To Spay or Not to Spay - That is the Question

Whether to have your cats spayed or neutered is the source of debate between those for and against animal sterilization. Each side has its own firmly held beliefs and opinions. It is important to understand both sides in order to decide for yourself whether to spay or neuter your family cat or cats.

Many people think of "fixing" a cat as a matter of whether you wish peace and quiet in your home. Certainly, unsprayed and un-neutered cats are more aggressive and (to put it mildly) noisy. Also, un-neutered males produce strong smelling urine. But it goes deeper than that. There are issues of whether we have the right to interfere in what nature has created, or whether such interference helps nature by relieving pain and suffering among unwanted cats, and preventing their birth into a difficult life. It is the lucky wild cat that is caught and euthanized.

Wild cats can normally look forward to a very hard life on the streets leading to an eventual death from untreated trauma, disease, exposure or starvation. As it is now, the size of the wild cat population is thought to be as large as the population of cats that have homes. Adoption is clearly not the answer. One cat couple can produce an astonishing 750,000 offspring in their lifetime. Adoption programs are not able to absorb anywhere near the numbers needed to control the feline population. The cat owner should consider having their cats spayed or neutered to ensure they never add to the problem of unwanted litters.

To Spay or Not to Spay - That is the Question

Spaying and neutering cats will provide happier, healthier and more peaceful pets. Spay neuter surgery is safe and is performed while the cat is under general anesthesia to minimize pain and discomfort. Recovery takes about two weeks. Some communities have low-cost and even free programs for cat owners. I recommend you have your cats spayed or neutered. Your veterinarian can answer any questions you may have and provide his or her opinion about your options. Like human beings, cats are territorial by nature. Scent glands are located on various parts of cat's body including their faces, feet and base of their tail. Scent glands contain molecules called Pheromones.

By means of rubbing their faces on various objects, cats are releasing Pheromones. Pheromones affect number of behaviours like reproduction and establishing territory. All cats scratch for whole life because scratching removes dead nail material from their claws and establishes their territory by marking with the scent glands at the bottom of their feet. Scratching also provides a cat with a form of physical therapy for the muscles and tendons of his paw.

When a cat is scratching, the claws are practicing extending and retracting. Scratching posts and scratching pads preferably covered with a rough material such as sisal rope should be selected in order to avoid scratching by cats. Treading is common in cats. Treading in cats is believed to be a sign of contentment, pleasure and relaxation. Pet cats rub against their owners for marking their territory with the help of scent glands. Cats groom themselves by their saliva.

Traning a cat is very easy because cats are very intelligent animals. Cats can learn many activities by observation like human beings. The observation power of cats is greater than all domestic animals. Cats can be easiest to train out of all domestic animals.

Books like 50 Ways To Train Your Cat, How To Get Your Cat To Do What You Want, Communicating With Your Cat, Cats On The Counter: Therapy And Training For Your Cat, Teaching Your Cat Simple Tricks, 101 Training Tips For Your Cat, Understanding And Training Your Cat Or Kitten, Understanding Your Cat, Test Your Cat's Creative Intelligence: Eighteen Easy-To-Use Test Cards To Verify Your Cat's Artistic Ability, The Cat I.Q and not forgetting The Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook.

It is important to know if your cat is affected by fleas and take the appropriate action to help control flea infestation. Don't assume that indoor cats do not have fleas since they have no contact to the outdoors, since fleas can get into a house through many ways. Fleas can cause your cat to itch, bite and scratch aggressively and excessively. Fleas are very hardy insects, they have a hard body that resists well to pressure, a survival feature that protects them to withstand the long nails of a cat scratching! A couple of fleas on a cat may easily translate in hundreds within a small period of time. Inspection is the first element for protecting cat against fleas. There are several ways to detect if your cat has fleas.

Scratching may be an obvious sign of fleas in cats, but alone it cannot be absolute proof of fleas because there are many other skin conditions that may cause a cat to itch and scratch. Therefore, to diagnose the presence of fleas in cats, owners should rely on other signs. The constant scratching will often produce several crusty bumps which owners may detect by petting their cat carefully. Often such bumps are produced as a skin reaction to the fleas' saliva known as Flea Allergy Dermatitis.

Such bumps are more easily detected in short haired cats. Severely infested kittens may have so many fleas that they can get anemic from too much blood loss. When this occurs, kittens are covered in fleas, will appear lethargic and exhibit pale gums. Very young kittens may need the fleas removed with a good flea comb, because most topical can be applied only to kittens over 8 weeks old (read label carefully). Fleas deposit feces on the cat, something often seen resembling dirt on the cat. Such dirt is easily visible on light colored cats and presents as little black specks.

The easiest way to confirm that such debris is actually flea dirt is by performing an easy test. Tapeworm segments which resemble rice can be found in the cat's rectal area or in areas the cat likes to sleep. Fleas act as vectors for tape worm, in other words, a cat gets tapeworms when it ingests an infected flea, therefore tapeworms are proof of a flea infestation. Tapeworms are treated by giving tapeworm dewormers and getting rid of fleas which cause tapeworm in the first place. Don't fret, there are flea products out there that do work, but most of them are prescription products where you will need to consult a vet before getting it.

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