Spenden
- Activities
- About NetAP
- Your help
- Education
- Media
There is a huge amount of cat misery worldwide. Millions and millions of cats are killed every year because they are unwanted. Countless others eke out an existence characterised by hunger, disease or the consequences of accidents. Neutering is the only way to break this cycle of misery and prevent this animal suffering proactively and sustainably.
There are an estimated 2 million cats living in Switzerland. While some of them enjoy life as sheltered pets, others are criminally neglected by their owners. And a further proportion of cats live completely on their own, without anyone really noticing them.
Animal shelters are overcrowded and there are hardly any emergency places left. And even if hardly anyone talks about it, it is unfortunately a fact that cats are also constantly being killed in Swiss animal shelters because they are considered difficult to place and because nobody wants them any more, given the flood of free kittens available on every corner and on the internet.
There are still far too many people who don’t want to have their cats neutered. They make all sorts of excuses for this. We have summarised these in our ‘Bullshit Bingo’. If it wasn’t so sad for the animals, you could laugh about it.
Neutering a cat only has advantages:
Many cat diseases such as FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, also known as feline aids), FeLV (Feline Leukaemia Virus, also known as leukosis) or FPV (Feline Parvovirus or feline infectious diarrhoea) are mainly transmitted through the mating act and bite injuries. Female animals in particular, which are fixed by the male cat during the act by biting on the neck, can also become infected through injuries. Injuries are mainly caused during territorial fights. Neutering eliminates these risks. As neutered cats are demonstrably more balanced and less aggressive, there is generally less biting, which further reduces the risk of infection.
If the animals are neutered early, there is hardly any risk of hormonal diseases such as cysts, uterine inflammation, uterine suppuration or mammary tumours in female cats and prostate problems in male cats.
Neutered cats stray less. They have smaller territories and cross fewer roads because they are not looking for mates. This massively reduces the risk of accidents.
Pregnancy and birth harbour numerous health risks for mothers and babies, which can lead to the animals’ agonising death if undetected. The necessary veterinary care incurs high costs. An emergency caesarean section, for example, is three times as expensive as neutering. If the mother cannot care for the kittens herself, they have to be looked after day and night for a long time, which requires a lot of time, knowledge and willpower and is unfortunately not always crowned with success.
Neutered cats do not show any symptoms of heat (e.g. loud crying, frequent and foul-smelling urine marking, increased territorial fights). They have a reduced need to roam, show less aggression and are often found to be more human-centred.
The high population density of cats is being criticised. Cats are often blamed for the decline in species. Regardless of how great the contribution of cats really is, this risk would automatically be reduced significantly if the population density of cats were to fall. Furthermore, neutered cats do not mate with wild cats and therefore do not contribute to the mixing of the gene pool of this protected species.
Reproduction is not necessary for cats, neither from a medical nor a behavioural point of view.
