Having your cat neutered is a very important part of being a responsible owner. Neutering is also important for the control of feral populations. There are no negatives to having this procedure carried out, only positives.

The operation is simple in both males and females.  It is carried out under general anaesthetic and the cat is normally allowed home the same day.  No stitches are required for males, and there is only a very small wound for the female which does require a small number of stitches.

Female cats can produce three litters of kittens a year, and those kittens will produce litters of their own from the age of about six months. If allowed to continuously breed, the females health will suffer and they will become weak.  This will result in the production of increasingly sickly litters until soon the kittens are born deformed, dead, or die soon after birth. The mother's body is under enormous strain during her nine weeks of pregnancy and with subsequent kitten rearing, therefore her body will get to the stage where it is no longer able to produce the nutrients required to develop and feed kittens and she will be too weak to sufficiently care for them.
Un-neutered male cats will roam for miles looking for a female, and in that process will risk being injured or killed crossing roads. They also get into fights and run a high risk of contracting serious or even fatal diseases, infected bite wounds etc. Males also spray a jet of very pungent urine to mark their territory, and they are not fussy where they spray it.

As with all animals, cats do not breed because they want to, they breed because their survival instincts drive them to ensure the continuation of the species.  The females do not enjoy rearing kittens, and males do not enjoy risking their lives while roaming and continuously fighting to keep their territory.

The vast majority of neutered domestic cats will stay close to home, be far more affectionate and content and will not be interested in looking for a mate, spraying, fighting, or straying. The change of character after neutering can be seen almost immediately, and the cats behaviour is far more desirable than when it is un-neutered.

For neutering enquiries and general advice please contact Lorraine on 01354 658638.

You may qualify for financial assistance with the cost of neutering if you are a student, claiming means tested benefits or on a low income.