Feline Vasectomy

Hello all!

I want to start off by saying you are all probably going to think I am crazy, buuuuut I am asking this anyways because I cannot find any information on this anywhere. I have a 3 month old kitten that I was given by a lady who lives on a farm in a rural area. Her barn cat was pregnant and had a litter of kittens and she needed to get rid of them. So his first 2.5 months were spent living in a barn outside with his mom and his brothers and sisters. Despite this he is a very friendly and loving kitten. He is very smart too, he used his litter box right away and I have never had an issue with him having accidents anywhere. He is an indoor cat until he completes his vaccines and then I will start letting him out to play as we live in a fairly rural area. I love him a lot and I honestly just want to do everything in my power to make sure he has a happy and healthy life.

So getting to the question, I am very hesitant to neuter my little guy. I am a holistic nutritionist and am really inclined to live as close to nature as possible. To give you an idea of my personal beliefs; I won't take birth control pills as it alters my hormones. I feed him the best food, the cleanest water, and do everything else in my power to make sure he is as healthy as possible. I don't agree with neutering because they have to drug him to put him out, surgically operate on him, remove a piece of his body, which also takes away all his natural sex hormones. I am worried about this, as with any living creature, naturally occurring hormones are an important part of life and to take those away can cause health problems down the road. Also sex is a natural part of life and I feel horrible denying him that all together. I know people say its very safe and better for the cat and everything. But I am just having a very very hard time accepting it. This is the first time I have had to make the decision. So naturally I have been doing a lot of reading on the subject and I came across can vasectomy's instead of neutering. Where the male cat cannot impregnate a female, but still has his testes in tact and still has his natural hormones.

So my question is more of a 'what if' scenario I guess. 

What if instead of neutering my cat, I got him a cat vasectomy so he cannot impregnate other cats, and got him a female companion (and got her tubes tied, instead of spaying). Now I know that this won't deal with the other problems that neutering will such as spraying, roaming, and fighting. But I am genuinely curious... if he has a female companion, will that stop him from roaming? Or will he still go looking for other females? I am not concerned with the fighting as he will be vaccinated and many cats still fight after they have been fixed anyways. I guess the last concern is the spraying. Anybody know how I could potentially deal with spraying without getting him neutered? 

I hope you guys don't think I am a horrible pet owner. I genuinely care for my little guy, as you can tell, I have thought about this A LOT; and yes, to me it is definitely worth this entire process to let him experience all aspects of life. 

So is this a completely insane idea or could it work? Pros? Cons? Would love to hear what people think and if there is anyone out there who has a cat who has undergone a vasectomy?

TLM123 said:

So my question is more of a 'what if' scenario I guess. 

What if instead of neutering my cat, I got him a cat vasectomy so he cannot impregnate other cats, and got him a female companion (and got her tubes tied, instead of spaying). Now I know that this won't deal with the other problems that neutering will such as spraying, roaming, and fighting. But I am genuinely curious... if he has a female companion, will that stop him from roaming? Or will he still go looking for other females? I am not concerned with the fighting as he will be vaccinated and many cats still fight after they have been fixed anyways. I guess the last concern is the spraying. Anybody know how I could potentially deal with spraying without getting him neutered? 

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Vasectomy isn't a crazy idea, it's possible if you can find a vet to do it. He would still have to be anesthetized, so it doesn't address that part of the equation at all.

I do ask that you do not put human emotions on your cat. Sex is not enjoyable for them, it is purely hormones and instinct. In fact, it's painful and dangerous for the female.

A vasectomy will not stop his instincts to roam. It is only not having those hormones driving him that alters all of those instincts - to mark territory, to defend territory, to roam for mates - all of that will remain intact.

Please also do not count on those vaccinations to protect your cat from FeLV or FIV - and they would not necessarily prevent him from passing them on. The FeLV vaccination will result in your cat always testing positive for FeLV, so you'll never know whether he's been infected or not. It only works about 70% of the time. The FIV vaccine is basically useless, it works only for one certain strain of FIV that is a strain present only in a very select area of the Southern US - and it isn't the only strain of virus present there.

So all vasectomy with vaccines achieves is a cat that cannot impregnate a female.

I TNR ferals - have for 11 years now. I've worked with a lot of cats, and currently have an active colony of about 11. I have two males that I haven't trapped yet that have been sporadically around for a few months. Almost every time I see them, they've got a new wound. Thank goodness they do seem to be healing on their own, because I haven't been able to trap them to get them neutered, let alone to get abscessed wounds treated. We gave away our drop trap, so we've really got to put another one together, ASAP. I cannot imagine what this colony would look like if I were getting them vasectomies rather than being neutered. I personally prefer to do what's best for the community of cats.

The idea about tying a female cats tubes could cause all kinds of problems.  She would still go into heat and it would be pretty much a continuous thing except in winter.  Dry heat cycles, cycles where she doesn't get pregnant, which they all will be would put her at risk of getting pyometra(sp).  The lining of the uterus becomes permanently thickened from all the heat cycles.   Cysts that secrete fluid will form in the lining of the uterus and that's the perfect environment for infection.  It's a cumulative affect on the lining of the uterus so as she got older she would be more at risk.

Thank you for the information! I'm not really thinking along the lines of that they should have sex because it feels good or anything. Its just my belief that the healthiest thing would be the closest thing to how they would live naturally. So he would still roam even if I had a female around eh? I would probably have to keep them separated some of the time too wouldn't I?

You are probably right that I should just get him neutered but I just wanted to make sure I explored every possible alternative first. Thank you so much for helping, I couldn't find information on this anywhere!

Follow up question: When cats are in the wild, do they breed literally every time they go into heat? 

That just sounds strange to me, I know there is a problem with the domestic cat population, but there never seems to be a problem with wild cats... are they different than house cats?

Sorry if thats a really stupid question, I'm honestly just curious.

A female can have two or three litters a year.  They do breed every time they go into heat and a cat can go into heat before her kittens are fully weaned.  Ferals, unless they are taken care of by a TNR group, live a very short hard life.  Part of that is the fighting over females in heat and all the litters that the females have.

If cats are true ferals you rarely see them.  Many times they are actually strays but the ferals tend to be very elusive.

**Just a side note...Above poster made the comment that a cat given the FeLV vaccine will always test positive for FeLV, this is not the case. Rather, it is the FIV vaccine that will cause a cat to always test positive for FIV.

Wild cats also have a rough life. Disease, famine, habitat loss, injury, infection, prey (humans being one of the top predators)...they suffer the same things any wild animal does.

Exploring your options is always a wise thing to do.

I'm not clear what you mean by "wild cat." If feral cats, then yes the queen will repeatedly go into heat if not mated and made pregnant. Ovulation is a result of mating in domestic cats, not ovulation triggering the heat cycle.

A vasectomy for your cat will keep him from impregnating a queen but it will not alter (bad pun, I know) his hormone-driven behavior.

I watched both my male cats be neutered. An injection. Tiny incision, didn't even need a stitch to close afterwards. Testes removed, duct folded and stapled. Other side done. Took just minutes and the boys quickly woke up afterwards.

Intact males will roam. They fight. They spray to mark territory and it is very stinky. Their urine is stronger smelling too.

A feral cat is living a natural life, by your terms. They die at a comparatively young age. Few of the kittens live to become old enough to breed. A domesticated cat, neutered or spayed, often lives into its late teen or even early 20s.

I'm not one of the advisors or experts here so I'm just going to say what I think the outcome would be... a whole 'lotta regret. I'm basing this on behaviors driven by hormones.

It seems logical that an intact (but tube tied) male would exhibit all the behaviors of, well, an intact male. Spraying, aggressively seeking out females, roaming, etc. Why wouldn't he? These are hormone driven.

I agree that the female would have multiple heat cycles with the aforementioned physical consequences.... and yowl, yowl, yowl her discomfort. YES discomfort.

In a sense, I think animals who are not driven (to distraction) by hormones live a calmer, more comfortable life. Animals are not people, they do not have our complex emotions associated with reproduction - it is an on/off switch for behaviors. If you like those behaviors, more power to you... but you would be making the animals uncomfortable in their own skin. There is a reason that they call it nature.

Me, I detest any form of "mutilation," as it were - but I think it is worse to subject an animal to its hormonal drives unless the purpose is for breeding. So, again, if you LIKE unrelenting howling (female) and having your home sprayed, along with aggression (male), hey, its your karma.

I vote no.

I'm a matter of fact kind of guy - and this is my measured opinion.

Thank you everyone for the responses. I really needed to hear good reasons on why that wasn't the best idea. I think I have decided that I will get him fixed and just make sure I am there for him during the whole procedure. 

TLM123 said:

Follow up question: When cats are in the wild, do they breed literally every time they go into heat? 
That just sounds strange to me, I know there is a problem with the domestic cat population, but there never seems to be a problem with wild cats... are they different than house cats?
Sorry if thats a really stupid question, I'm honestly just curious.

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If you live in a rural area with farms, there's likely a feral cat population you're not aware of. It really depends upon where you live whether or not there is a "problem" with feral cats. As someone who pays attention to feral cats in the news, it sure seems to me like feral cats are under attack everywhere. We've had an "easy" few years here now - we've only had to TNR 4 - 6 cats a year the past couple of years. When we first started, we had to trap over 40 cats the first year. In suburban/urban areas, groups can have to trap that many cats in a day.

If you want to read up on breeding in feral cats, this is a good study (it's just the abstract): http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.2460/javma.2004.225.1399

savingpaws said:

**Just a side note...Above poster made the comment that a cat given the FeLV vaccine will always test positive for FeLV, this is not the case. Rather, it is the FIV vaccine that will cause a cat to always test positive for FIV.

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THANK YOU. I get this backwards too often. :anon:

NBrazil said:

In a sense, I think animals who are not driven (to distraction) by hormones live a calmer, more comfortable life. Animals are not people, they do not have our complex emotions associated with reproduction - it is an on/off switch for behaviors. If you like those behaviors, more power to you... but you would be making the animals uncomfortable in their own skin. There is a reason that they call it nature.

Me, I detest any form of "mutilation," as it were - but I think it is worse to subject an animal to its hormonal drives unless the purpose is for breeding.

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I think this sums it up really well. The difference between the intact males/females and those still intact in a feral colony is.... stark. Vasectomy or tube tying keeps the cats intact, just unable to reproduce.

Just out of curiosity - given your preference for natural, do you feed your cat(s) a raw diet?

Catapault said:

 
I'm not clear what you mean by "wild cat." If feral cats, then yes the queen will repeatedly go into heat if not mated and made pregnant. Ovulation is a result of mating in domestic cats, not ovulation triggering the heat cycle.

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I think she meant the wild, as for the wild species of the cat e.g. various Felis silvestris species.

It was the question that I've asked myself too, so I think there are a number of factors why wild animals do not run into such a problem - there are larger predators around that will eat the kittens or even an adult cat. Then the question is what about lions, but their young are often eaten by hyena or killed by the males to take over the pride.

Then they do not live in colonies so they have less opportunity to breed. They are widely distributed so one male would only mate with one female at a time. Then there is also a lot of competition so out of a number of contenders only one will mate. Also I think that the fight itself decreases the amount of testosterone, especially if you have lost the fight - so that guy will not want to mate any more after the fight is over.

Also I think (this is a very unscientific but I like the idea) the wild animals have lower sex drive. They concentrate on survival and not on mating so much. However when it comes to the house cats - the cat with the highest sex drive will often have the chance to mate again with other females... and so on.

Icycat, there's a huge difference between female domestic and / or feral cats that will repeatedly come into season until bred and the big cats such as lions, tigers, leopards and such that have a distinct season. Lions - there are few males and a number of females to a pride of lions. The alpha male breeds the females. Male cubs, when reaching maturity, will be attacked and chased from the pride by the resident alpha male. Only when the alpha male ages out of that position, is no longer able to fight off attempts to take over by another male, or is seriously injured by a prey animal will another male lion take over the pride - and perhaps killing all the cubs. It happens but not as a matter of course with every litter of cubs.

Then you say: "Then they do not live in colonies so they have less opportunity to breed. They are widely distributed so one male would only mate with one female at a time. Then there is also a lot of competition so out of a number of contenders only one will mate. Also I think that the fight itself decreases the amount of testosterone, especially if you have lost the fight - so that guy will not want to mate any more after the fight is over."

Widely distributed means nothing. Tomcats will travel tremendous distances for a queen in heat. She, in turn, will mate with several available males - each kitten in a litter can have a different father. Win or lose a fight means nothing to the drive to mate - may not be first in line but mate they will, unless so seriously wounded that survival is uncertain.

Wild animals have a lower sex drive? Sorry, but that's not true. The name of the game is create the next generation. Better to mate and create the next generation than lead a peaceful, stress-reduced longer life.

Pack animals like wolves - yes, only the alpha male and female will breed, and the rest of the pack will not, and will act as aunties and uncles for the one litter of cubs.

But that is not the behavior of domestic / feral cats. A female will breed at every heat until worn out and debilitated she dies at an early age.

Catapault said:

Widely distributed means nothing. Tomcats will travel tremendous distances for a queen in heat. She, in turn, will mate with several available males - each kitten in a litter can have a different father. Win or lose a fight means nothing to the drive to mate - may not be first in line but mate they will, unless so seriously wounded that survival is uncertain.

Wild animals have a lower sex drive? Sorry, but that's not true. The name of the game is create the next generation. Better to mate and create the next generation than lead a peaceful, stress-reduced longer life.

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Catapault, thanks you for your informative answer, I stand corrected! 

It is nice to know that the cat who looses the fight also has a chance to court the lady . However the wild ones will not mate with as many females as the suburban population of stray/feral cats with the higher animal population density.

Again I should have consulted the literature, even if it be Wikipedia, however I my own ideas were also not completely unintended for the entertainment purposes

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to reply because I have *actually* had this done for my cat. Yes, he has had a vasectomy rather than a neuter. I had to go to a veterinary college to get it done: my vet refused, and also refused me a referral, so I had to phone around myself.

The surgery is more expensive and more involved -- takes about an hour and involves incisions to the lower belly area. The surgeon must be careful not to cut the blood supply to the testicles as the testicular artery runs alongside the sperm tubes.

So far we are completely happy with the results. However, I think whether or not it's a good idea really depends on the cat (as well as the human guardian).

Our tom doesn't spray (he didn't even spray in response to moving house overseas), is rambunctious but not aggressive, and doesn't pester the ladies overly when they are not in season. (His sex drive seems to "activate" in response to an estrus queen, but otherwise is rather dormant.) He's a very loving cat, quite tolerant of other cats, and more or less immediately adopted a kitten he didn't father, while my queen was still growling and hissing at her. In short, he doesn't fit the tom cat stereotype at all. However, his urine has never smelled overly strong and he has not developed tom cat jowls so it could be that his testosterone levels are naturally low (though I have not had them checked).

He's still rather young, so we will see how his behaviour develops over time, but so far living with hormonally intact cats presents virtually zero additional problems (at least now that I no longer have to worry about kittens being conceived). I'd definitely choose this procedure again.

If anyone is wondering why I chose this sterilization method it's because I find it very hard to believe that virtually eradicating sex hormones is good for a cat's overall health, especially when the evidence in other mammals is to the contrary. That said, I would neuter or spay in the case of intolerable behaviour problems, e.g. spraying or loud calling, so I don't take a black and white stance on the issue.

To kind of echo what others have said: Cats don't have human emotions when it comes to sexual behaviors. Or anything else, really. I think one of the harder things about owning a pet is trying to understand their emotions. Yes they are sentient, but their thought/emotional process is unlike ours. Neutering a male cat is not traumatic to him. It's the responsible thing to do, not just for keeping him from getting female cats pregnant, but it  makes them a more docile pet and will prevent unwanted behaviors.

I think there can be some uses for vasectomy--- a breeder may want a vasectomized tom around to bring females out of heat when it's not their time to have a litter. And I think it might be beneficial in a feral colony to have a few vasectomized toms, so if an unspayed female shows up, she might be mated by one of the sterile toms and not get pregnant, giving the caretaker extra time to get her spayed.

For pets, though, it's just not the best idea, IMO. Almost all toms spray and generally act in a way one would not want a housepet to act. There are a few toms that may be more docile and don't spray, but that's a very low percentage. Since tomcat behavior is a major cause of cats being dumped by their owners, and most shelters automatically kill intact toms over a certain age, I think it's just too risky and I would never recommend it for the average pet home.

But for those who are absolutely certain they're willing to put up with tomcat behaviors, they're welcome to it. I won't argue .

As for whether it's "natural", I don't bother with that. Domestic animals are not natural. And wild animals (including truly feral cats) live a hard, fast life---have as many babies as possible before they die. Longevity isn't really the main concern. So any aspect of pet keeping is wholly unnatural. We want our pets to live a long healthy life.

In response to TwoTabbies, I find it really odd that the conversation around gonadectomy focuses on whether cats are emotionally invested in their sexual behaviours. This seems like the projection onto animals of a human way of valuing sex. I think that, because sex is such an emotional issue for humans, we tend to zoom in on this aspect of neutering and totally forget that gonads actually do many other useful things, for instance regulating metabolism and supporting healthy cognitive function. There's lots of relevant research out there; I can send links if you're interested.

If you read my post carefully, I clearly state that I chose vasectomy because I was concerned about the poorly-understood long-term health consequences of neutering, not my cat's emotional attachment to his sex life. My consulting vet stated outright that the long-term consequences of neutering in cats are poorly understood. She didn't even try the usual "he'll be healthier and happier" line, even as she was giving me dire warnings about cat balls, attempting to sway me toward a neuter. You do eliminate the risk of a few cancers and infections, but you do so at the cost of basically shooting a torpedo through the endocrine system (these are my words).

In response to Willowy, my decision was motivated by health and well-being concerns, not by wanting to keep things "natural". I'm only concerned about being natural insofar as it promotes health and vigour. There is enough evidence that gonadal hormones are central to health and well-being in multiple mammals to make me baulk at eliminating them in the absence of problem behaviours. For instance, spayed cats move around less and require ~25% fewer calories than their intact counterparts; I'm inclined to think this has more to do with the role steroid hormones play in promoting alertness and energy levels than not having to "roam in search of a mate", as commonly claimed. (If you yoinked my ovaries I'd probably feel like crap and lie around all day too.) Here's an interesting discussion of cat neutering and metabolism: http://www.vetsonline.com/publicati...-its-impact-on-weight-and-body-condition.html. That's where I got the above 25% figure.

Is there any hard, quantitative evidence about what percentage of tom cats spray and under what conditions? I ask because I'm starting to realize that there is a lot of hearsay and inherited wisdom around neutering and much of it has little to no systematic scientific support. I'm starting to get extremely sceptical because I have yet to encounter any negative consequences of not neutering (other than two unplanned kittens conceived while I was trying to get the vasectomy done -- but that will not happen again). My home does not reek of urine, there are no yowling neighbourhood toms outside my door, my cats are not constantly trying to bolt out of the house, and I have remarkably little inter-cat aggression by anyone's standards.

I ran across this interesting article: http://www.researchgate.net/publica...nd_the_neutering_myth_Sticking_to_the_science. Although it is on dogs I think the author hits the nail on the head when she writes, "the role of myth – particularly as it pertains to sex and behaviour – can be enormous and can overwhelm that which is actually scientifically established." And "...what we assume is better measured...".

I would appreciate a more nuanced and honest discussion of what is clearly a very complex issue, philosophically, ethically, and physiologically. Emotions run so high around neutering and the message is so canned and repetitive that people seem to have lost the ability to think critically or entertain other possibilities, and this to me is a BIG red flag. More than anything else, the lack of nuanced discussion is what made me stop in my tracks and opt for vasectomy instead.

Here are some thought-provoking articles by vets that I really appreciated:
http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/May-2013/The-Peculiar-Politics-Of-Pet-Sterilization/

http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/spay-neuter-cats-debate

http://www.sfgate.com/pets/yourwhol...truth-about-spaying-and-neutering-2464233.php

All that said, I am not flat-out opposed to neutering. I would neuter a tom who sprayed and I would spay a queen who called loudly, but I would do it for my own sanity and convenience, not their well-being.

There is one big difference between female dogs and cats and that is their heat cycles.  I am assuming that any female that has had a tubal ligation instead of a spay would still go into heat.  A dog goes into heat twice a year where many kitties will cycle in and out of heat until they mate.  There is a uterine infection called pyometra that both dogs and kitties can get..  It's caused by fluid filled cysts in the blood engorged lining of the uterus.  A cat that is continually having 'dry' heat cycles would be at risk of developing this.  I know many breeders are very cognizant of the number of dry heat cycles a queen has had because of the risk of pyometra.