Benefits of cat spaying and neutering

Did you know that in most major North American cities, there are on average more than 500 cats per square kilometer? Worse, there are even cities in Greece and Turkey that have more than 2,600 cats per square kilometer. The majority of large city shelters don’t have the space and resources to accommodate that many animals, and must euthanize approximately 21,000 cats in Canada alone each year*. Although there’s been a huge drop in cat euthanasia in shelters over the last 5 years, from 40% to 18%*, there’s still a long way to go!

You already know that cats are the best at everything, but when it comes to breeding, we are really among the champions! We can give birth 4 times a year for a total of 16 to 24 kittens each year. Unfortunately, these 16 to 24 cats will in turn do the same thing 6 to 7 months after birth. So the problem of overpopulation grows exponentially each year. Basically, if two cats mate, their descendants could breed 2 million cats in 8 years. Yep! We’re up there with rabbits! If nobody did anything, we would soon become the masters of the world… But wait! Isn’t that already the case? Come on, admit it! Your cat controls your home, isn’t it? Well, it’s the same everywhere. So we are the masters of the world… of those who have cats.

So what can we do to solve the problem of cat overpopulation? The answer is simple and complicated at the same time. We must be spayed and neutered before 6 months of age. Anyway, it’s clearly in your best interest because 95% of un-fixed adult male cats will mark your home with urine. In addition, it’s good for the neighborhood because a spayed or neutered cat could mark territory inside the house in response to stray cats or visitors outside who are not spayed and who would come and mark your patio door or windows. The females can go into heat every three weeks. You won’t forget her incredibly strong and disturbingly lyrical howling! She be like that for days and nights….RRRRWWAAAOOUUULL! Spaying and neutering us is in our best interests, too, because it spares us from many reproductive illnesses.

Sometimes, I hear people talking about having a litter of kittens to show their children the magic of birth and life! Misty tip here: It’s much easier to go on the internet to watch it all! Even better, why not make your place a foster home for a mother cat. Shelters always need foster homes to prevent kittens from being in contact with diseases and allow the mother to raise her kittens in a quieter environment than in the shelter. This allows the kittens to socialize with humans, and the beauty in all this is that in addition to helping, you can educate your children and don’t have to find a family for every kitten when they’re grown up. And if you fall in love with one of them, you will have seen it grow and can adopt it. Now THAT’s magic!

One last thing, did you know that in many cities, there are trap, neuter, and release programs that can spay and neuter stray cats to reduce the problem of overpopulation? If every homeowner contributed to these programs, we would be done with this problem in five years or less. If you see a cat with an ear-piece a bit cut or cut in a “V” shape, this means it has been spayed or neutered through this kind of program, so it can easily be identified and show that it doesn’t need to be recaptured.

Now it’s up to you!

* Data from Cats in Canada 2017 report

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