VET'S VIEW: The benefits of pet sterilisation are many

THE ISPCA run an annual awareness campaign to encourage owners to have their pet neutered/spayed. Despite this, year upon year, we see so many unwanted puppies and particularly kittens who invariably end up in rescue centres, pounds and worse still, abandoned to lives of misery, hunger and ill health, often as a result of irresponsible owners who for whatever reason do not have their pet sterilised.
There are so many benefits to pet sterilisation and only one true negative (they won't have babies!) if that can even be regarded as a negative. It reduces, in lots of cases, the incidences of some cancers. In the case of ovarian and testicular it completely eliminates the risk, curbs unwanted sexual behaviours and prevents unwanted offspring. In the vast majority of cases, spaying/neutering is the best plan for your pet and it is best done before its too late, when a litter of puppies/kittens arrive at your front door.
Cats, in particular, can multiply at an alarming rate if left to their own devices and this is so often seen, where a person starts feeding a stray or semi-feral queen that pops up at their door. Then, in a short few weeks or months, numerous cats are seen and eventually there is a big problem in terms of hygiene and welfare. It is best to have these poor creatures, trapped and spayed as soon as they arrive, thus reducing the possibility of a problem developing in the medium term.
Spaying prevents females from coming into season and attracting unwanted males who may cause trouble in terms of fighting, causing traffic accidents, and urine spraying in the case of male cats and general disease control. Female cats can get pregnant very young, as young as 4/5 months old and so it surprises some owners when they see what they think is a very young ‘kitten’, producing a litter of her own.
Different dog breeds reach sexual maturity at different ages so it is a good idea to touch base with your vet, well in advance of sexual maturity to get advise on the right time to spay/neuter. It is a common myth that females need to have their first season or indeed have one litter before spaying. I never quite got a handle on this theory, but suffice to say, that it is complete nonsense. Infact, the incidence of mammary gland tumours in some dogs is not reduced if she has a season or a litter. Spaying also eliminates the possibility of a common uterine condition developing later in life called ‘Pyometra’ which can be a life threatening condition.
Unwanted litters of kittens is perhaps one of the biggest problems we see in the area of animal reproduction and it is one of the reasons that our animal welfare charities are under such financial stress and strain. Please, oh please, do the responsible thing and spay/neuter your cats and do not feed strays unless you have a strategy in place to trap and spay/neuter. It only leads to bigger problems down the road.