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"Let the female cat run ;CASTRATION ....????....
MYTHS....????....
IT'S HERE...
BIRTH CONTROLThe most common medical question - that arises about cats is that of birth control. The reasons are obvious : a healthy queen easily can deliver three or four litters a year, for many years. Assuming that each litter has only four surviving kittens, that still leaves a dozen kittens a year to be fed or gotten rid of , and few cat owners, other than breeders, know very many people, who are willing to take kittens off their hands. The result is that tens of thousands of kittens are put to sleep each year, or abandoned. Many cat owners feel it is far better to prevent so many unwanted births from happening. |
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CASTRATION AND VASECTOMY Kittens can be castrated after they are six months old. In general, veterinarians believe, that it is better to perform the operation before the kitten reaches maturity. The operation quick and simple: the cat is premedicated with a tranquilizer and atropine, which quickens the heart rate and relaxes the muscles.Then the cat is put to sleep. The hair is trimmed from the scrotal sacs. The doctor slits one sac, pulls out the testicle. ties off the vascular bundle, and cuts away the testicle. After suturing the slit, he repeats the procedure on the other side. He gives the cat local and systemic antibiotics, and allows it to awaken. The cat is ready to go home the same day. Castration ,the removal of the testicles, is the most widely used method of male birth control in cats. Vasectomy- binding off the sperm-carrying tube the vas deferens - renders the tom infertile, but does not interfere with the production of the male sex hormone, testosterone. As this hormone is the stimulus for his masculine behavior, the operation does not eliminate spraying. It is also a more complicated operation, than castration, therefore, more expensive and not widely practiced. |
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SPAYING Spaying , the removal of the female reproductive organs, is a longer, more complicated operation than either castration or vasectomy. During the operation, both ovaries, which produce the female hormones, must be removed as well as the Fallopian tubes and the uterus, in which conception and development occur. The technical name for the operation is ovariohysterectomy.Nonetheless, the operation is routinely done, safe and quick - the entire procedure takes about 15 minutes. For spaying, a small area of the female cat's belly is shaved and scrubbed with antiseptic preparations. She is anesthetized, then a slit, about an inch long , is made along the midline of her belly, just behind the navel. After cutting through skin, subcutaneous fat and muscle into the peritoneal cavity, a "spay hook", is inserted and the uterus is pulled out. The ovarian end of the uterine horn is tied off, after which the second horn is pulled out and the process repeated. A tight knot is tied around the lower end of the uterus, the cervix, near the point where it attaches to the vagina. The doctor next removes the uterus and ovaries, allowing the cervix to slip back into the body cavity. Finally, he sutures the cat's abdomen and the cat begins to return to consciousness. The recovery period is longer than with males. Usually, after spaying , the cat will remain in the hospital overnight, but within several days, a correctly spayed cat will appear essentially recovered. Unlike the neutered male, the spayed female immediately loses her sexual interests. |
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MYTHS ABOUT NEUTERS "Neutered cats become fat and lazy" Actually, the daily calorie intake requirements of cats are lowered by neutering. Therefore, the answer to "what will I do with my fat, neutered cat?" is simple: give it less food. "Neutered males are prone to urinary blockage" Many male cats, whether castrated or left toms, have problems with urinary blockage because of their extremely narrow urethras.Female cats have this problem more rarely. "It is cruel to deprive cats of their sex" It certainly is. But one must either give females and males the right to mate and reproduce, or alter them. The unaltered female who is kept inside year after year during estrus will suffer by becoming neurotic, easily frightened and , in some cases, will develop an infected uterus. The frustrated male will make your life virtually impossible. |
