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Neutering: Most owners will have their
male cats neutered since it is a well known worry that they may “mark
their territory” or urinate in inappropriate places if they are
left intact. Behaviorists believe some cats may have more of a tendency
to be territorial than others. We recommend neutering your male cat between
the ages of 5 and 6 months. This should also reduce behaviors such as
mounting other cats in the household or overt aggression toward family
members.
Spaying: Female cats
are seasonally polyestrus, meaning they can go in and out of heat frequently
during the spring and fall. When a cat goes into heat, she exhibits signs
such as vocalization, rolling over on her back, standing with her hind
end elevated, being anxious, urinating out of her box, and not eating
well. During heat cycles, she may also have a tendency to want to escape
from your home in search of a mate.
Besides these behavioral considerations, there are very
important medical benefits to having your female spayed. We know from
current literature that spaying a female prior to her first heat will
virtually eliminate the chance of breast cancer in her lifetime. When
we perform a spay, a complete ovariohysterectomy is done, thereby eliminating
all chances of ovarian and uterine cancer as well as uterine infections.
We recommend spaying cats between five and six months of age. Most females
will not come into heat before this. We will spay a cat when she is in
heat if necessary.
Declawing: An elective
procedure, declawing isn’t necessary if a cat doesn’t use
its claws to destroy furniture or to be aggressive. When a cat is being
destructive and methods such as frequent nail trims and scratching posts
have failed, we will declaw your cat. We want your relationship with your
cat to be a happy and non-frustrating experience.
If it is determined that declawing in necessary, we generally
prefer to declaw cats whenever their routine spay or neuter is being performed,
usually at between 5 and 6 months of age. We will declaw a kitten as early
as 3 months of age if it is being very destructive; in this circumstance,
the spay or neuter can also be moved up and performed as early as 3 months
of age. By doing both procedures at the same time, the cat experiences
only one bout of surgical stress and one course of anesthesia.
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