Spay & Neuter Saturday by Alasandra





I want to talk about an important issue and that is having cats spayed and neutered. Sadly many owners of male cats choose not to have them neutered because guys don't get pregnant, so they think they can foist the responsibility for preventing unwanted litters in shelters off on female cat owners. While it is true your male cat will not get pregnant neutering your cat especially while it is young will prevent spraying and aggressive behavior. I really believe Butters was a victim of this mentality.

He wondered up with nothing but a flea collar on. He came right to us and was obviously very gentle and loving he went in a cat carrier easier then any cat I have ever had. He was very submissive, but then he was only ONE according to the vet. But he sprayed EVERYTHING, and because he was a Tom my cats felt threatened and tried to drive him off. A trip to the vet to see if he had a micro-chip lead nowhere, questioning neighbors to see who he might belong to was fruitless he was apparently dumped but at one time he must have been loved very much. I can only speculate that he started spraying and his former owners solution was to abandon him.

He is neutered now and  staying at a private rescue where he is much loved by the man operating it due to his gentle and loving nature.

Footnote: while it is possible he wondered off in search of LOVE, he acted more like a house-cat and seemed clueless about the outdoors.

Even spayed and neutered cats will spray (yes females can and do spray) but they are much less likely to and the younger they are spayed and neutered the less likely they are to spray. Socks (neutered male) has never sprayed in the house and seldom sprays outside although when Butters came up he started spraying outside.

13 comments:

Finn said...

So interesting! I wonder why he had a flea collar on but his owners never had him chipped. Some times things don't make sense!

The Furries of Whisppy said...

It gets on my nerves when people don't neuter the males because they "don't want to take away their fun". For goodness sake, having to constantly fight for territory and females and getting injured and catching diseases isn't fun!
When I see intact cats (without collars), I just TNR them. Sometimes it's best to NOT know who they belong to. Don't ask, don't know and work on the assumption these free roaming intact cats are all strays.

Gemini and Ichiro said...

It's also possible that as an unneutered tom he wandered so far looking for a female that he got lost and the owners just didn't care enough to keep up the search--poor guy.

Alastriona, The Cats and Dogs said...

We agree he may have wondered off looking for love but he acted more like a housecat.

Brian's Home Blog said...

Yes, that is so important and I wish humans would finally learn!

Random Felines said...

we are glad Butters found you and is safe. it is sad that so many people aren't responsible.....it is such an easy thing to do.

Marg said...

This is such a great post and so important. It is so hard to get people to spay and neuter their pets even now that there are lots of low-cost spay and neuter clinics.We are so glad you got Butters done and he is in a good place. That is great news. Thanks from all of us

Terri said...

I could write a book on this but won't! I'm glad to hear Butters was neutered and now has a great home.

Mark's Mews (Marley, Lori, Loki, and Binq) said...

I can certainly testify ta the advantages of being spayed. Even iffen it did take 3 tries. This past year has been EVERSO much calmer for me (and TBT). ~ AYLA

Fuzzy Tales said...

Thank you so much for caring for him. We hope he finds an amazing forever home.

Our "resident" outdoor stray is neutered now--our human had it done in May 2011. But there's another unneutered male wandering around now, aptly nicknamed Mr. Peanuts. :-/

The Island Cats said...

Great post. It's so important that us cats be spayed and neutered. We're glad Butters found you and now is safe and happy and waiting to find a furever home.

wildcatwoods said...

Thanks for posting this. Thankfully I don't have any sprayers in my bunch but some people will just toss out a cat who is any kind of issue. And we appreciate you for rescuing this sweet boy.

cats of wildcat woods

Sweet Purrfections said...

We hope he is happy and safe now.