What Are The Benefits Of Spaying/Neutering Your Cat?Health Benefits Prevent tumors and infections of the ovaries and uterus.
Neutering your male cat decreases the chances of developing prostatic disease and hernias, and eliminates any chance of developing testicular cancer. Behavioral Benefits Males:Spraying: Spraying urine is a normal sexual behavior of non neutered male tomcats. Anyone who has smelled tomcat urine will quickly agree that spraying is a very unwanted behavior. Some neutered males will spray, but it is much more common in non neutered males - It's best to get your cat neutered before he hits sexual maturity (6 months) so this habit never starts. Over 90% of all cats that are fixed before they reach sexual maturity will never spray, but even those over 6 months who have already begun the habit will usually either completely stop spraying once they are neutered, or the spraying will decrease. Roaming: Neutered cats are much less likely to react when they sense a female in heat. Tomcats tend to roam long distances – sometimes miles away. This means they can disappear from home for days on end. These fights can be extremely serious, abscesses often develop from the bite wounds. Ask any volunteer at a shelter and they will have more than enough horror stories about tomcats brought into the shelter who are missing parts of their ears and tails, or have faces covered in wounds resulting from the fights they get in with other tomcats. Females:In addition to leaving a mess all over your house to clean up, your unspayed female's behavior will also change during her heat.Females in heat will actively search out male cats to mate with, and may attempt to escape from the house or yard – which puts them in danger of traffic, fights with other animals, and getting lost. There will also be a sudden increase in male cats hanging around your home and yard (spraying your house to mark it as their mating territory and fighting with other tomcats trying to seek out your female). A female that doesn't mate during her heat will go into heat every few weeks until she mates, so these problems aren't just a twice a year thing with cats. She may also yowl loudly as if she is in pain throughout the day and even the night.Males aren't the only ones who spray either. Unspayed females spray for a different reason than males – they spray to attract a male. You can find local clinics and low-cost spay/neuter programs at Pets 911, Spay USA (1-800-248-SPAY), or Friends of Animals (1-800-321-PETS)
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