Cat castration why

If you want to breed from your cat, its best speak to your vet for advice to find out how you can do it responsibly and safely. However, afterwards, your cat may not need as many calories to maintain a healthy weight.

In fact, you can buy special food for neutered cats, which have the correct balance of nutrients and calories for them. Speying during a heat is a little more risky is because the blood vessels around their womb tend to be a bit larger and more likely to bleed. This means the operation is slightly more risky and can take a little longer.

Yes, most cats need to wear a buster collar or medical shirt to protect their wound after being neutered. If your cat licks or damages their wound they may cause it to breakdown or become infected. There are many reasons why cats spray; sometimes because of hormones, but more commonly due to stress.

If your cat has suddenly started spraying, speak to your vet to discuss whether neutering might help. Find out more in our article about urine problems in cats.

This means sometimes they look like they still have testicles after their operation. Over time the scrotum will shrink and become less noticeable.

If you think your cat might be pregnant, contact your vet as soon as possible to discuss your options. If you have an unneutered male and female in the same household, have them neutered as soon as they reach 4 months old. Please remember that related cats will mate , including brothers, sisters, fathers and daughters. Please note, our vets and nurses are unable to respond to questions via this form.

Donate Menu. Get help. Find us. Pet Health Hub Search. Cat neutering - a guide to castration and spaying. Neutering during covid The term neutering can refer to either sex. Male cats are castrated for many reasons. Intact male cats tend to fight one another in order to defend their territory and to secure the opportunity to mate with a female in heat. Fighting can lead to scratch and bite wounds which often become infected, leading to abscesses.

Castration is 85 per cent effective in reducing or stopping fighting. Neutered cats do not have strong territorial instincts and thus make better pets. Conversely, unneutered male cats tend to roam great distances, coming home only to eat and sleep. They do not need our help to expand their numbers; they need our help to reduce their numbers until there are good homes for them all.

Altering your canine friend will increase his life an average of 1 to 3 years, felines, 3 to 5 years. Intact male cats living outside have been shown to live on average less than two years. Feline Immunodeficiency Syndrome is spread by bites and intact cats fight a great deal more than altered cats. All our advice is freely accessible to everyone, wherever you are in the world. However, as a charity, we need your support to enable us to keep delivering high quality and up to date information for everyone.

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Click Yes to help us continue to make these improvements. Our Other Sites Close. Our Other Sites. Reasons for neutering female cats Population control.

It is important to neuter a female cat before she can have kittens herself. This happens very quickly depending on breed, time of year born and individual development.

The first season usually occurs around six months but can be earlier. Queens can have up to three litters in a year. Control of nuisance. Having entire female cats in an area will attract entire males with the attendant problems of spraying, fighting and caterwauling. Welfare issues. There are unlikely to be enough new homes available for them. Health issues.