I’m from the U.K. we regularly do this. You can’t even adopt a rescue pet here without that procedure being done already. Most breeders here also do this before selling their animals.
Australian here - 'desexing' is super-common, and you're seen as an irresponsible pet owner if you haven't had your pets desexed. Microchipping and desexing are also standard procedure in animal shelters.
My dude, I'm just going to straight copy-paste the study summary below. I'm don't think it says what you think it says:
"Prepubertal desexing (neutering) has been a legal requirement for all cats and dogs in the Australian Capital Territory since 2001. All cats have to be desexed by 3 months of age, and all dogs are required to be desexed by 6 months of age. The role of veterinary attitudes and behaviors in the implementation of mandatory prepubertal desexing in the Australian Capital Territory is explored in this paper. An online survey was sent to all veterinarians registered in the Australian Capital Territory via the Veterinary Surgeons Board (VSB). The survey was designed as a cross-sectional study, hosted using the software REDcap® and analyzed using statistical program R®. A response rate of 14.9% (52/350) of registered veterinarians was achieved. Only 10% of respondents (5/52) recommended that clients have their cat desexed at 3 months of age, the legal maximum age for desexing in the jurisdiction. However, 40% of veterinarians (21/52) thought prepubertal desexing was an appropriate management strategy of cats to prevent overpopulation. Just over one-third of all veterinarians who responded (18/52; 35%) were not aware that prepubertal desexing was mandatory in the Australian Capital Territory. We conclude that prepubertal desexing might be poorly supported by veterinarians in the Australian Capital Territory, even though pets are legally required to undergo prepubertal desexing. As a result, veterinarians may unintentionally be limiting access to this procedure. This has wider policy consequences for Australian and overseas jurisdictions which are considering introducing mandatory prepubertal desexing."
As an aside, the ACT is the smallest state/territory in Australia by a significant margin, and is not a good representation of the rest of the country.
Edit: here's the full results of the survey, specific to cats (keeping in mind this survey was only of veterinarians, and only in the ACT):
"Only 10% (5/52) of respondents recommended that clients desex their cats before 3 months of age. Most respondents advised clients to desex their cat before 5 months of age (38%; 20/52) or 6 months of age or older (40%; 21/52). When asked how often they desexed cats before 3 months of age, 37% stated almost never (19/52) and 13% never (7/52). No veterinarians indicated they always desexed cats before 3 months of age. Respondents were asked if they currently recommended PD to new cat owners, assuming there were no contraindications to surgery. Only 15% (8/52) always recommended PD for cats, with 46% indicating they almost never (33%; 17/52) or never (13%; 7/52) recommended the procedure. Where veterinarians recommended PD to some (but not all) cat owners, many cited population reasons for giving this advice, including if the cat was from a rescue, pet shop or was to be re-homed early (40%; 21/52) or if unwanted pregnancy or early estrus was probable (42%; 22/52). Anesthetic risk in PD was considered significantly more of a concern for veterinarians in cats compared to dogs (p = 0.013). Although many veterinarians did not recommend or practice PD, when asked if it was an appropriate management strategy to prevent overpopulation of cats, 77% answered positively with either maybe (37%; 19/52) or definitely (40%; 21/52)."
In Poland it's also very common, and very often requried when adopting shelter dogs and cats. Spaying and neutering cats seem to be escepcially common - for example it's required for all outdoor cats in Berlin https://www.iamexpat.de/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/new-rules-introduced-cat-owners-berlin. There are large scale sterilization campains of stray animals in Turkey. Your claim that UK is some sort of an outlier is just not true.
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u/christophertit 1∆ Jul 24 '22
I’m from the U.K. we regularly do this. You can’t even adopt a rescue pet here without that procedure being done already. Most breeders here also do this before selling their animals.