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New Sterilization for Cats and Dogs being Researched

post #1 of 20
9/23/09 at 12:11pm
Thread Starter 
Recently published in the #1 scientific journal.

Money is going into research that would sterilize animals without having to go through the spay/neuter surgery, could save money, save lives and cut down the overpopulation problems!

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/conten.../325/5947/1490
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post #2 of 20
9/23/09 at 12:40pm
The article is only available to subscribers or on a pay per article basis.
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post #3 of 20
9/23/09 at 3:35pm
Here is a little more:
http://www.scienceonline.org/cgi/con.../325/5947/1490
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...lization_N.htm
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post #4 of 20
9/23/09 at 4:25pm
Well, there is a short term solution for this: Suprelorin (and here's another link about it), maybe they should try to make it work permanently.
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post #5 of 20
9/23/09 at 5:42pm
Hmm,

it doesn't seem likely they'll ever find a non-surgical method of spaying animals- the money would have been better invested in actually spaying dogs and cats...just think about how many animals you could get fixed with 75 million.


regards,

christine
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post #6 of 20
9/24/09 at 9:03am
I do remember reading something bout an oral contraceptive and thought that might be helpful to people who manage feral cat colonies.
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post #7 of 20
9/24/09 at 10:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cjh27 View Post
Hmm,

it doesn't seem likely they'll ever find a non-surgical method of spaying animals- the money would have been better invested in actually spaying dogs and cats...just think about how many animals you could get fixed with 75 million.
I concur. Hmmm.
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post #8 of 20
9/24/09 at 1:40pm
He can spend his money however he wants. At least he's trying to help animals with some of it.

I hope it does eventually happen. I live in an area with feral cat problems (who doesn't?) and vets who do not do low cost spay an neuter. Some don't even want you bringing ferals in because they don't want to handle a wild animal that could have anything. The so-called community of animal lovers here do not want TNR for this problem - they see relocating colonies to other areas or euthanizing (especially those who are untamable) as the only solutions.
So hopefully in situations like the area I live in, this could be used as at least some means to get these numbers down.
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post #9 of 20
9/24/09 at 3:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2dogmom View Post
I do remember reading something bout an oral contraceptive and thought that might be helpful to people who manage feral cat colonies.
Quite frankly I don't think that that would really work because you would have no way of controling which cat eats how much of the contraceptive.

Tom cats would eat contraceptives intended for female cats and vice versa.

Some cats would miss out on taking the contraceptive and still get pregnant.

A contraceptive would have to be given at regular intervalls- so I suspect that over the lifespan of a cat a low- cost spay may be cheaper and more effective.

regards,

Christine
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post #10 of 20
9/24/09 at 8:15pm
When I lived in Japan (on a Navy base), our neighbors didn't get on the base vet's spay/neuter list (a very long list!) on time and took their tomcat to a Japanese vet to be neutered. He was given an injection directly into the testicles, which resulted in them gradually shrinking up and, after a month or so, he looked and acted exactly like any surgically neutered male cat.

So I know it's possible for males. This still involved a lot of handling, and ferals would still have to be sedated for the procedure. If they could find an injection that could be injected anywhere in the cat's body and still work, that would be a lot easier for ferals.

I'm not sure how a non-surgical sterilization would work for females. I'm sure that even if they could find something that worked, surgical spaying would still be preferred due to disease prevention and general health reasons, but as long as unwanted litters are prevented, I'm all for it.
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post #11 of 20
9/25/09 at 7:21am
What about the rubber-band method most frequently used on cattle?

It shocks me that no one does this with cats! There is very little risk of infection or complication and much less pain. All you have to do it catch, restrain & band.
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post #12 of 20
9/25/09 at 10:27am
Cats are more flexible and will pick at anything stuck on them. Hence why they end up e-collared for some things.

I don't believe I've ever heard of e-collaring cattle. Though the mental image is amusing.
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post #13 of 20
9/25/09 at 2:43pm
hopefully it will work
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post #14 of 20
9/26/09 at 11:37am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cjh27 View Post
Hmm,

it doesn't seem likely they'll ever find a non-surgical method of spaying animals- the money would have been better invested in actually spaying dogs and cats...just think about how many animals you could get fixed with 75 million.


regards,

christine
Why does it not seem like they'll ever find a way? I work in drug research...... new drugs come out everyday. I think this is quite promising.

The problem with research for this kind of thing is that nobody would have bothered looking before without research money or an incentive, with this money tons of research will go into it and I am quite confident they will find a way.

Taking in a whole feral colony, kittens off the street, shelter cats and giving them each a quick shot would be much cheaper, safer and cost efficient then spaying and neutering the whole bunch........

I think this is brilliant and commend the people for putting money into it.
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post #15 of 20
9/26/09 at 12:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lmunsie View Post
Why does it not seem like they'll ever find a way? I work in drug research...... new drugs come out everyday. I think this is quite promising.

The problem with research for this kind of thing is that nobody would have bothered looking before without research money or an incentive, with this money tons of research will go into it and I am quite confident they will find a way.

Taking in a whole feral colony, kittens off the street, shelter cats and giving them each a quick shot would be much cheaper, safer and cost efficient then spaying and neutering the whole bunch........

I think this is brilliant and commend the people for putting money into it.

Hi,

it would be wonderfull if it did work , I just don't believe it will.

I don't think they will be able to turn off the reproductive organs of a female cat with a single dosis delivered by a pill. For this you'd have to target these tissues specifically and somehow turn them off or destroy them.

You can turn off reproduction by giving hormones, for example estrogen and progestin- but this requires a continious dosis of hormones. Otherwise you'd have to change the genetic code in these cells- and that's science fiction at this point in time. To destroy a certain type of cell you'd have to be able to target them and then re- program the cells to undergoe apoptosis- this also might be possible in the future, but I doubt it will be in the near future. Trying to sell genetic engeneering to cat owners would also be difficult- most people aren't all that happy with GM crops.

If it where that easy to avoid surgery in generall it would be done with other medical issues. Generally speaking- if you want to avoid or put off surgery to be done at a later time point by using pills this usually requires you to continiously take that pill.

regards,

christine
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post #16 of 20
9/26/09 at 4:37pm
Now, I don't think an injection will do much to sterilize females. BUT it's possible that a hormonal implant might work. Something like Norplant for humans. Probably wouldn't last forever, but doesn't Norplant last 5 years? Most ferals/farm cats don't live 5 years, and it would give pet owners some time to save up for a proper spay. That would certainly be worth researching.

I DID know someone who neutered her cat (farm cat) with a rubberband. It didn't look quite right, maybe part of his penis was removed as well? I'm not sure. I understand there's a significant risk of tetanus with that method (livestock are given a tetanus shot when the band is put on), so that would be something to think about. Plus a lot of cats would pick at the area, and that could be a problem.
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post #17 of 20
9/27/09 at 2:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Willowy View Post
Now, I don't think an injection will do much to sterilize females. BUT it's possible that a hormonal implant might work. Something like Norplant for humans. Probably wouldn't last forever, but doesn't Norplant last 5 years? Most ferals/farm cats don't live 5 years, and it would give pet owners some time to save up for a proper spay. That would certainly be worth researching..
...the problem I see there is that cat owners would use the hormone implant and the "forget" or not get around to neutering their cat which would result in 6 or 10 year old cats as first time mums.

Don't get me wrong here- I'm not trying to only see the negative points with this... just wondering what would be a practical solution and what would create other problems.

I really do hope a miracle pill does come on to the market.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Willowy View Post
I DID know someone who neutered her cat (farm cat) with a rubberband. It didn't look quite right, maybe part of his penis was removed as well? I'm not sure. I understand there's a significant risk of tetanus with that method (livestock are given a tetanus shot when the band is put on), so that would be something to think about. Plus a lot of cats would pick at the area, and that could be a problem.

... this makes me shudder, the poor cat probably didn't get any pain killers either. As mentioned before cats can get to that area and would try to remove the band- in my eyes not really an option or even humane.


regards,

christine
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post #18 of 20
9/27/09 at 9:09am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cjh27 View Post
Hi,

it would be wonderfull if it did work , I just don't believe it will.

I don't think they will be able to turn off the reproductive organs of a female cat with a single dosis delivered by a pill. For this you'd have to target these tissues specifically and somehow turn them off or destroy them.

You can turn off reproduction by giving hormones, for example estrogen and progestin- but this requires a continious dosis of hormones. Otherwise you'd have to change the genetic code in these cells- and that's science fiction at this point in time. To destroy a certain type of cell you'd have to be able to target them and then re- program the cells to undergoe apoptosis- this also might be possible in the future, but I doubt it will be in the near future. Trying to sell genetic engeneering to cat owners would also be difficult- most people aren't all that happy with GM crops.

If it where that easy to avoid surgery in generall it would be done with other medical issues. Generally speaking- if you want to avoid or put off surgery to be done at a later time point by using pills this usually requires you to continiously take that pill.

regards,

christine

I understand the need for a devils advocate every so often But honestly, the only reason this hasn't really happened yet is because there has been no money put into the research. No big bucks, the work just doesn't get done, that's how research works.

I work in drug discovery, targeting the brain for neurological disorders, so there are ways to target one organ and not the others, not saying it's easy, but it is do-able. Once science has figured it out,then you're done for decades to come.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Willowy View Post

I DID know someone who neutered her cat (farm cat) with a rubberband. It didn't look quite right, maybe part of his penis was removed as well? I'm not sure. I understand there's a significant risk of tetanus with that method (livestock are given a tetanus shot when the band is put on), so that would be something to think about. Plus a lot of cats would pick at the area, and that could be a problem.

ugggh this is sick. And hopefully if we find a quick, easy and cost effective method (I think an injection would be much better then a pill) then these sort of sick things won't happen (as much) anymore.
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post #19 of 20
9/27/09 at 9:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by lmunsie View Post
I understand the need for a devils advocate every so often But honestly, the only reason this hasn't really happened yet is because there has been no money put into the research. No big bucks, the work just doesn't get done, that's how research works.

I work in drug discovery, targeting the brain for neurological disorders, so there are ways to target one organ and not the others, not saying it's easy, but it is do-able. Once science has figured it out,then you're done for decades to come.


Hmm,

I would have assumed that a lot of research has already gone into reproductive medicine concerning mammals

75 Million doesn't seem like much to come up with a spay pill or shot but we can keep our hopes up.

At the end of the day this seems a bit like a moot point anyway- they will either succeed or not. Let's hope they do.

regards,

christine
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post #20 of 20
9/27/09 at 10:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nes View Post
What about the rubber-band method most frequently used on cattle?

It shocks me that no one does this with cats! There is very little risk of infection or complication and much less pain. All you have to do it catch, restrain & band.
I've seen people do that to dogs. $300 on the shelter's vet bill later - the yellow lab (likely purebred if he came from where we suspect) had his nuts fixed up, they were skinned, infected - it was a royal mess & he almost died because of it.

I've seen it on quite a few "farm cats" - the people do it, it goes wrong - so they want to bring the kitty to the shelter because they won't spend money on the vet.

I can think of dozens of cases where this was tried - and the animal died.
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