• You are here: homepage |
• welfare |
• neuter & spay |
• Go Back |
• Go Forward

• Homepage
• Help Cats
• Adopt
• Cat care
• Cat Behaviour
• KA Diary
• Meet the Family
• After Adoption
• Feral Cats
• The Bigger Picture
• Cat Welfare Info
• Cat Lost & Found
• Shop
• Contact
• Links

The Importance of neuter and spay

Overpopulation

Kitten Adoption, along with many other rescue groups, deal with hundreds of unwanted kittens that are born and abandoned every each year. These unwanted cats are a direct product of ignorance and misinformation, by the general public, regarding cat welfare issues. Apart from taking in these kittens, tending to their various health needs, and re-homing healthy happy kittens, part of rescue work involves the education of the public in the area of Spay and Neuter. It is the only way we can begin to tackle the thousands of unwanted kittens born every year and the unnecessary suffering of un-spayed and un-neutered cats. An estimated 300,000 unwanted kittens are born every year in Ireland.

Each kitten that is born is capable of going on to produce litter after litter of kittens of their own. One cat and it's partner can produce thousands of kittens in their life time. Multiply that by only 5 or 6 couples and rescue work is back to square one every year, mopping up the unwanted kittens. Our job in rescue is an uphill battle, never enough volunteers, never enough money, never enough hours in the day. It is made easier when people Spay and Neuter.

"It's only one litter" or "I will have the cat spayed as soon as she has had her litter" are frequent responses to spay requests. A matter of days could mean she is already pregnant, and if the owner does get her spayed in the recommended 6 weeks, she may be pregnant and a termination will have to be undertaken.

Advantages for females

Spaying will prolong your cats life. A spayed cat on average will live 4-6 years longer than an un-spayed cat. Spaying minimizes the various health problems associated with allowing your cat to breed.

• The risk of mammary cancer is reduced if a cat is spayed before its first heat.
• Spayed pets cannot develop pyometra, a serious uterine infection.
• Difficult pregnancy and delivery in older, younger cats or ill cats is prevented. We have had kittens as young as 17 weeks come into season. Pregnancy can occur as early as 20 weeks of age.
• A spayed cat no longer goes through heat cycles. Female cats normally come into heat several times a year. Spaying ends several problems associated with the heat cycle, including spraying urine and the necessity of confining females to prevent the approaches of persistent males. Spaying also prevents such irritations as a howling cat in heat. She will be a happier cat within herself as she will not have the urge to get out and seek a mate which itself brings unnecessary behavioral issues. She will not try to get out and roam, which could result in her being killed by a car Or fall foul to other man made dangers.
• The mating process it's self is a traumatic experience, there are no hearts and flowers only rough and vicious copulation. The female will be grabbed by the scruff of her neck with a deep penetration bite. This will render her semi-motionless. The male mounts her. His "anatomy" has barbs, so the tom can fix himself to the female. Many females have been torn internally through the mating process. The deep bite wound to her neck may also be a transition site for many viruses and illnesses as is the Tom cats semen.

Spread of disease

• A vaccinated Tom does not stop it transmitting FIV, FLeV, FIP and many other feline illness which are not always obvious.
• There is also genetics to consider. I.e The deaf gene associated with white cats, which may have skipped a generation but may present in in any subsequent kitten.
• Birth defects, such as cleft palate means a kitten will automatically be put to sleep, as they are unable to feed. Heart defects and other congenital conditions may present themselves.

Benefit of breeding? What benefit?

I can see no benefit what so ever in allowing a cat to breed. A cats psychological make up and drive is different to ours. How do you know she wishes to breed? As the drive has no premeditation, it is a bodily function triggered of by hormones. It is a case however of humans not understanding cats and projecting their human emotion onto the situation. A cat will not suffer emotionally or psychologically because she has not had a litter. She will be better off. Birth it's self is a trauma for any animal, and things can go wrong, add to that her readiness to be a mother? Instinct does not always kick in, what happens in these cases? Do the kittens survive or do they come into rescue?

It is just important to neuter male cats too!