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Please spay or neuter your pet!

Owned cats that are not spayed or neutered are a major cause of the cat overpopulation crisis. Unwanted litters are often abandoned, left at already crowded shelters, or allowed to roam unsupervised and continue the breeding cycle. Don't be a part of this problem! Spay or neuter your cat!

Please also have a look at the Spay-Neuter Myth Page and some information about overpopulation on the Massachusetts SPCA's way cool web site.


Top lame excuses for not getting your cat spayed or neutered

by Scott Panzer

Forgive me if the following sounds a bit preachy or self-righteous. I'm venting a bit. Thanks :-).

*My cat is indoors only.
OK, rather low on the lameness scale. If you can keep your cat completely indoors and away from fertile cats of the opposite sex, you will not have to worry about it breeding. However, all too often we hear stories of people with unspayed indoor cats that escape, and return pregnant. Spaying or neutering your indoor cat will prevent it from contributing to the overpopulation crisis in the event of accidental release. In addition, spaying or neutering your cat will reduce or eliminate annoying (or even costly) mating-associated behaviors, such as spraying (by males) and calling (by females). Furthermore, sterilizing your cat will reduce the likelihood that it attempts to escape in order to find a mate.
*I can't afford to spay or neuter my cat.
During the lifetime of your cat you may spend thousands of dollars on food, accessories, and veterinary expenses. Spaying or neutering your cat is just a drop in the bucket. These procedures should be considered part of the basic and required veterinary expenses, along with the usual vaccinations. So, if you can't afford to spay or neuter your cat, you can't afford to adopt one at all.

Keep in mind that spaying or neutering your cat may actually reduce your veterinary expenses, by reducing the possibility that your cat roams far and wide to seek a mate and, as a result, gets injured or contracts a serious disease requiring large veterinary expenses. Furthermore, many veterinarians will perform discounted spay or neuters for cats adopted through shelters or other rescue organizations.

If you really believe you can't afford to spay or neuter your cat, but can afford the other expenses, please adopt an adult cat that is already spayed or neutered.

Note: charging a nominal adoption fee ($10-15) is a good way for people seeking good homes for cats to weed out people who are unable or unwilling to care for their cat properly.

*Spaying or neutering a cat interferes with it's free will.
Although cats are intelligent creatures, they do not plan their futures or consider the consequences of breeding. They just do it, and doing so is not an excercise of free will but one of instinct. When we take a cat into our homes, we also accept the responsibility of making decisions on their behalf. One decision we should make is to prevent them from breeding.
*If my cat has kittens, I can always take them to the shelter or advertise them in the CCRW.
The Connecticut Cat Rescue Web exists precisely because the overpopulation problem is so great the shelters cannot accommodate the large number of cats in need of homes. During peak kitten season, no-kill shelters are usually filled to capacity, and shelters that do euthanize are forced to kill many, many cats (millions nationwide). People who seek homes for litters born to their cats often have great difficultly finding them. Preventing your cat from reproducing stops the problem before it happens, rather than providing a late semi-cure.

The CCRW will not list cats for people unwilling to spay their own.

*My cat is male and won't have kittens.
Would you encourage or allow your son to knock up your neighbor's daughter, figuring that it is their problem? Of course not. This kind of attitude is irresponsible either for cats or humans. The only difference is that your neighbor would have some sort of legal recourse in the case of unwanted human pregnancies.

If your male cat fathers a litter, you are part of the problem, whether you are aware of it or not. Don't be irresponsible.

Dee's Note: If you fix a male early enough, he'll never learn to spray, either. If you like yellow walls...paint 'em yellow. Don't leave it up to kitty. Fix yer cat!

*I want my children to learn of the miracle of life by having them see my cat give birth.
Well, I'm all for education, as long as it's complete. Are you prepared to show your children the tragedy of death of unwanted pets, by taking them to the shelter to witness the destruction many cats, for whom no home is available? Consider that even if you arrange, prior to breeding the cat, homes for all of the potential kittens, you will have taken away homes for some wonderful cats in shelters, who will die as a result. If you really must breed your cat to show your children kittens, don't make it your own cat, whose breeding can be controlled. Arrange with a shelter to adopt a pregnant female (most pregnant cats entering shelters are killed right away). At least then the additional litter will not be your own fault. And be sure you that you are willing to keep every kitten born yourself, in case the homes you have arranged fall through. If you are not willing to take on the full responsibility of insuring that none of the kittens ends up back in the shelter, you should not foster the litter.
*You have to let your cat have at least one litter before spaying her.
This is simply incorrect. There are no significant adverse effects of spaying or neutering your pet. In fact, spaying or neutering your cat can reduce the chances of it developing breast or prostate cancer later in life.
*My cat is purebred, and I might breed it in the future to earn extra money.
Keep in mind that breeding cats is not a get-rich-quick scheme. If it were, many more people would be doing it. With the large numbers of cats available, the demand for purebred cats is very low. In addition, anyone willing to spend several hundred dollars on a cat is going to be very careful about choosing a breeder who is experienced, responsible, and knowledgeable.

Breeders who allow their cats to breed indiscriminately are not likely to be considered responsible and competent by prospective customers. Yes, there are people who let their purebred cats breed randomly with the neighborhood tom, dump the cats at shelters or put them up for adoption, but refuse to spay them because they think they can make a fast buck on it sometime in the future. Disgusting, isn't it?

The Connecticut Cat Rescue Web wants to encourage cat owners to spay or neuter their pets. While we want to help find homes for cats that don't have one or can't be kept, we also don't want to make the task easier for people who refuse to accept this responsibility for their own cats. Therefore, we lump people who express an unwillingness to sterilize their cats along with breeders, and will not list their cats on this web site.


TO REQUEST UPDATES OR CORRECTIONS TO THE WEBSITE:

email catrescue@dreslough.com

CCRW Main | About CCRW | What's New | Listing Instructions
For Adoption | Wanted to Adopt | Lost & Found | Animal Welfare Groups
Discount Spay Clinics | Events | Guest Book | CFA Shelters | Save-A-Pet Online
| News:rec.pets.cats | Cat FAQ | Feral Neuter/Release

Copyright © 1995-98 Scott Panzer - - - 4 January 1998