In animal fancy

Animal fancy

Animal fancy is a hobby involving the appreciation, promotion, or breeding of pet or domestic animals.Fancy may include ownership, showing, trialling and other competitions, breeding and judging. Hobbyists may simply collect specimens of the animal in appropriate enclosures, such as aquaria and...

 and animal husbandry

Animal husbandry

Animal husbandry is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock.- History :Animal husbandry has been practiced for thousands of years, since the first domestication of animals....

, entire (or intact) indicates an animal has not been desexed, i.e., spayed (female) or neutered

Castration

Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses the functions of the testicles or a female loses the functions of the ovaries.-Humans:...

 (male).

Animals are desexed for selective breeding

Selective breeding

Selective breeding is the process of breeding plants and animals for particular genetic traits. Typically, strains that are selectively bred are domesticated, and the breeding is sometimes done by a professional breeder. Bred animals are known as breeds, while bred plants are known as varieties,...

 purposes. Males may also be neutered in order to make them more tractable or meatier. A specialized vocabulary has arisen for neutered animals of given species, see more at castration

Castration

Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses the functions of the testicles or a female loses the functions of the ovaries.-Humans:...

.

Except where a desexed pet is desirable, entire animals usually fetch much higher prices than castrated ones, mostly because they retain the ability to breed. There are various health effects of the decision to leave an animal intact, or to castrate it.