If You Love Them, Neuter or Spay

[elysian]

Many of us here are cat lovers, some prefer dogs, others like both equally. Cats and dogs are fecund breeders- in theory a cat can give birth to four litters of four kittens every year (16 kittens per year, twelve of which will likely be female) meaning that a cat that lives to the lower end of feline longevity- 15 years- would give birth to 13 years' worth of litters, or 208. 156 of those would be female, and capable of producing 208 more offspring of their own. (Cats' gender dispersion is not a near 50/50 split as it is with humans- 75% of all felis domestica are female. One male may impregnate many females, and the males don't stick around to raise offspring. In feral settings kittens are raised by the mother and/or other females in the colony.)

I am not a mathematician nor am I enamored of statistics and probability (one would have to figure in some sort of mortality figures, living conditions, food availability, etc.) but given such a progression it is easy to see that there can be such a thing as "too many cats." Unfortunately it is far too common that perfectly healthy cats and dogs are euthanized simply because there are no homes available for them. We as good stewards of God's creation should seek to keep these populations in check, which we can help do by ensuring our pets are spayed or neutered.

Here's a great link that spells out the health benefits of spaying/neutering our pets early in their lives:

http://www.cathelp-online.com/spayneuter.html

I would rather see a cat spayed or neutered than to imagine perfectly healthy kittens and cats being put down because they don't have a home.

[mossrose]

:yeah:

[truthman]

Unless you live in Atascaderos, MX. They're looking for hundreds and thousands of cats to fight the rats.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040928_1536.html

[Superbug]

Someone once said that neutering/spaying a cat and not neutering/spaying it is the different between having a cat and not having it. I'd say that neutering/spaying a cat and not neutering/spaying it is the different between having a cat and having 298485344 cats.

My two cats have been neutered.

[Gabby]

Many of us here are cat lovers, some prefer dogs, others like both equally. Cats and dogs are fecund breeders- in theory a cat can give birth to four litters of four kittens every year (16 kittens per year, twelve of which will likely be female) meaning that a cat that lives to the lower end of feline longevity- 15 years- would give birth to 13 years' worth of litters, or 208. 156 of those would be female, and capable of producing 208 more offspring of their own. (Cats' gender dispersion is not a near 50/50 split as it is with humans- 75% of all felis domestica are female. One male may impregnate many females, and the males don't stick around to raise offspring. In feral settings kittens are raised by the mother and/or other females in the colony.)

I am not a mathematician nor am I enamored of statistics and probability (one would have to figure in some sort of mortality figures, living conditions, food availability, etc.) but given such a progression it is easy to see that there can be such a thing as "too many cats." Unfortunately it is far too common that perfectly healthy cats and dogs are euthanized simply because there are no homes available for them. We as good stewards of God's creation should seek to keep these populations in check, which we can help do by ensuring our pets are spayed or neutered.

Here's a great link that spells out the health benefits of spaying/neutering our pets early in their lives:

http://www.cathelp-online.com/spayneuter.html

I would rather see a cat spayed or neutered than to imagine perfectly healthy kittens and cats being put down because they don't have a home.

Just got Minou done about 2 weeks ago.

[Superbug]

Minou is very cute.

[elysian]

Unless you live in Atascaderos, MX. They're looking for hundreds and thousands of cats to fight the rats.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040928_1536.html

I hope the Mexicans are dealing with a different kind of rat than the kind that lives in New York City. I remember watching a documentary about the rat-exterminators of NYC, and one of them commented "People think you get a cat to kill the rats, but cats are for mice. These rats have been known to eat the cats."

I am wondering if rat terriers (dogs bred specifically to kill large rats) would be a better idea if the variety of rat is a large or aggressive one.

Arguably human settlements need a limited number of feral cats to keep rodent populations in check so it would not be in our best interest to eliminate all feral cats. (unless you live in Australia) Despite modern sanitation there are still vast numbers of rodents living in the sewers and alleyways and some still find their ways into our houses. Occasionally my Forrest will bring me a decapitated mouse that found its way in and had the misfortune of being in Forrest's path. (Yeah, Forrest loves to kill mice, but he only eats the heads.) We should strive to help keep both the cat and dog populations at manageable levels and we should never allow our house-pets to breed.

All four of mine are spayed or in Forrest's case, neutered. Isabel and Bill were both done very young to decrease their breast cancer risk. Spot was spayed when she came to us (she had no ID so we couldn't find if she had an owner or if she was one of the feral cats that Cat Welfare captures and spays) and Forrest had been neutered as well (no one in their right mind keeps an intact tomcat in the house!)

The safest place for cats is indoors, period. We learned the hard way when Spot was hit by a car several years ago and had her pelvis broken. She recovered with about 80% mobility- and she doesn't go outside unless she's on a leash and harness. Spot and Isabel both enjoy being out- and will abide the leash and harness to go out. Bill and Forrest don't even try to get out and have no interest in outside.

[Tobias Reiper]

However, if every cat owner had their cat(s) fixed combined with animal control taking strays to shelters to be neutered and put down (if not adopted, other than at no kill shelters), cats and dogs could be endangered within decades.

Animal control officers in the cities capture cats/kittens and canines/puppies (I refuse to use dog for both genders of the species, and using the correct term for a female canine may get me modded here), and in the countryside they're usually used as target practice if they wander onto land they're not supposed to wander onto.

Now if at least half of those cats and canines have unweaned litters they will die of starvation if not found, and if found they will be taken to a shelter, where they will be neutered, and if it's not a no kill shelter, they will be put down if not adopted. If they're found by someone who will adopt them without messing with the shelters, they will more than likely be spayed or neutered at the proper age.

And then you have to factor in early deaths. Cats in the country have to worry about large dogs (outside of the village/town/city limits you can have rottweillers running loose, and even wolf mixes (almost ran over a wolf/husky mix a few months ago)), coyotes, foxes, and cat hating residents who will shoot a cat on site if it crosses their property (the road I live on is full of them). Male kittens also have to worry about tom cats, who will kill any male kitten not of their bloodline.

In towns and cities I'm constantly seeing cats lying at the side of the road. It has nothing to do with overpopulation, either, because at times when the deer population is under control in this area I still see tons of them at the side of the road. And then there are coyotes that come into populated areas, along with feral dogs.

Small dogs have to worry about all of the above, although dog hating residents who shoot on sight are more than a little less common. Large dogs have to worry about packs of small dogs. I've seen a pack of small dogs, the largest of which was a rat terrier, take down a neighbor's rottweiller, who days earlier killed a lone small dog with one bite. They also have to worry about cars, and while coyote groups are generally small, two or three coyotes can take down a large dog.

While I will not deny that there is an overabundance of cats and canines in areas, the answer is not spaying or neutering. With organizations fixing then releasing feral animals, owners fixing their pets, and the hazards described above, the population in industrialized countries could fall to dangerous levels by 2040.