The underlying concept here is that if we wish to control story progression and limit what can happen to "our" inactives while they are not being played, then either NRaas SP or for another way to go entirely, AwesomeMod, is required. The mods make things happen, but also provide user controls (that come with a learning curve) to make things not happen. TS3 is not TS2 and never will be, the challenge is to leverage the mods and tools that we have to work with to get things close enough to a satisfying experience for those of us who wish to play more than one household in rotation.
Overwatch does have an option to shut down the Neighborhood Adoption Center because the scenario often gets stuck or breaks, the baby animals that are made available that way have no parents in the game, they just magically appear then disappear if they aren't adopted, and many players don't like that. SP shuts down the Centers on its own with no options given for the same reasons.
But shutting the Neighborhood Adoption Centers down won't stop inactive sims from adopting pets from the newspaper/animal shelters that we don't see on-screen. Again, NRaas SP is required to control the resident pet population.
@nickibitsward - I've answered this several times for you lately. I get it, you don't want to use mods, you are not the only one who feels that way, and of course that is fine. But I'm afraid that telling other players that the mods you do not want to use might not exist is kind of a bit much. Honestly, I am not making this stuff up about what the mods can and cannot do as I type it. :/
