“If I get my female cat spayed, do I have to neuter my male cat too?”

More often than you’d think, we get asked this question by caregivers calling for spay/neuter help -- but once they understand our program is totally free -- they enthusiastically apply for vouchers for all their cats (male and female) – and it’s good that they do.  

The cost of getting cats fixed (particularly in multi-cat homes) is out of reach for many people even through low-cost spay/neuter programs.  They try to economize by just fixing the female cats – or in some cases if they’re concerned about male spraying – just fixing the male cats.   They're trying to do the “right thing” by preventing kitten births in their home, but in the process they miss out on some of the most important benefits of cat sterilization.  Here are just a few:

1.  Fixing all your female cats may prevent them from having litters of kittens, but if any of your male cats have outdoor access, they’ll roam until they find other females who are intact and impregnate them.  You’re simply shifting the kitten problem to someone else’s cats – or contributing to an increase in the community’s feral cat population.   

2.  While your male cats are on the prowl  for unsterilized females, they’ll be spraying – most likely in someone else’s yard -- and the property owner won’t appreciate it.  Un-neutered male cat spray is highly noxious and one of the reasons that so many people view outdoor cats as a nuisance.   After neutering the odor diminishes considerably and makes you and your cats better neighbors.

3.  Neutering a male cat lowers his testosterone level and heads off his getting into serious cat fights with other un-neutered males.  Just one trip to an emergency clinic to stitch up a nasty cut or treat  an infected puncture wound can set you back magnitudes more than the up-front cost of neutering.

4.   FIV – a potentially debilitating lentivirus that affects 2-4% of all domestic cats – could potentially be eliminated simply by neutering all male cats.  The virus is very short-lived outside the body making saliva transferred through bite wounds from one infected male cat to another during territorial fights the most common means of spreading FIV.  Ironically neutering a male cat at a low-cost spay/neuter clinic often costs less than running a viral test to see if your cat has the virus.  

5.  Neutering your male cats will reap personal rewards for you too.  Once male cats are fixed they become better companions – more docile and more accepting of human attention.

Sure fixing your female cats is a step in the right direction – but just that.  To fully benefit you’ll need to follow through and get your male cats neutered too -- the sooner the better.  If you live in northern New Mexico we may help with the cost – visit our web site or call to apply.