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Welcome to Your Pet Cat!

Neutering Your Male Cat

5 Good Reasons For Male Cat Neutering

Male cat neutering is something that almost all male pet cats undergo these days. It is a simple surgical procedure that your veterinarian can perform when the cat is around 6 months old. The cat will be castrated, which means that his testicles will be removed. This stops his body producing the hormones that would give him the typical behaviors of a tomcat (an unneutered male cat). This makes life easier for you as his owner and also has advantages for the cat.

1. The number one reason why most people have a male kitten neutered is that unneutered tomcats will spray urine all over their territory to mark it out. This includes the inside of your home. So unless you plan for your cat to live all of his life outside, or you do not care how your house smells, you will probably want to choose neutering for your cat.

2. If your cat is not neutered he will want to be out looking for female cats to mate with almost all of the time. This can be dangerous if you live in a busy city street. He is also likely to wander far from home. You may not see him for several days, or he may even get lost and never be able to return. If you try to keep him inside the house, then any time you do let him out he may never come back for fear of being shut inside.

3. Tomcats are much more aggressive than neutered cats. They will fight other male cats to keep and grow their territory, where they have dominance and can mate with any female cat who wanders in. If your cat is not the strongest in the neighborhood he may frequently be injured in these fights. Even a dominant cat will often come home with bites and scratches, and these small injuries can transmit parasites like ringworm or diseases like the feline leukemia virus, which can be fatal.

4. In some male cats only one testicle descends, leaving the other in the abdomen. This increases the risk of developing a tumor and is a good reason for removing the testicles.

5. Unneutered cats are responsible for producing thousands of unwanted kittens every year. Some of these are taken in by rescue centers and are an expensive burden on the cat welfare system. Others grow up feral and live wild. With nobody to care for them or give them shots, feral cats are a major cause of diseases spreading to our pets.

Owners often ask veterinarians whether their cat could have a vasectomy (sterilization) instead of castration. While this can be done, most veterinarians will advise against it. The only benefit of this is that there will not be kittens. You will still have a tomcat who will exhibit all of the undesirable behaviors in the first three points listed above. The cat will still spray the house and try to mate and fight constantly. Full male cat neutering is the best option for a pet.