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The scourge of early teen pregnancy - in cats

SMALL PRINT: CAT OWNERS can blame the local lustful tomcat all they like, but according to veterinary experts, the rise in early…

Brian O'Connell's face
Brian O'Connell
Fri Mar 9 2012 - 00:00

SMALL PRINT:CAT OWNERS can blame the local lustful tomcat all they like, but according to veterinary experts, the rise in early teenage pregnancy among cats is down to personal responsibility.

Inherited wisdom would have us believe that female cats should not be neutered until they are more than six months old and that generally cats fare better if they are allowed have at least one litter of kittens. But the problem of early pregnancy among female cats is so great that one cat expert, vet Clare Meade, the owner of The Cat Hospital in Cork, says unwanted cat pregnancies are putting huge strain on those working at the frontline of feline health services.

Meade is now calling for cat owners to neuter their female cats much earlier than traditionally done, and points to a variety of new studies which have shown no adverse medical reactions to early neutering. “Traditionally owners thought that it was good for the cat to have a litter of kittens; this has now been proven to be completely untrue. In fact, mating with the local one-eared, flea-ridden unvaccinated tomcat can carry a lot of risks for your young female cat,” Meade says.

“We want to get the message out there that cats don’t have to have a litter of kittens before you neuter them. They can get pregnant from about four and half months of age onwards and we start neutering kittens at 10 weeks.”

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With unwanted kittens, often these animals end up being cared for by charity or vet services, who are already struggling to cope with the estimated one million cat population in Ireland. “We have the same ding dong every year with owners calling us after the cats have gotten pregnant,” says Meade.

“The statistics on this are staggering. If an owner allows a cat to breed uncontrolled for nine years, and all her offspring do the same, eventually a decade later that will lead to millions of cats. The simple message is we have to take responsibility for our own cats earlier in their life.”

See thecathospital.comfor more details