Whether you already have a furry cat friend at your home or plan to adopt one, you want your little bundle of joy to have a good life. You might have bought toys and treats to make your cat feel loved, but have you considered spaying or neutering your companion? Neutering cats have benefits for both the owner as well as the pet.
Apart from lesser parental worries and even fewer unwanted messes, there are several reasons why cat owners often consider spaying or neutering their cats. Without further ado, let’s dive into the reasons why it’s time to start thinking about neutering your cat.What is neutering or spaying, and what are its benefits?
Before moving on to why let’s discuss what the whole process is. Neutering or spaying is the procedure by which a veterinarian renders your cat sterile. The sterilization of male cats is referred to as neutering. Whereas the similar treatment on female cats is called spaying, the process is the same. However, the cost of neutering or spaying depends on your furry friend’s age, size, and more.
In other words, it is a surgical process that prevents cats from reproducing. In the neutering process, both the testicles of the male cats are removed, while in spaying, both uterus and the female cat’s ovaries are eliminated. There are several benefits of neutering and spaying. They are mentioned as below:
● Cats are safe from contracting incurable diseases when neutered
If you are a new cat owner and considering spaying your female cat, go forward with it. Spaying a female cat before its first breeding cycle largely reduces the risk of ovarian or cervical cancer in them. Removing the ovaries lowers the hormone levels concerned with encouraging the growth of tumors. Therefore, spaying reduces the risk of your female cat developing mammary cancer.
As a cat owner, you must remember that diseases such as feline AIDS and feline leukemia develop from your cat’s natural behavior to mate. These specific diseases are contracted from one cat to the other when either is infected. Even though these diseases cannot transmit from cats to people, neutering or spaying will reduce your pet’s urge to fight over territory and mates, consequently reducing their chances of getting infected by such incurable diseases.
● They have a reduced urge to fight
You might have seen male cats fighting to defend our mark their territory against intruders or seek made. Such cats are mostly driven by hormones and are unneutered. Consequently, if you have two or more male cats in the same household, it is best to get them neutered to avoid any trouble. Moreover, it is a cat’s natural behavior to fight, especially when there’s a female cat in the vicinity. Therefore, neutering cats reduces their aggressive instincts.
● They are more comfortable on your couch rather than roaming around
If you have a female cat, you must have seen her going into heat because of hormones and instinct to find a mate. Moreover, if she is the only cat you have, she’ll try to escape at the slightest chance she gets. Remember, similar to the reason why male cats are driven by hormones and the urge to mate, female cats have the same to do so.
Irrespective of a cat’s gender, if they are not neutered or spayed, they are vulnerable to being injured from trying to escape, crossing the roads to mate. Neutering or spaying your cat reduces their wanderlust behavior, and they stay put comfortably next to you on the sofa.
● You will be happy to see a mess-free home
Cats are indeed weird, and male cats are even more so. You might have noticed your male cat spraying its urine on surfaces. This is their way of marking their territory. The urine of an unneutered cat has a pungent odor that alerts other male cats of encroachment upon their territory and female cats of a chance to mate. However, you can stop this vicious loop from happening if you simply neuter or spay your cat.
Additionally, having an unneutered male cat in the household can be a messy affair. The only way to reduce your male cat’s urge to spray its urine all around it is to neuter it. It not only eliminates your cat’s urine all over your house but also allows your house to have a more mild smell.
Moreover, female cats also have the habit of passing bodily fluids when going into heat. The scent of their bodily fluids acts in the same way as a male cat’s urine does. Spaying your female cat will also eliminate the pungent smell around your house.
● Neutering reduces the problem of pet overpopulation
If you are unaware of pet overpopulation posing a serious issue, you are in for a surprise. Recently, pet overpopulation is a major community issue caused by not neutering or spaying cats. Moreover, allowing your cat to breed adds to this existing problem.
Even though you may not be a female cat parent and not burdened with finding a home for new kittens, someone else might be. As a cat parent, you need to accept the responsibility and choose to spay or neuter your cat to prevent cat diseases, control parasites, and keep them healthy.
Final Thoughts
Given the growing crisis of cat abandonment, cats are being dumped or given away because there are fewer homes when compared to the number of cats. Therefore, neutering or spaying is a great way to reduce its occurrence. Visit a vet and learn the optimal age for your cat to get neutered or spayed.
