7 health benefits of spaying and neutering a cat

 Spaying a female cat or neutering a male is the process of making them sterile, a performance called ovariohysterectomy in scientific parlance. The essence of spaying or neutering a cat is to prevent them from being fertile and making them incapable of producing children. But beyond this reason, there are certain health benefits accruing from spaying and neutering your cat that will enable them to live longer? Below are the obvious benefits your cat gets from being spayed or neutered.

1. Spaying reduces the risk of developing cancers. Spaying a female cat will eliminate the risk of developing ovarian cancer since the ovaries and the uterus have been removed. In the same vein, the female cat will not run the risk of developing breast and mammary cancers. Likewise, a male cat that has been neutered is free from testicular cancers

2. Spaying eliminates pyometra infections, caused by bacteria, which affects the uterus. Another life-threatening infection is called metritis which occurs after child birth. If you spay your cat, the uterus is  removed. And because the cat has had her uterus removed, she is saved from these infections and has more chances of living a longer and healthier life.

3. No more heat periods. Regularly going through heat circles puts so much stress on a female cat’s body and exposes her to other serious ailments such as respiratory diseases and parasitic and bacterial infections. Therefore, spaying shields your cat from these diseases and infections and enables her live longer.

4. Neutering a male cat reduces his sexual urge and, therefore makes him less aggressive. An unneutered male cat and a female under heat usually engage in lots of fight before mating. When this happens, injuries result from biting and scratching and in the process, deadly diseases such as Feline Leukemia and Panleukopenia can be contracted.

5. A spayed or neutered cat will likely remain indoors and not roam about in search of a mate because their sexual drive has drastically reduced. However, an unsprayed cat will do whatever it will take to look for a mate anytime she’s on heat thereby increasing the chances of being killed in an accident.

6. Cats usually spray their urine around as a way of marking their territories. Spaying or neutering reduces or eliminates the urge to spray. And even if he sprays, the odor of the urine will not be intense. More so, because a spayed cat will not be entering heat circles, your house will not be messed up with body fluids from the cat. It is a fact that the tendency to mess up the house is why pet parents give up their cats.

7. A spayed cat does not risk developing malignant breast tumors, especially if she is spayed before her first heat circle. More so, other forms of tumors such that occur in the mammary and reproductive system will reduce drastically.

At what age can a cat be spayed or neutered

Spaying and neutering a cat should take place before the cat reaches sexual maturity, which is normally between four to six months of age. However, other opinions put the age at eight months. Note, however, that spaying or neutering a cat when it has matured, eliminates most of the health benefits associated with spaying and neutering such as freedom from breast tumors.