Charles has heard rumours that pets become lazy when neutered.
- Charles wants to have kittens.
- Charles is a Chivalrous Pervert and doesn't want to lose his libido.
- Charles is Afraid of Doctors... well, vets.
- Inverted:
- Charles is afraid that Alice won't get him neutered.
- Charles is excited at the prospect of being neutered.
- Subverted: Charles is scared when Alice mentioned sterilisation... but only because he's afraid she'll sterilise him the way the rug was sterilised.
- Double Subverted: When another cat, Diane, tells him what Alice really meant, he's even more horrified.
- Parodied: Charles accidentally neuters himself when doing his best to avoid it.
- Zigzagged: Charles is a bit nervous about getting neutered, but also sees the benefits.
- Averted: Charles doesn't react at all when Alice says, "Speaking of sterilisation".
- Enforced: The writers want to show what they think would be how animals would react to the horrors of neutering.
- Lampshaded: "Why is he so scared? It's not like he wants to have kittens!"
- Invoked: Diane scares Charles by mentioning that she got all lethargic after being spayed.
- Exploited: Diane wants to have kittens with Charles and notes that he's too skittish to let Alice get him neutered.
- Defied: Charles reassures himself that neutering is nothing to fear.
- Discussed: "Are cats afraid of being neutered?"
- Conversed: "How did that cat in that cartoon even know what 'sterilisation' meant?!"
- Implied: Charles is shocked after looking at a neutered cat's nether regions.
- Deconstructed:
- Neutering becomes a form of animal cruelty after proof exists of animals fearing it, no matter how painless the methods are.
- Furthermore, it's also proof of sapient petsnote , bringing even more questions and matters in regards.
- Neutered animals, and allies of them, take revenge on anyone responsible for the damage, maybe by "fixing" humans to make them share their woes.
- Reconstructed:
- Neutering is instead acceptable if they already have children.
- ...but if they're sapient, why can't they control being Ax-Crazy while in heat? If anything, therapy could help them.
- ...but the animals are too weak/incompetent to do anything about it, and prefer to just live.
- Played for Laughs: Charles can talk, and he and Alice have an awkward conversation about neutering.
- Played for Drama: Charles and Diane really want to be parents, but must hurry before their owners fix them.
- Played for Horror: In this universe, neutering is very messy, so it'd make sense for them to fear the Body Horror as a consequence of the operation.
Back to Animals Fear Neutering.
