It looks like the desire and desperate need to find an effective contraceptive for cats has resulted a group of scientists creating one. Potentially this is a very important development as there are too many unwanted cats in the world.
The study (see title below) starts off with the words, “Eighty percent of the estimated 600 million domestic cats in the world are free-roaming….While surgical sterilization is the mainstay of pet population control, there is a need for efficient, safe, and cost-effective permanent contraception alternatives.”
It is not fresh news but fairly recent as the date of publication was 6th June 2023.
Summary of the study in simplified English
The following is a summary of the study in more understandable language. Reports on scientific studies published in online journals are written for other scientists. They should not be. They should be written in plain English which is comprehensible to anyone. It would educate the people who need educating and improve animal welfare when the studies are essentially about animal welfare as this study is.
The study titled “Durable contraception in the female domestic cat using viral-vectored delivery of a feline anti-Müllerian hormone transgene” explores a non-surgical method for long-term contraception in female domestic cats. Here’s a summary of the key points:
- Objective: To find an efficient, safe, and cost-effective permanent contraception alternative to surgical sterilization for domestic cats.
- Method: The researchers used a viral vector to deliver a gene that produces anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) in adult female cats.
- Findings: A single intramuscular treatment with this vector resulted in long-term contraception. The treated females were monitored for over two years, during which their reproductive hormones and mating behavior were observed.
- Results: The expression of the AMH transgene prevented breeding-induced ovulation without impairing the cats’ normal estrous cycling or sex steroid levels, thus providing a safe and durable contraceptive effect.
The significance of this study lies in its potential to offer a non-surgical contraceptive solution that could help manage the population of free-roaming domestic cats, which is a concern for both animal welfare and wildlife conservation.
I would hope that the Australians can find a use for this. I realise the treatment is by injection currently (“intramuscular treatment”) but if it could be administered orally it would be great as the Aussies have devised a contraption which ejects 1080 poison over feral cats when they walk past (and other animals!). If the contraceptive substituted the poison the passing feral cats could lick it off their coats and become sterile.
I am probably (definitely 😒) dreaming because it is not going to be anywhere near that simple. But there is a need for some method to efficiently sterilise feral cats in Australia which are in the wild and cannot be trapped as it is impractical, as opposed to killing them in large numbers.
I am looking for a humane method to control and bring down feral cat numbers in Australia. At the moment the methods are fairly ineffective and inhumane.
RELATED: Scientists have designed a contraceptive to limit gray squirrel numbers so why not feral cats?
