The bill's author, Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Sherman Oaks, opted to withdraw his proposal rather than have it fail in the Senate Local Government Committee, where most lawmakers said during a hearing Wednesday that they were unhappy with the proposal.

The decision followed months of protest from breeders, service organizations and rural governments that opposed a mandatory six-month spay and neuter mandate as a way to control the pet population...

At least 25 states require that dogs and cats adopted from shelters be sterilized. Last year, Rhode Island passed a law requiring cats to be spayed or neutered by six months of age. Denver, Camden, N.J., New York and Fort Wayne, Ind., are among cities that have some kind of sterilization law.