The effect of castration on the life expectancy of domestic cats

In the modern world, controversial questions are increasingly arising about the life span of domestic animals such as cats. Veterinary representatives argue that a pet’s life depends on chronic diseases and proper care, and not on the cat’s breed. Pet owners claim that the life span directly depends on the breed.

If we compare purebred and ordinary cats, then genetically healthy purebred cats will have healthy babies. Such babies have a much greater chance of living a long life than ordinary ordinary cats. Cat breeds that have been bred through selection do not have good health, as changes in the structure of the body occur, and they are also prone to genetic diseases. Native breeds evolved naturally and adapt easily to their environment.

What does life expectancy depend on?

For a number of reasons, neutered cats live longer than their unneutered counterparts. This is explained by the fact that castrated animals are calmer and more peaceful, do not participate in fights, and do not run away from home over long distances. They have no chance of becoming infected through sexual contact. These are all positive aspects of castration, but there are also negative ones.

In such pets (both males and females), hormonal levels are disrupted, which can lead to obesity in the future. To avoid these problems, you need to feed your animals a balanced diet designed specifically for their needs. It contains all the necessary microelements and beneficial substances that saturate the body and promote fat burning. You also need to monitor the amount of food you eat: overfeeding can lead to bad consequences. The most suitable foods are those that contain the following ingredients:

• birch leaves;
• bean pods;
• green tea;
• plantain;
• oregano;
• herbal extracts.

Due to the fact that it is difficult to remove salts from the body of castrated animals, these salts begin to actively accumulate. This can result in diseases such as urological syndrome or urolithiasis, which become a challenge for pets and their owners. Your kitten should be introduced to healthy food from an early age.

To find out how long a castrated cat lives at home, you need to pay attention to his lifestyle. Cats can independently determine how much food they need to regain their energy, so you should not overfeed them.

Postoperative care

Postoperative care lasts for a month, during which the pet should feel better. Proper care requires compliance with the following rules:

The cat should be fed after surgery in small quantities, but with the same food that was given previously. It is not recommended to give dry food in the first days. After surgery, the animal must wear a blanket or a special collar. Owners should take care of their safety to prevent the licking of medications used to treat the stitches. Protective equipment is removed 10 days after sterilization. If there is a need to remove stitches, they go to the clinic. During the first two days it is recommended to give the cat painkillers - it is better to give injections

Procedures are discussed with the veterinarian.

During the entire healing time of the sutures, it is important to check their condition. In the first days, the seam may turn red, swelling may occur, and ichor will appear.

This should go away by 7-8 days after surgery. If there is no improvement, consult a doctor. The owner must treat the seams for up to 10 days - treatment is carried out with chlorhexidine every 2 days, preferably every day. This is necessary to prevent infection.

If you have any questions, you should contact the veterinarian who operated on the animal. It is better to show the patient for a personal examination by a specialist.

Does lifespan depend on breed?

Different cat breeds have different life expectancies. This is due to the genetic characteristics of a particular breed.

British cats are naturally endowed with good health, strong immunity, and a powerful body. They eat little. Veterinarians do not recommend training these animals to eat large amounts of food. These cats can live up to 15 years, and castrated individuals - up to 16-17.

Persian cats are also long-lived: with proper care, neutered pets can live up to 18 years.

The life of outbred cats after the castration procedure can last 1-1.5 years.

The attentive attitude of owners to the health of their pets, proper nutrition, timely seeking veterinary help - all these aspects affect how long cat breeds can live at home.

Benefits of spaying your cat at home

Do not put off the issue of sterilizing your cat for too long. Moreover, nowadays you can call a veterinarian at any time convenient for you and spend a minimum of time on it. In addition, you save yourself the headache of transporting your cat to the clinic and relieve the animal from additional stress. An experienced veterinarian will come to your home at the time you have appointed, thoroughly prepare your cat for surgery, carry out sterilization as soon as possible and carry out the whole range of postoperative measures to quickly recover your cat from anesthesia. The use of modern drugs for premedication (preparation) and general anesthesia allows us to reduce the surgical risk for the animal to a minimum. You will also receive detailed recommendations on postoperative care for your animal and will be able to ask all your questions about feeding and caring for your animal. Take care of your pet in advance and it will delight you with good health and good mood for a long time.

Has a charming cat appeared in your home? The cute kitten will soon grow up and become an adult cat, which - yes, yes - will need a cat. And if you are not ready to take your pet on “dates” with gentlemen several times a year, get ready to listen to heartbreaking concerts. At the same time, you will have to put up with damaged furniture and manifestations of aggression on the part of the animal during the period of heat. Sterilization will help correct the situation, as well as alleviate the suffering of the animal during a hormonal explosion.

Neutering a cat is an operation to remove the ovaries, in some cases along with the uterus, in order to suppress the natural instinct to reproduce. Most often it is performed surgically in a veterinary clinic after the cat reaches sexual maturity.

Is it necessary to neuter your beloved pet?

To understand whether it is necessary to castrate a pet, you should carefully weigh all the pros and cons of this procedure and its consequences.

So, among the advantages of castration we can highlight the following:

1. Balanced behavior.
2. Lack of desire for sexual intercourse.
3. Life cycle extension.
4. Attachment to the owners.
5. Lack of desire to leave home.
6. The animal does not “mark” its territory and does not make piercing and lingering sounds.
7. Metabolism slows down and the amount of food consumed decreases.
8. The risk of malignant tumors, prostate diseases, and urolithiasis is reduced.
9. No injuries in the fight for the female.
10. The likelihood of the occurrence of sexually transmitted and infectious diseases is reduced.

The disadvantages include the danger of such an operation in adulthood due to intolerance to anesthesia by many mature individuals. However, in most cases, surgery is not life-threatening for the cat.

After weighing the pros and cons, every pet owner has the right to decide for himself whether to castrate his animal or not. After all, often cat owners do not have the opportunity or desire to let their “wards” outside, and the risk of contracting various infections after such “walks” is high. Therefore, most often the decision is made in favor of the castration procedure.

Castration of males

Indications:

• 1. aggressiveness
• 2. if there is a male and a female living at home, and no puppies are planned
• 3. for the prevention of diseases of the genital area (tumors of the prostate and testes)
• 4. cryptorchidism - a testicle that has not descended into the scrotum in the early period, being in the abdominal cavity, is susceptible to tumor degeneration
• 5. hereditary diseases of males that are transmitted to offspring, for example, hip dysplasia.

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It is better to castrate male dogs after the onset of puberty - small breeds from 10 months, large breeds from 12-18 months. For medical reasons, castration is also performed at older ages. They castrate using general anesthesia and local anesthesia, remove the testes, and remove the skin sutures on the 10th day. It is possible to apply an absorbable skin suture. After the operation, the dog is in a special collar or blanket.

Life of a cat after surgery

After surgery, animals require increased attention and care and adherence to a strict diet.

Neutered cats urinate less frequently. As a result, they may develop urolithiasis. To minimize the risk of this disease, you should feed your pets with special food sold in pet stores.

The cat's behavior may change: he becomes lazy and inactive. Without feeling sexual desire, he may begin to eat large amounts of food and gain extra pounds of weight, which will negatively affect his health.

The operation is stressful for the animal. After the castration procedure, his temperature may rise. The risk of various diseases, including diabetes, increases.

The positive thing is that the life expectancy of a castrato increases by 1-2 years.

Cat to human age ratio

The most popular method of converting a cat's age to a human age is 1 to 7. Despite this, it is the most unreliable. Instead, they are increasingly using a scheme with a slow growth rate. In it, 1 year is equated to 15 years, 2 years to 9, and each subsequent year to 4. That is, a one-year-old cat is a 15-year-old teenager, the same animal at the age of 2 is a 24-year-old independent man, and at 3 and 4 years, the age of the mustache is equated to 28 and 32 years, respectively.

Veterinarians usually adhere to the scheme from the international veterinary passport. According to him, the ratio is as follows:

But here everything is very conditional. Maine Coons and Siberians have a very long adolescence, so at 4-5 years their psychological age is close to adolescence.

How long do castrated cats live?

For comparison, the lifespan of a cat at home is often 2 times longer than the lifespan of stray individuals. This is due to the fact that in its natural environment an animal faces many negative factors that affect its life expectancy. These include poor and irregular nutrition, hypothermia, stress, struggle for survival, etc. Keeping them at home prolongs the life of the animal, as the owners take care of its health and well-being.

Neutered cats live longer than unneutered ones. The average life expectancy of a street cat is 7 years, a domestic (uncastrated) cat is 12-16 years, and a neutered cat is 16-18 years. There were individuals who lived up to 20 years. And this is not the limit. There was a recorded case where a Siamese pet lived to be 30 years old. But this is very rare.

Why do they do this?

For breeders involved in breeding feline breeds, the issue of castration of animals is not relevant. The main goal for them is to obtain healthy offspring from elite specimens.

For other cat owners, castration is a solution to many problems, the main one of which is the adjustment of the animal’s behavior, which changes with the onset of puberty. Puberty of cats of different breeds occurs at different periods, it depends on individual characteristics. The average time of the first sexual heat is from 7 to 9 months of life. At this age, males become ready to continue their race.

Why do cats need castration? The answer is simple: nature created the cat family to live in the wild. The instinct of reproduction is inherent in every biological species to maintain population size. Protecting people has eliminated most of the dangers facing animals in their natural habitats. As a result, the need for intensive procreation also disappeared. It is obvious that a verbal suggestion not to reproduce will not enlighten our smaller brothers. Therefore, a person must make a decision for them. The only way out is to artificially stop the possibility of procreation, which is castration of the cat.

Changes in behavior

At the onset of puberty, sex hormones begin to have a significant influence on the cat’s behavior. The reproductive instinct awakens. This manifests itself in the following:

• Unreasonable aggression towards people and other pets. It is expressed in the fact that the cat rushes at its potential enemy, scratches, bites;
• apathy that follows outbursts of aggressive behavior;
• loud meowing, more like a roar, often at night. This indicates nervous overexcitation;
• the desire to mark its habitat with urine. During this period, the discharge acquires a particularly unpleasant, persistent odor. With the help of marks, the cat makes it clear to its rivals that this is its territory and attracts females for mating;
• manifestation of dominant behavior by scratching furniture and other interior items;
• refusal to eat. The result is weight loss and hair loss.

How long do British cats live at home?

When choosing a pet, consider its lifespan. British breed cats live up to 19 years. This is a quarter of a person's life. Consider whether you are ready to take responsibility for an animal for a long time. Proper care of a British cat requires attention, time and financial investment.

The British breed is resistant to cancer. However, representatives have many weaknesses. The British are prone to obesity, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, heart and blood vessels. Obesity creates increased stress on bones and joints, which leads to pathologies. Many representatives of the British breed are diagnosed with liver and kidney diseases.

There is a scientifically proven connection between the color of the British cat and the tendency to diseases. Britons with exotic colors are more likely to get sick and live shorter lives. This is due to genetics. Unusual colors are transmitted through recessive genes. They are linked to other genes responsible for health status and are inherited together. Therefore, kittens with unusual colors have an increased tendency to disease.

Sterilized British

The life expectancy of British breed cats is, on average, 14 years. But there was a case when a cat lived to be 30. Of course, not everyone lives to this age, for which there are a number of reasons:

• Food quality;
• Genetic predispositions;
• Various diseases;
• Place of residence;
• Stress.

Yes, nature has blessed the British with good immunity, but no one is immune from transmitted diseases.

But if they are released outside into extreme conditions, they can live only 5 years. This is affected by changes in diet, infections, injuries and stress.

The boundless love and excessive care of the guardian can negatively affect the health of furry animals. Everyone is trying to feed all sorts of goodies to the limit. It is worth remembering that because of this, pathologies, illness and a decline in immunity can develop.

A British neutered cat lives less than a fertile male cat. In this case, each person decides for himself whether to undergo surgery or not.

{amp}gt;Life expectancy of castrated and unsterilized cats

The harsh truth of life

As a rule, at the age of 3-5 years, sometimes later, chronic diseases begin to manifest themselves. For example, urolithiasis, which in the early stages is easily treated with diet. At a later stage, it requires painful catheterization of the bladder (sometimes surgery), without which death is possible.

There are undoubtedly cats who live 20 years and have never seen a veterinarian, but this is rare.

Timely vaccinations, preventive examinations and tests will not take much time from the owner, but they can detect diseases of furry pets at the initial stage and, often, it is quite easy to correct the situation. After minor intervention, healthy mustachioed friends live not only long, but also happily.