How and why to sterilize your cat?

Posted on December 12 2018

How and why to sterilize your cat?

The sterilization of a cat can prevent him many deviations of behavior. How do we come to decide it? How is it going ? What are the steps? Is sterilization dangerous? How does he recover? We try to answer all these questions to enlighten you on a not so trivial act.

Why sterilize a cat?

Sterilization avoids some undesirable behavior . For example, an uncastrated male cat will be looking for females in heat . He can come to fight with other congeners to win his female, and thus get hurt , get bitten , catch other diseases. Sterilization puts an end to this behavior.

In addition, sterilizing your cat prevents it from marking its territory more than necessary. Unsterilized, a cat can urinate on furniture , walls of your home, to show females all its strength and power. His urine will also give off a foul odorto humans. This territorial marking reflex will be almost wiped out with castration or sterilization.

On the side of the female, her heat will be repeated indefinitely, until she becomes pregnant and gives birth to one or more litters. It can become tiringfor her. If you do not want to take any chances with a future pregnancy, prefer castration.

From when ?

The sooner the better. A cat can be sterilized around her sixth month , and before her first heat. Indeed, this greatly reduces the risk of developing breast tumors or the proliferation of infections . Your cat can be sterilized without having had one or more litters before. Following this, she will no longer feel the need to mate.

In the male, castration can take place at any age . The surgical act is simply to remove the testicles . Castration is definitive and generally does not present any risk to the health of your feline. However, castration relatively early (when his testicles are fully developed) prevents him from learning to mark his territory.

What techniques were used ?

You have the choice between:

  • The chemical sterilization for your cat. Contraceptive pills are given as well as an injection every 6 months. This sterilization is not final because if you want to have a range, you can stop this treatment. Your female will be able to mate and have a gestation.
  • The surgical sterilization . The ovaries and uterus are removed from the female, the male testicles. It is an irreversible act.

How is the operation?

This is a fairly basic operation for a veteran veterinarian if you opt for surgical sterilization. About ten minutes , at most half an hour, is enough to operate your feline. He will be asleep and the veterinarian will remove the genitals.

Your female will have to fast for about 36 hours, against 12 to a male.

Are there risks?

There will be no appearance of breast tumor in a surgically sterilized cat. In contrast, the contraceptive pill and injections are actually hormones. Eventually, they can cause the appearance of these tumors and infections of the uterus. The only risk in a castrated male cat is the appearance of urinary stones.

For the rest, a sterilized cat will be calmer , less active . They do not fall into depression, rest assured, but may be less inclined to move. All aggression disappears. The only risk is to favor the fatness of your feline. Indeed, a sterilized cat will be less active. Its nutritional and energy needs are drastically reduced. He must adapt his meals so that he does not suffer from obesity.

Does it affect life expectancy?

The longevity of a sterilized cat is strengthened . Indeed, studies have shown that the life expectancy of a sterilized feline varies from 14 to 18 years , against 6 to 10 years for a non-sterilized cat . Explanations can be found in everything you've been told: less fighting, less risk of injury, less risk of developing a tumor, fewer runaways.

What price ?

Having your cat sterilized necessarily has a cost. This may depend on the professional hired for the occasion, but also on the reputation of the clinic, the center or the veterinary hospital. Count on average one hundred euros . It can range from 60 to 80 euros for a male to more than 140 euros for the female.

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