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Castration has been widely publicized and recommended by all veterinarians, NGOs and animal protection shelters that hold events and animal donation fairs, as the number of abandonments is very large, castrating animals is extremely important for population control. since there are no homes for everyone.
However, many times, we come across an abandoned cat, or victim of maltreatment, and when we collect this cat, one of the first things to think about is if it is already neutered. There are some ways to tell if this cat or cat is already neutered or not, so to find out, continue reading this article by PeritoAnimal where we explain to you how to know if the cat is neutered.
Why neuter the cat?
Neutering the kitten is not just to avoid unwanted crosses and litters, as it is scientifically proven that the benefits of neutering are numerous.
Neutering or neutering, in addition to preventing overpopulation of stray cats, can prevent or improve some behavior problems such as interminable heat in the case of females, and the marking of undesirable territory in the case of males.
In addition, with regard to the health of felines, castration of females can reduce the chance of breast and cervical cancer, while castration of males reduces the chance of developing prostate cancer by up to 90%. Of course, neutering is not miraculous, but articles on early castration in cats show that the younger the feline is neutered. lower chances of developing cancer when you are an adult.
To learn more about the benefits of neutering a Cat, see this other PeritoAnimal article.
Can you tell if the cat is neutered?
Often, when you come across a cat on the street and take it in, or when we adopt a cat of which we do not know the origin, there is no way to know if it has already been neutered or not, simply because we collect information about its history. . Even for those who are not very familiar with felines, it can even be difficult to identify male and female.
If you're having trouble differentiating between a male and a female cat, see this Animal Expert article on How to tell if my cat is male or female.
Therefore, you can wait for the cat to show signs of breeding behavior, which can take a while as you will also not be familiar with the cat's normal personality. Or, you can follow the following tips to find out if the cat is neutered:
- Make sure the cat is in a safe position so you can examine its belly. looking for signs of surgeryFor this, the best way is to sit on a chair with the cat positioned on your lap on its back.
- In the case of females, as the removal is done incisively in the abdomen to remove the uterus and ovaries, it is often possible observe the scar from where the cut was made and the surgical stitches, which resembles a hairline. If you are sure it is female, and identify scar marks on her belly is a sign that she is already neutered. If you identify the surgery mark, and even so your cat still shows heat behavior, take her immediately to the veterinarian, as there may be some remains of the uterus or ovary, and this can result in serious health problems, even costing the your kitten's life.
- Castration of males is different from females in that the incision is not made in the abdomen. In males, the testicles are removed from the inside of the scrotum.
- Position the cat in front of you on a table, and keep it comfortable, so that you caress its back so it raises its tail naturally. At this point it will be necessary palpate the genital area, and many cats may not like it, so have someone help you hold the kitten.
- After identifying the anus, just below the tail, below it look for the scrotum which is where the testicles are stored. Depending on how long the cat has been neutered, the scrotum may be soft, indicating that the testicles have recently been removed, or if you can't find the scrotum and you're sure it's a male, it's a sign that the cat has already has been neutered a long time ago. If the scrotum is hard or firm, the texture of a lump inside it means the cat is not neutered.
After trying these tips and still, you are still not sure if your cat is neutered, take him to a veterinarian you trust and he will surely know how to tell you, and if not neutered, you can already enjoy scheduling your surgery .
Curiosities about C.E.D.
There is a modality of studies in Veterinary Medicine related to collective veterinary medicine.
In short, it is constantly applied when dealing with feral cats or large colonies of stray cats that cannot find a home, but NGOs and independent caretakers take care of these cats in public spaces. When dealing with semi-domiciled cats and feral cats that live in these colonies, neutering and sterilization is really an indispensable factor, as it aims at population control and the dissemination of diseases that these felines can transmit to other cats and other animals.
With this in mind, the concept of C.E.D., which stands for Capture, Sterilize and Return. In other words, the capture of the cat is carried out with the help of people experienced in dealing with feral cats, or just catch a cat and keep it indoors so there are no leaks until the date of surgery. Once the sterilization or castration is done, a perforation on the tip of the kitten's ear and after he wakes up from surgery and fully recovered he is ready to be released again at the place where he was caught, or in a safer place like a park, away from busy avenues.
This one chopit serves precisely to identify from a distance whether a cat is already neutered or not, so that he doesn't have to go through the anesthesia procedure again and then the veterinarian discovers that he is already neutered. The ear prick avoids all this stress for the kitten again, and people who carried out its capture can identify that it is already neutered and release it, so they can catch another kitten that has not been neutered yet, saving time and costs.
If you see or rescue a kitten with this characteristic peck in one of the ears, as you can see in the image, it means that it has already been neutered.
