Ratiboř

Cats have lived with humans since time immemorial. This is evidenced by numerous proverbs and sayings in which cats feature. All parents who go away for the weekend to their cottage and leave their teenage offspring at home alone can imagine what happens when "the cat's away, the mice will play." When someone plays with us like a cat with a mouse, it's not a pleasant experience. And when our boss beats around the bush when we ask for a raise, we probably won't get any bonuses, and all our efforts at work will have been... for nothing.

Cats are not only found in Czech proverbs. According to statistics, there are around 1.9 million cats living in our country. Of these, 60,000 are without a permanent home. Animal shelters take in around 35,000 unwanted kittens every year. Surprisingly, most of them are not the offspring of stray cats, but of cats that belong to someone. These are animals that were given away to so-called "good homes" or whose owners got rid of them because they didn't know what to do with them.

The only way to reduce the number of unwanted kittens and stop the overpopulation of cats is to have your cat neutered or spayed.

Neutering has a number of advantages

1. Neutering instead of drowning kittens

Having your cat neutered once is better than drowning kittens for the rest of your life. Drowning and other methods of killing kittens is a violation of the Animal Protection Act 249/1992 Coll. It is punishable by up to 2 years in prison. Abandoning an animal in order to get rid of it is also considered a violation of this law. For example, throwing kittens in a box into the woods or throwing them over a fence into someone else's garden.

2. Neutering prevents disease

Early neutering prevents uterine infections in cats. A neutered cat lives longer because her body is not exhausted by constant births. The natural instinct to hunt mice and small mammals remains intact.

3. Neutered male cats do not fight or roam

Did you know that each male cat can father up to 40 kittens per season? Owners of neutered cats praise the fact that their cats don't roam as much, don't fight, and stay at home, where they catch mice. This means you don't have to visit the vet as often to treat lacerations. It also reduces the risk of your cat being hit by a car on its way to romantic escapades.

4. A cat does not have to have kittens once in her lifetime

Every birth exhausts a cat, especially when she is still a kitten herself. A cat's first heat occurs around 4 months of age. Don't risk her health and have her neutered in time. Why continue to breed more cats when shelters are full of them? Many cats wander homeless, eking out a living by garbage cans or dying under the wheels of cars. Do you want a kitten? Get one from a shelter. During the summer and fall months, they have a really wide selection. Every kitten you produce takes away the chance of a kitten from a shelter or the street finding a home.

5. No more stress with giving away kittens

Giving away kittens has recently become almost an Olympic discipline. Advertisement portals are full of ads offering "adorable, cuddly kittens." Why should anyone be interested in yours? By neutering your cat, you save yourself the annual stress of finding homes for newborn kittens. Moreover, you can never be sure that the hands you give them to will really be "good." According to shelter statistics, every second kitten given away ends up on the street. Or do you not care what kind of life your cat's kitten will have?

6. Neutering saves you money

Neutering is cheaper than deworming and defleaing a litter of new kittens. Compared to the lifetime costs of a cat or tomcat, the price of neutering is negligible. Neutering is a quick and safe procedure. A young, healthy animal will be none the wiser the day after the procedure and will recover in a few days. The Feliti or Kasprocats neutering programs can also be used to finance the procedure.

Let's think about how we treat cats, because it reflects on us. Who among you panics and changes their plans for the day when a black cat crosses your path? I'd guess no one. Similarly, we should laugh at the outdated stories that neutering is against nature. Having a neutered cat or tomcat is an expression of responsibility towards our cats and the people around us.

Irena Balcarová | 776 095 841
www.kastruj.cz | www.feliti.cz