In the latest instalment of her column, pet expert Pauline Dewberry tackles the important issue of neutering your cats.

In theory, your female cat can give birth to up to three litters of kittens each year. Assuming she has an average litter of four kittens, that’s 12 kittens a year. Over an average lifespan for an indoor kitty of say, 15 years, that’s about 180 kittens in her lifetime.

Now, factor in if she has two females per litter and each female has three litters of kittens per year, that could add up to a staggering 370,000 kittens in seven years. Double this figure to get a more accurate number of kittens if our breeding mothers all live to about 15 years of age.

What happens to all those kittens? Not every single one of them will find a loving home. Cats Protection helps 200,000 cats every year, but that still leaves a huge number waiting for their forever home. Other animal charities, like Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, the RSPCA, the Blue Cross, the PDSA and all the hundreds of smaller charities throughout the UK all take in unwanted pets.

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Space at these charities is at a premium, however, and sometimes cats are euthanised to allow room for more to be taken in. The charities make the decision to euthanise a cat based on its condition and whether it has any long-term illness or disability which could affect its quality of life, and therefore its adoption prospects.

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This is a catastrophic situation which could be resolved so easily. Neutering and spaying cats (and dogs) before the age of maturity – around four months now for cats – and this feline explosion and needless euthanising of healthy animals could end almost overnight.

Allowing a female cat to have endless litters of kittens is tantamount to cruelty. It takes a lot out of her to feed her kittens and once they’re weaned, then if she gets pregnant again, her body hasn’t had chance to fully recover.

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If you’re low on funds, organisations like Cats Protection can help by giving you a voucher to offset the cost of neutering or spaying. Occasionally, veterinary practices will neuter or spay for a reduced cost as part of an awareness drive or for charitable reasons.

  • Pauline is a pet behaviourist majoring in cat behaviour and also a pet bereavement counsellor. She also runs the website www.thedailymews.com

Unspayed female cats can suffer from ovarian cancer and uterine infections due to constantly fluctuating hormones. Spaying will reduce the risk of mammary cancer as she ages. Some people think, wrongly, that a female cat should have just one litter of kittens. They also think that if a cat is spayed, she won’t grow properly, or she’ll get fat. Compared to tom cats, females are usually much smaller, and fed the right diet and with plenty of exercise she should keep her trim figure.