We are fooling ourselves if we believe we are forced to spay and neuter our cats for their benefit and ours and to solely keep down the domestic cat population. Spaying and neutering are invasive operations; they remove the sex organs of the female and male cat. This both prevents reproduction and alters behaviour. …
In this article I am interpreting the word “neuter” to apply to the sterilisation of male domestic cats (orchidectomy). That is how the word should be used because when you sterilise a female cat the word that describes the operation is “spaying” or “to spay” (ovariohysterectomy). Although, the word ‘neuter’ can apply to both …
New Zealand and Australia lead the way on discussing and implementing obligatory cat registration through specific legislation. This is because the authorities believe that they have valuable native wild species, normally small mammals and birds, which need protection against predation by indoor/outdoor cats. For example, New Zealand is a country with a low human …
The word “intact” nearly always concerns domestic cats. Both the neutering of males and spaying of females takes a piece of anatomy away from them. For the male cat the operation is the removal of both testicles (castration) and for the female cat, the surgery is the removal of the uterus, fallopian tubes and …
The Telegraph reports on information from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home on what is described as a “kitten boom”. It’s disturbing but the Covid-19 pandemic really did mess up the UK in a number of ways including pet ownership. Before Covid-19 there were an estimated 7.5 million cats and 9 million dogs in the …
I’m referring to domestic, stray and feral cats. I am not referring to wild cats because there is quite a big difference. Without some sort of restraint on numbers (and there is always restraint on numbers) a cat population can increase “at a startling rate” according to Dr. Desmond Morris. And according to anybody …
YES, sometimes. “Neutering” strictly speaking applies to the male cat and the operation is castration as you probably know. The testes are removed. It’s a very quick operation and my cat went through it because my cat is a rescue cat. It was part of the deal when I fostered him and then adopted …
The battle of wills about how to deal with feral cats is the battle of morality over expediency. It is the battle of doing the right thing over the quick fix. It is the battle over long-term thinking versus short-term thinking. There is a battle going on in many parts of the world about …
