You can find exceptions to every rule, but to make bulk statements that pretty much directly state that every veterinarian is clearly uninterested in the patient as a primary concern is an enormous insult to most of the veterinarians that I know that have dedicated their lives to caring for animals.
There are atrocious abuses that occur, both in livestock medicine (which was a good example to bring up), as well as with other areas like “military veterinarian” or “racetrack vet” (the worst IMHO), but I’ll speak only for my area of practice which is “companion animal medicine” and say that my statement is still applicable to that.
As far as sterilizing, I’d agree that it’s done largely for the benefit of the population rather than the individual. There are significant medical benefits to spaying, and some to neutering, though, if I could directly ask the animals involved, they’d still likely rather take their chances with various cancers or a pyometra rather than having a surgery.
At my clinic we do not dock ears or tails. There’s actually a lot of debate within the industry as to whether this is an ethical practice.
