It may have passed you by, but World Spay Day took place last week – on 25th February to be exact. Whist Spay Day itself may not be widely recognized outside ‘cat circles’ it is, nonetheless, addressing a hugely important subject matter that is the number one cause of cat welfare issues around the world.
As well as avoiding unwanted litters of kittens, spaying and neutering have numerous health benefits such as: helping protect a female cat against certain cancers, such as mammary cancer, and other potentially fatal conditions such as cystic ovarian disease and womb infection; and deterring a male cat from straying from home, or being injured in fights.
Un-spayed females are likely to come into heat every three weeks, and in order to attract a mate they will vocalise (wail), urine mark and be agitated, and generally be unpleasant to live with. Even more unpleasant is an un-neutered male who will systematically spray urine around his home and garden to mark his territory and ward off potential rivals – the strong, pungent ammonia-infused smell of a tom cat will attract female cats, but it is definitely not an attractive smell for humans.
Even though there are compelling reasons for spaying and neutering, and they have been a routine veterinary procedure for more than fifty years, there are still a significant number of domestic cats in the UK who have not had the procedure. Owners have various reasons for keeping their pets ‘intact’ including: thinking it’s not natural for them to be spayed or neutered, wanting ‘just the one’ litter of cute kittens, or not being able to afford the operation.
Blissful ignorance may also be a factor, with some owners not being aware that their female cat could become pregnant from as young as four months old; or believing that siblings won’t mate with each other (they definitely will – in fact, such is the promiscuity of a female cat that kittens in the same litter can all have different fathers!).
Here at the ManxSPCA the vast majority of our veterinary costs relate to the spaying and neutering of cats. Of the 150 cats that were gifted in to us last year (this figure excludes the feral cats we took in) 79 were already spayed/neutered (53%) but 71 were not (47%). The procedure itself is generally a very safe one with a quick recovery time, and the main risk to the cat is being placed under a general anesthetic (this can cause issues if the cat has an underlying heart condition or kidney disease).