When should you castrate your cat? what are the benefits if you castrate or spay your cats? Are there any side effects of neuterings or is early desexing The best thing you could do for your cat? How can you and your cat live a healthier, happier life? So if you want your cat to be as healthy as possible, The big benefits to your cat and us as their owners, and many. And the first is a reduction in fighting. So cats are very territorial, even more so in sexually intact. And this leads to increase fighting over resources be that land, food, or mates.
So pyometra is a life-threatening infection of the uterus. Not many studies have looked at this in cats particularly. And so we tend to consider it in the same way that we do with dogs. So next is a reduced risk of HIV and FeLV. So these are viral diseases that have no treatment and result in the early death of cats. They often spread by biting and the local risk already does vary by region. So if you can reduce fighting, you can reduce the risk of catching these fatal diseases. Cats roam a lot and get lost or injured on the road. Looking for a mate can take a cut a long way from home, the further they go, the higher the risk of having an accident.
Scratching every surface in sight can cause a lot of damage to your house and carpet, eliminating call when a female is looking. And this can be very noisy and disrupting. It does cause a lot of emergency calls to the vet, That’s because they cry, they roll around on their back on the ground, and they can look very distressed. So that’s when it benefits if you castrate or spay your cats. So looking over your shoulder for competitors, or feeling you need to be marking your territory all the time, it’s a stressful business, And so the last big benefit of neutering your cat is a reduction in the number of kittens looking for new homes.
It is getting pregnant and producing kittens. Now you might think that if your cat had kittens would be able to find homes for them. They’re super cute. But unfortunately, this is not always the case. And it’s not that simple. Even when they’re super cute, well behaved, and friendly. 40% of all kittens in shelters are from unintentional breeding of pet cats whose owners could not find them a new home. Much as I would like to say that these cats then found homes forever. The reality is sad, that around 30% of shelter cats are euthanized. And that is a large proportion and a large number of cats.
Now, this is fine if it actually gets done then, and your cat stays indoors until that point. The age of sexual maturity though can be as young as four months of age. And this is a window of opportunity for your cat to get pregnant if they are female, or to start competing for fighting for the attention of the entire female in the neighborhood. If your cat is male. Many international organizations endorse early age neutering, including the British small animal veterinary association of Australia’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The American Veterinary Medical Association also currently recommends that cats not intended for breeding should be desexed before five months of age. So, we will go a step further and castrate or spay all cats before about 16 weeks of age. That is before they become sexually mature.
The veterinary staff has often raised concerns. And that is about increased anesthetic risk, the development of low blood glucose that can be very dangerous and even fatal, and orthopedic problems. Now, starting with anesthetic deaths. In several studies, there is no difference in death rates without undergoing the procedure from the earliest seven weeks. To those cats neutered, and anesthetized as adults, several different anesthetic techniques have been tested. And they were safe. So that is a risk with every anesthetic surgical procedure. But in reality, this risk is low at around point 1%.
For a start, they very seldom develop cruciate ligament rupture, and if they do is generally because of a traumatic incident. They also rarely suffer from dysplasia or abnormal development of joints. In the studies that have looked into this, it does seem that the growth plates stay open for longer in cats that are muted. Next, let’s consider urinary tract disease. And again, there doesn’t appear to be any association between male cats castrated earlier or later. Older cats and those that have fat are at a higher risk. Finally, does early desexing affect a cat’s behavior? Well, again, you know, in one study, those neutered earlier had increased hiding behavior. There was no difference in spraying fearful behavior for war in aggression.
There are very few downsides to this. This should be done by the age of six. And if you’d prefer to carry out your pressure when your cat is three or four months old, then that’s fine. There may be other health considerations to consider before deciding on the best course of action for your cat. And with any surgical procedure, surgeon experience and preference is a major consideration. So I hope this clears up the best age to neuter your cat or eases any concerns about the side effects of neutering that you might have. But what are your thoughts please leave me a comment down below. I’d love to read them.
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