February is National Prevent A Litter Month
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February is “National Prevent A Litter Month” and in the world of cats, there is perhaps no more important month. The reason that this holiday falls in February is because Spring is known as “kitten season”. Our goal is to minimize that season and save lives.
Each year, there are more than 2.7 million perfectly healthy cats and dogs euthanized in shelters. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We all love kittens, but sadly, there are just far too many homeless cats in the world.
We’re helping Feline Fix by Five to help educate cat owners on the reasons why cats should be fixed by five months of age. This is an important issue and I hope you’ll help spread the message so we can decrease the euthanization rate of cats and help keep our own cats healthy.
5 Important Reasons to Fix Your Cat Before They’re 5 Months Old
Here are five more important reasons you should have your cat fixed before they are five months old:
Spaying and neutering prevents cancer
Spaying can help prevent uterine infections and breast tumors. Sadly, these types of tumors are malignant in about 90 percent of cats!
The best way to help your cat avoid cancer is to have them fixed before their first heat. This also helps prevent testicular cancer, prostate problems and lots of urinary issues.
Spaying and neutering reduces the need to roam
If your cat is incessantly pacing at the door, yowling at all hours of the night and generally harassing you into letting them outside, getting your cat altered can help curb that behavior.
This type of behavior is due to the cat wanting outside to breed and is most prevalent in cats that are in heat. Keep your cats indoors and safe. Spaying them will help stop that instinctive need to roam.
Spaying and neutering reduces aggression
Spaying or neutering your pets not only help your cat stay healthier, it can help reduce common behavior problems in pets, like always wanting to go outside, pacing incessantly in front of the door and even aggression issues in cats.
Unfortunately, it won’t help your cat listen to the things you tell them not to do any better. Well, at least we haven’t seen that result.
Spaying and neutering decreases spraying
One of the most common reasons cats are abandoned or given up is because of spraying. This is a behavior that we see in all cats, male and female (although it’s more common in males).
Cats spray to mark their territory and by stopping the need to mark their territory, you can help decrease spraying.
And in case you missed it, here’s your Definitive Guide to Stop Cats from Spraying.
Spaying and neutering increases their lifespan
We love our cats and we want them to live as long as possible.
Also, as we mentioned above, spaying and neutering your cats can help stop health problems before they start.
Petsweekly.com
Indoor cats have substantially longer lives than those who live outdoors.
Spaying and neutering saves you money
Animals who are not spayed or neutered are more aggressive with one another, as well as their owners.
Since outdoor cats are also more prone to be injured while roaming, your veterinary costs are also likely to escalate. Keep your costs down by getting your pets fixed and keeping them indoors.
In case you still need to be convinced, here are Five Reasons to Keep Your Cat Indoors.
Spaying and neutering stops breeding
Most importantly, we stop the cycle of destroying perfectly happy and healthy cats. This is not only safer and healthier for your cats, it stops unwanted litters.
Think about this fact:
- The average female cat has 1-8 kittens per litter and 2-3 litters per year. During one lifetime, a female cat could technically have more than 100 kittens!
Now, picture those kittens each growing up to have more litters. A single pair of cats and their kittens could (feasibly) produce as many as 420,000 kittens in just seven years.
Help your cats, help your world and most importantly, help cats. Learn more about TNR (Trap, Neuter & Release), Feline Fix by Five and how you can be a responsible pet owner.
