Or Register for FREE!


Welcome to our Cat Forums!
Welcome to our CatForums!
You are seeing this message because you are viewing our cat forums as a guest.

You can continue to browse our many cat related areas as a guest but you are more than welcome to register and join our friendly community of Cat Lovers! ... And for free!

Doing so will also remove this message and some of the ads, such as the one on the left.

Please click here to register.

Reply

Elaine's Avatar
Catsey Veteran
 
Cats owned: 2 moggies
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
Posts: 15,256
09-01-2011, 07:16 PM   #1

Neuter and Spay TODAY




Are kittens adorable? Of course they are, they are the cutest, funniest, cuddliest and entertaining little creatures but before long they become mature enough to have kittens of their own. Some can mate as early as 4 months old. It would be a very irresponsible thing to allow happen however as in the UK and all around the world the cat population is soaring and there simply aren’t enough homes to go round.
















This problem begs the question, are breeders to blame for the soaring cat population crisis? Certainly a substantial number of people would think so. Cat breeders produce a “desirable” product. Consumer society responds and buys, more cats are bred. Irresponsible owners abandon and neglect their purchase and stray cats are the results. But the biggest problem by far is one of neutering and neglect. We therefore can’t blame the cat breeder (seller) for the problem but the cat owner (buyer). A responsible cat breeder will neuter and spay before selling or at least have the customer sign an agreement to neuter and Spay. A responsible breeder will of course be breeding pedigree cats. A responsible breeder would have also made sure that all the relevant health checks had been carried out prior to mating. Breeding pedigree cats responsibly is a costly business. Most of the cats in shelters/rescue are moggies, although pedigrees find themselves in rescue too, but there are not too many pedigrees found in feral colonies.
















Feral colonies are mostly made up from the moggy, abandoned, lost and neglected. Most are un-neutered and fighting for survival each day of their lives. 95% of cats in the UK are non-pedigree (moggy), they are capable of producing large families. A female cat can in 5 years be responsible for 20,000 descendants - all requiring good caring homes and many of these must inevitably become homeless, with a life that offers only misery, hunger and disease. Disease is often rife within a feral colony, diseases such as Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV), Feline Leukemia Virus (Felv), Coronavirus, Calicivirus and Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) to name but a few. The risk of a “plague” of cats, fuelled largely by unwanted and abandoned kittens, is now so great that the Cats Protection launched a nationwide neutering campaign to prevent the problem becoming an epidemic. This campaign is ongoing.
There are an estimated 7.5 million pet cats in Britain today making them the nation's number one pet. But, despite their popularity, tens of thousands of unwanted kittens are being born each year only to be thrown onto the streets condemned to a life of starvation and disease. The public, especially so-called cat lovers need further education to understand that by not neutering their cat they are destroying its quality of life.
















It is better for a cat's health to be spayed or neutered. For example, female cats that are spayed before their first heat will have a reduced chance of mammary cancer, and will be unable to develop pyometra, which is a serious uterine condition that can cause death. Also, an unwanted pregnancy in an already ill or aging cat can be fatal. Young females are also at risk of death through pregnancy, being just kittens themselves. Male cats which have been neutered have less chance of being injured in fights over females, or of developing prostate problems.
The Cats Protection and other cat rescues/shelters are under tremendous strain, trying to alleviate the problem. They often come under attack from the public for not being able to help every cat in crisis but it is the public who should be under attack for creating the problem by neglecting to neuter and spay their cats.
The harsh reality is that unless cat owners and breeders take a responsible attitude to this problem even greater numbers of cats will be abandoned and in the long term may succumb to disease, starvation or culling. Immediate steps need to be taken to curb the numbers of unwanted kittens being born, which ultimately end up in the care of rescue centres like the Cats Protection. Currently veterinary surgeons neuter about a million cats every year. Cats reproduce incredibly efficiently and a single female can be responsible for over 20,000 offspring in just five years. This means that only a few cats need to remain un-neutered to cause a phenomenal problem. Neutering is the only way to control the increasing problem of unwanted and stray cats without having to resort to the destruction of healthy animals.
The national average cost of neutering a male cat is £35 and a female £60, this is a one off cost and is a lot cheaper than raising kittens or ongoing veterinary treatment for illness. There are many cat charities that can and will help with the cost of neuter and spay.
Thousands of cats are euthanized in the UK each year, why don’t we prevent the unplanned litters of today so that they do not become the unwanted cats of tomorrow.



Reply With Quote


Mags's Avatar
Global Moderator
 
Cats owned: NA
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: South-West,UK
Posts: 37,618
11-01-2011, 10:15 PM   #2

Re: Neuter and Spay TODAY


Excellent article, Elaine!



Reply With Quote


Moli's Avatar
Catsey Veteran
 
Cats owned: Exotics,oriential,siamese,& Mogg...
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Scotland..
Posts: 27,164
11-01-2011, 10:43 PM   #3

Re: Neuter and Spay TODAY


Brilliant Lainey........!



Reply With Quote


angieh's Avatar
Catsey Veteran
 
Cats owned: Magnificent moggies
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Hampshire, UK
Posts: 21,718
11-01-2011, 10:46 PM   #4

Re: Neuter and Spay TODAY


Excellent Elaine. Wonder if we ought to start a button badge campaign?



Reply With Quote


MrsH's Avatar
Catsey Veteran
 
Cats owned: 2 blue-eyed moggies
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 2,555
11-01-2011, 11:13 PM   #5

Re: Neuter and Spay TODAY


Excellent! Well done Elaine, a great job!



Reply With Quote


dandysmom's Avatar
Catsey Veteran
 
Cats owned: Leia: blue torbie
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Washington, DC, USA
Posts: 31,378
11-01-2011, 11:26 PM   #6

Re: Neuter and Spay TODAY


Well done, great job!!!



Reply With Quote


Catsey Junior
 
Cats owned: Blue Bi-colour Ragdoll.
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: South oxfordshire, uk.
Posts: 25
12-04-2011, 10:41 AM   #7

Re: Neuter and Spay TODAY


Is it allright to print this out and put it through a few doors?



Reply With Quote


Phoenix's Avatar
Catsey Veteran
 
Cats owned: 2 cats black/white and one tabby
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Somewhere or maybe nowhere
Posts: 4,296
12-04-2011, 03:49 PM   #8

Re: Neuter and Spay TODAY


Quote:
Originally Posted by chaz
Is it allright to print this out and put it through a few doors?
I should imagine so chaz.



Reply With Quote


dandysmom's Avatar
Catsey Veteran
 
Cats owned: Leia: blue torbie
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Washington, DC, USA
Posts: 31,378
12-04-2011, 04:20 PM   #9

Re: Neuter and Spay TODAY


Good idea, Chaz, a bit late for the little pregnant girl, but maybe they'll take the hint .,,,



Reply With Quote


Velvet's Avatar
Catsey Veteran
 
Cats owned: 5 DSH. 2 DLH
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Nth Ireland - UK
Posts: 3,605
12-04-2011, 08:55 PM   #10

Re: Neuter and Spay TODAY


Can i copy & post on a few other forums?

Very well done



Reply With Quote

Reply