Stray cats?

[limegreenc]

There outta be a law for those idiot cat owners, who have no intentions of getting their animals fixed, only to have litter upon litter roaming the neighborhood.
I suppose you could spin that and say; there are so many teenagers having babies, with no concept of birth control, only to have dummies like me support them for the next 10 years through my taxes. Blah...

At least kitten chow is cheaper than Similac.

[limegreenc]

Said stray cat came around this morning, fresh from a fight. It upset me so much-scraped face, a bloody sore over one eye. Last week I put some revolution on her neck as she is white and you could see the fleas literally coursing up and down her coat. Yesterday she was all curled up in my front flower bed...why are people so cruel when it comes to animals?

[Nirvana]

Some states have spay and neuter feral cat programs. Maybe you can catch the cats get them a free neutering , rabies and let them go.

[DanaC]

At a meta level spaying/neutering is the right thing to do. But at an individual level there are potential risks to consider. There are likely to be some owners who are unwilling to put a healthy cat through the risks of sedation and surgery for little benefit to that individual cat.

Not saying that's the case here, but not all cat owners who leave their cats intact are doing so out of neglect or ignorance.

[Lamplighter]

trap - neuter - release

I once read that a feral cat accounted for 1600 birds a year (~ 3 a day).
That seems quite high to me, and they certainly fed on other animals.
So the number must be lower.
But even if it is ~ 1/day, maybe 300 birds a year might be closer.


So there is a 4-way fight between the cat-lovers, the bird-lovers,
the dog-lovers, and the "get-out -of-my-yard" people.
Then just to add some spice to the mix, the "love-all-animals" people
and the "don't-dump-your-unwanted-kittens-here" people and the
"Sorry Mam/Sir, We just don't have the resources to keep all the stray cats".

"trap - neuter - release" - it's a concept that certainly makes for happy neighbors.

[Sundae]

Sorry, Dana, I disagree. I honestly believe too many cats means too little value placed on them. There's been a long curve between pampered Temple cats, useful mousers and countless kitties euthanised by charities.

All the cats that I've had, that my family have had, that my friends and colleagues have had have been spayed/ neutured. And never one single incident reported back to me in 41 years of a problem because of it.

The only exception to neutering came from a colleague and I seriously bit my tongue when I heard her reasons, "I have a male cat, it's up to owners of female cats." Said colleague refused to split her waste into recycling "unless I'm paid to do it" so Ibundle it all together as selfish.
Her cat went missing. It may not have been connected but I'm just saying.
After all Dylan went... and I have always recycled.

No male cat I have owned has been neutered for roaming, affection, spraying or fighting. Their testes have been drained to stop them making unwanted kittens.

Everywhere I've lived has had feral cat communities. London especially. Which we as taxpayers foot the bill for. Sorry to sound like The Taxpayers' Alliance! But from a cat lover's POV they are half starved, riddled with fleas and worms and the queens are just breeding machines for more kittens with the same problems.

In closing, neuter and spay all cats. Unless you are a certified breeder. And they do the same anyway (my boys were pet quality so they were snipped)
More cats will die if you don't.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Sundae

snip--

No male cat I have owned has been neutered for roaming, affection, spraying or fighting. Their testes have been drained to stop them making unwanted kittens.

--snip

Sorry Sundae, I disagree. Their testes are drained to MAKE kittens. If you want to STOP making kittens, you should remove the testes.

Carry on.

[infinite monkey]

DO be willing to adopt a stray and give it a good home.
DON'T dismiss shelter ghetto cats as undesirable.

spay and neuter your pets. bob barker thanks you.

[DanaC]

Didn't say I disagreed sundae. Just saying some people will make an active choice not to neuter for reasons of health - all surgery carries risks however small.

Some will do so because of a gut reaction to the idea of castration. And not everybody lives cheek by jowl with feral cat populations with the visible reminder they provide as to why individual cats should go through it.

[Sundae]

Hmmmmmmm. You're an intelligent woman.
And you are not showing all your cards.

So I shall agree to disagree.
Because I am quite passionate about it, I will put on record that I literally disagree.

[DanaC]

Don't quite understand what you're disagreeing with.
That people make those decisions for a range of reasons ?

Personally if I had a cat that was free to roam I'd have it neutered.

But I also know people who disagree with mass medical approaches. Now I live in an area which doesn't seem to have a large population of stray or feral cats, so maybe that makes a difference.

Mainly though I encountered this viewpoint when I was reading up on neutering on dogs. There are people arguing both sides very passionately for dogs and cats.

Rightly or wrongly if spmeone researches and discovers potential problems associated with neutering then they may choose not to do so out of conscientious caring and concern for their pet.

[Nirvana]

Spay neuter feral cats > feral : cats that do not belong to anyone no one to object about 'not neutering for health reasons'

Cats can only catch birds that are sick or stoopid and that is where Darwin's theory helps create smarter and healthier birds

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by Nirvana

Spay neuter feral cats > feral : cats that do not belong to anyone no one to object about 'not neutering for health reasons'

Cats can only catch birds that are sick or stoopid and that is where Darwin's theory helps create smarter and healthier birds

I agree. Stray cats should be neutered.

I was responding specifically to this:

There outta be a law for those idiot cat owners, who have no intentions of getting their animals fixed, only to have litter upon litter roaming the neighborhood.

Some no doubt are idiots. Others may have done the research and come to the conclusion that the potential risks outweigh the potential gains for their cat.

As much as I agree with being a socially responsible pet owner, i also believe that the owner's first duty is to their pet. Whether or not to have your pet neutered is an individual decision and there are pros and cons to weigh up.

If I thought that neutering my pet would put them at risk of harm no amount of arguments for it as socially useful would persuade me to do that.

Many of the studies showing potential health risks are flawed or have been used wrongly to support arguments against neutering. Some of them sound very compelling. I spent months researching the issue when I had to decide for Carrot and it's a minefield of misinformation and polemics.

Being told you're an idiot for even considering not neutering your pet does not help this cause.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by DanaC

As much as I agree with being a socially responsible pet owner, i also believe that the owner's first duty is to their pet. Whether or not to have your pet neutered is an individual decision and there are pros and cons to weigh up.

If I thought that neutering my pet would put them at risk of harm no amount of arguments for it as socially useful would persuade me to do that.

I still believe that if you let your animal roam free (as is the case with any non-house cat) then you have a wider duty to society.

It's like immunisation.
(can of worms, opened)

[xoxoxoBruce]

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