In animal fancy and animal husbandry, entire (or intact) indicates an animal has not been desexed, i.e., spayed (female) or neutered (male).
Animals are desexed for selective breeding purposes.[citation needed] 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.
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.
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