Neutering and how it impacts positively in a built up area.

Locally to me, there are a lot of cats. I’m in a pretty built up area and cats are classed by a lot of people (mistakenly) as needing less care than a dog.

Because there are so many cats, there is regularly what I refer to as “cat politics.”  This describes mostly cats sitting looking at each other, trying to gauge the situation.

Unfortunately, another thing that seems to be common locally to me is a lack of neutering said cats. People fail to see how vital this is, not only for their cats own health, but also because when your cat lives in a built up area it can be difficult enough to reach a harmonious compromise without excessive hormones being thrown into the mix.

The psychological impact is massive.  Toms that are entire have larger areas they recognise as “core territory.” Obviously, in a built up area the amount of cats that are likely to be living there is high. Add to that, the fact entire toms are as a rule massively territorial and desperately seeking as many mates as possible, and an area like that is going to be fraught with stressful situations for all felines concerned.

Entire females are unlikely to fare any better. Their instinct to mate when in season is strong; even though mating for female cats is not a pleasant experience. Males are not gentle with them and they can get wounded during the mating process.  And the more entire toms in the area the higher the likelihood of full blown fights; over many things, including entire females.

Basically, removing a cats hormones from the equation – as soon as it’s feasible to – actually enables cats to co-exist more easily in an area with a high density cat population. Not only are you making life a lot less stressful for your own cat, you’re helping to make things calmer for all the cats in the area.

The Boys and our Tinker visitor trying to reach a truce over the catnip.