Neutering your tom-cat: the benefits

The neutering of tom-cats is highly recommended by vets for many reasons. 

Neutering your tom cat generally has several beneficial outcomes:

-        Reduces the cat’s urge to roam

-        Reduces aggressive behaviour towards other cats

-        Reduces urine spraying inside and out of you home

-        Prevents conceptions of unwanted litters of kittens

-        Diminishes the chances of your cat failing to groom himself

Neutering your cat will not change his personality in any negative way - he maybe even become friendlier! 

What is neutering?

 Neutering is the removal of the reproductive organs. The testicles and spermatic cords are removed, which renders the cat unable to produce sperm.  The testes are the primary source of testosterone in a male cat and removing them therefore decreases the level of testosterone in the blood. Testosterone is responsible for most sexual behaviours in the male cat, including roaming in search of females, territorial fighting and urine spraying. Castration also means that your cat is less likely to get prostate cancer, and cannot get testicular cancer later on in life. 

What age should the operation be performed? 

The operation should be performed at 6 months of age as this is the age that male cats reach sexual maturity.  Cats over 6 months of age are sexually mature, meaning that they will be more likely to wander, more likely to fight with other cats, and able to mate with females.

How long is the recovery period? 

On average the recovery period for a neutered cat is 5-7 days, however this can differ for individual cats. Most vets will advise you to keep the cat in for at least 3-4 days after the surgery.