Ahead of World spay day, a number of charities are coming together under the umbrella of Cat-Kind to highlight the importance of neutering their pet cats.
An effort to raise awareness on spaying comes after the RSPCA say there is an increase of 14% on in the number of cats coming into its care over the last two years. A significant increase primarily caused by a cats ability to become pregnant as early as four months old.
Cat welfare expert at the RSPCA Alice Potter said:
“We all love cats and neutering them at four months old is the best way to avoid unplanned litters of kittens and to keep your cat happy and healthy. It’s a vital way to improve cat welfare and ease this strain on rescue centres.”
Elsewhere, Cats Protection say, there are 1.4 million unneutered cats in the UK. Resulting in the charity spending £13.4 million on neutering in an effort reduce overpopulation. This results in a significant strain on the charities limited sources.
The umbrella groups research highlights that neutering kittens at four months old does not increase the surgical risks in the short term, and can be more beneficial to them than waiting until they’re older.
They say this is because kittens have smaller and more elastic blood vessels, with less abdominal fat, meaning the surgery is the easiest and safest it can be. The healing process is also quicker, and comes with fewer complications since the ovaries are easier to identify and therefore require smaller incisions.
Cat owners interested in finding a local accredited vet who supports early neutering can search on a database here