what would happen..

[mistys mum]

about 6 years ago my friend had a new neigbour that had 3 very large toms , (my friend had 6 desexed cats) the toms started to spray all over her place patio chairs table bbq plants it just plain stunk, some of her cats got scared and wouldnt leave the house so for about 2 months this went on. she saw her neighbour and was told to mind her on buisennes. so thats what she did, befriended all 3 toms and quietly took them of the vets, had them all desexed neighbour non the wiser and after another couple of weeks a better smelling backyard.

Right or wrong, I think right. she didnt ask for any money as she felt it wasnt the fault of the cats that they had a owner that didnt really care.

 

[maverick_kitten]

Originally Posted by Sweets

OK..add a new dumb question to the dumb question list....is the female no longer available for breeding purebreds now?? I seem to remember reading somewhere that the line is now broken and her kittens wouldn't be considered quality even tho her next breeding is with a purebreed stud??

i *think* thats true for some dog breeders to discourage the breeding of cross-breeds

 

[vegansoprano]

owning an un-neutered tom is imo more irresponsible than owning an unspayed female as you have no way of knowing how many kittens he has made nor how they are being looked after or indeed if the exsist. an un-neutered male can make more kittens per season than a female potentially. (not to say i agree with owning un-spayed females)

Hmmm...I'm not sure I agree with that. The only reason is that one tom can impregnate pretty much an infinite number of females, but there is a definite number of litters that each female can have per year given the opportunity. If one tom is neutered, likely there's another coming along right behind him to impregnate every female on the block. But having even one female spayed means less breeding overall.

More specifically, if you have a neighborhood with 5 intact toms and 5 intact females, you can realistically expect to have 10 litters of kittens born per year (2 per female). If you neuter one or even 4 of the toms, you can still expect 10 litters to be born - it just means that either each tom will be siring more kittens and possibly that the litters will be somewhat smaller (given induced ovulation). But in the same community, if you spay one female and leave all 5 toms intact, you have reduced the number of litters born per year from 10 to 8. So there has been an impact on breeding.

Obviously I'm not even remotely saying it's okay to leave a tom intact. Neutering male cats has many benefits, both for the cats and for the community, but it's spays that actually have the measurable impact on population.