What's the point of neutering your cat?
It limits unwanted litters, helping to reduce cat overpopulation. A mating pair of unneutered cats can produce over 10,000 kittens in less than 5 years. Today, it’s impossible to save all stray cats and kittens. As a result, they live in miserable conditions (malnutrition, disease, accidents, etc.). In winter, they even have to face extreme cold.
It increases your cat’s life expectancy. Sterilized males and females have a life expectancy of 20 years, while unsterilized cats rarely exceed 10 years.
Sterilized cats no longer need to roam, as they no longer need to look for a partner, which means a reduced risk of running away, fighting (bites and scratches that can become infected), road accidents, parasites (fleas, ticks) and contamination by deadly viruses such as panleukopenia, FIV (feline AIDS), feline leukemia, etc. They make better companions, and are more likely to stay with you. They make better, gentler, more affectionate companions. They’re also cleaner, as they have more time to devote to grooming.
It eliminates urinary marking in males, since unneutered males mark their territory by spraying odorous urine.
It greatly reduces scratching, as unneutered males and females mark their territory by scratching walls, furniture, trees, etc.
It eliminates heat periods in females. When in heat, female cats are restless and meow insistently. They attract the neighborhood cats who will come to your door to urinate. The risk of running away is high, and cats generally return exhausted and pregnant. Heat can also become permanent, sometimes leading to inflammation of the uterus. What’s more, sterilized females no longer undergo hormonal variations due to their heat periods, helping to extend their life expectancy.
It reduces the risk of mammary cancer in females, especially if sterilization is performed before the first heat. Unspayed female cats are seven times more likely to develop mammary tumors, and 85% of these tumors are malignant. This eliminates the risk of cysts or ovarian tumors.
It also eliminates the risk of prostate cancer in males.
When should you have your cat sterilized?
It’s best to have a female cat sterilized before she comes into heat, at around five months. Males should be neutered between five and seven months, before they start marking.
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How is sterilization performed?
Castration (male sterilization) involves removing the testicles. It’s a routine procedure performed under general anaesthetic. There are no stitches to remove. Convalescence is rapid, and the cat can return home the same day.
Female sterilization is more complex, but remains a routine operation. The uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries are removed through an abdominal incision. There will be a few stitches on the cat’s shaven belly, which will have to be removed some ten days later. Convalescence takes a little longer, and you’ll need to give your cat medication for a few days.
If your cat is already an adult, it’s also advisable to have it spayed or neutered. If your cat has already developed bad habits (marking, fighting, running away), these may not disappear, but they will be reduced.
For all these reasons, we strongly advise you to have your cat sterilized. It won’t make him unhappy, and he’ll be closer to you. And he’ll live longer. But above all, it’s our responsibility to limit the proliferation of cats that makes it so important. Every year, thousands of cats (50,000 in the Montreal region alone) live or die as strays. They live miserably, and for much shorter periods of time.
In Montreal, it’s mandatory to have your cat sterilized. If you’re on a low income, you can also have your cat sterilized free of charge through the SPCA/City of Montreal.