It happens at a regular basis that I hear owners of pet cats say that they do not plan to neuter, in most cases this is just lack of knowledge.
The fact that a complete male cats often mark territories is something that most people are aware of, but something that very few seem to know is that it is just as common for a female cat to mark territories in connection with heat.
But if we ignore the fact that we risk having our home peed on by a female cat at times and sometimes daily by a male cat as well as an unneutered female cat, why should we neuter our cats if they are not going into a breeding program? And by planned breeding, we mean a carefully planned breeding program where we do health tests and have a goal for our breeding.
Males, who are neutered more often than females, actually run far fewer risks than an unneutered female, for an unneutered male, the frustration is often the worst.
For an unneutered female cat, the risks are much greater, apart from the fact that she will call for males when in heat, perhaps marking territory and this anywhere from a couple of times a year to every two weeks, cats' reproductive organs also work differently from what it does with us humans or, for example, dogs. Our reproduction system is renewed regularly when we have our bleeding.
A cat never bleeds or releases their eggs until they are mated. This means that the eggs that are on the fallopian tubes when the female cat becomes fertile, are still there when the female cat is 2 years, 5 years, 8 years, 10 years etc... this can, as you understand, lead to cysts and other problems. An unneutered female cat is also at a greater risk of getting mammary tumors and lives with a constantly prevailing risk of uterine inflammation. If you are unlucky, the course of the disease can progress very quickly and, in the worst case, you cannot save the female's life.
In the case of uterine inflammation, she will be neutered, but as you can understand, both the risks and the price are much higher if you have to neuter urgently due to uterine inflammation, not infrequently during on-call hours as well (our dear animals have the ability to get really sick at inconvenient times).
Therefore, I strongly advocate the neutering of all cats that are not going to a registered breeder to be neutered preferably at 4-6 months but absolutely no later than around 1 year of age, it is so much better for both the cat and its owner's wallet to neuter controlled in a non-emergency situation.
By: Malin Sundqvist
