Cats | Pet Lover Blog

The hordes of homeless and feral cats everywhere are growing by leaps and bounds, and finally people are beginning to wake up to the necessity of neutering their cats.

Population Explosion

Because cats can reproduce several times a year, and kittens mature quickly, just 2 feral cats (the wild offspring of domestic cats) can quickly become 2,000. In fact, the feline reproduction statistics are staggering. 2 uncontrolled breeding cats produce: 2 litters a year, at a survival rate of 2.8 kittens per litter. Continued breeding will produce 12 cats the first year, 66 cats the second year, 2,201 cats in the third year, 3,822 cats in the fourth year, 12,680 cats in the fifth year, and on and on . . .

Unaltered Cats Spread Disease

Many of these feral cats are actually unaltered pet cats (or their offspring) that were released by owners who could no longer care for them. A colony of feral cats can spread diseases among pet cats and dogs in the area.

Even when these cats are fairly healthy, they are usually infested with fleas. Hungry cats will raid trash cans, and playful kittens will destroy shrubbery and soil lawn furniture.

Noise Pollution From Cats In Heat

When female cats are in heat, the colony can keep neighbors awake all night with their fighting and howling

Spaying and neutering cats provides several important benefits in addition to reducing the number of unwanted cats. If you have an un-neutered female cat at home, the sound of her mewling pitifully at the door will soon be joined by the yowling and shrieking of every tomcat in the neighborhood.Both indoor and outdoor tomcats will try to mark everything in sight with their odorous spray.

Reproductive Cancers In Unaltered Cats

Certain types of cancer are much more common in unaltered cats. These cancers of the reproductive organs are very rare in cats that are altered prior to 1 year of age. Unaltered cats can also develop a number of reproductive diseases that are contagious.

Help Make Every Cat A Wanted Cat

Kittens can be altered at quite a young age. Some humane societies routinely alter kittens at 8 weeks. While some veterinarians feel that it is better to wait until kittens are 5 or 6 months, that is often simply not a option. Certainly for feral kittens who are trapped for altering, then released back into their colonies, or for those who share a home with other unaltered cats, neutering at the earliest opportunity is critical.

Most cats heal well and without incident after being neutered. However, a cat can contract an infection in the incision. Check your cat daily to be sure the incision area has not turned red and puffy. If you notice your cat licking or chewing at the stitches, your vet may suggest a surgery collar to keep the stitches out of reach until the incision is healed. While male cats can be active and bouncy without injuring themselves after neutering, female cats should be confined indoors for a few days after the surgery.

Feline “Zero Population Growth”

Unless you’re a cat breeder, your cat almost certainly would be better off neutered. The typical cost of neutering a cat is about $125 for a female and $65 for a male. If the cost is too much for you to afford, many communities have special funds available for neutering cats. Your humane society or veterinarian can give you more information.

Visit New Cat to learn more. Ron King is a full-time researcher, writer, and web developer with a website at Website.

Copyright 2005 Ron King. This article may be reprinted if the resource box is left intact.

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Cats experience anxiety and get stressed out just like us human staffers. Unlike people, cats don’t have a lot of creative ways to express their feelings. Unfortunately, when cats suffer from stress and anxiety, they generally communicate it in a very clear way that can really turn humans upside down. They usually tell us by not using the cat litter box.

And since we can’t speak meow, and cats don’t talk, the challenge is to figure why our cats aren’t feeling right. Usually when a cat stops using her litter box, it’s a medical problem. But if it isn’t, one of causes high on my list is stress and anxiety.

What do cats get anxious about? Here’s a partial list:

- Moving to a new home

- Gaining a new household member, animal or human

- You change jobs and start a new schedule

- You bring new furniture into your home

- Kitty’s favorite person moves out, and she misses that individual

- Construction and/or remodeling of your home

- Relocation of her cat litter box(es)

- Change in type of cat litter

This list is not complete. Felines are complicated creatures, and almost anything can set them off.

If your cat suddenly stops using the litter box out of the blue, eliminate any medical causes first. If kitty gets a clean bill of health, examine the list above, and think about any recent changes you’ve made to your home. If it appears to be a coincidence, it probably isn’t.

This can be a tough problem to solve, but once you figure out the cause, you can start developing solutions. If the stress-inducing situation is temporary (such as the last three items on my list), they can be dealt with.

On the other hand, if the problem appears to be one of the first five, you’ll need plenty of patience and a strategy to get kitty right again.

Often, once kitty gets used to the change, she’ll calm down and start to use her litter box again. During her adjustment period, it may work to confine her to one room with her food, water, litter box, bedding, and toys. This limits the amount of damage done to your home, and as kitty realizes the changes mean her no harm, she’ll get back to her good cat litter box habits.

You can also help kitty calm down by purchasing synthetic feline hormones. These will reassure her that life is still OK. You can also administer homeopathic remedies that are completely natural and cause no side effects.

Many feline owners get an anti-anxiety prescription for kitty, but if your cat freaks out over being pilled, this will increase her stress. If this is the case, rely on the synthetic hormones and homeopathic remedies to solve this problem.

Consult with your vet on the best course of action to help your kitty quickly get over her stress and anxiety. Reassure your cat with lots of extra attention and love, and this too shall pass!

Nancy stopped the cat urine odor problem at her home, and kept the kitty that caused it. “18 Ways to Stop Cat Urine Odor Problems” saves you money, time and frustration by solving your cat urine odor problem - permanently.

http://www.stopcaturineodor.com

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For some of us, a common-or-garden Tom cat is not enough. We want quality feline company with a pedigree and the only way to guarantee that a cat is a purebreed is to contact one of the national cat associations or similar organisations in other countries.

To find a purebred cat, you may start with the Cat Fancier’s Association. The CFA was created to maintain breed standards and to register litters as purebreds. The association also holds cat shows and judges them based on how closely they adhere to the standards. They recognize only 41 breeds of cats.

The breeder registers a litter of kittens with the Cat Fancier’s Association. Then they have the option of deciding whether or not to allow the kitten to be bred. Only cats with a pin number on their registration forms will be eligible to have their kittens registered. This allows the breeders to continue to better their breeds. Once the litter is registered, each kitten will need to be individually registered by its new owner.

There are three categories of recognized cats. They are the Championship Class, the Provisional Class, and the Miscellaneous Class. Each bred that the CFA recognizes is in one of these groups. They must win first place in their breed and then their class before they can compete for the title of best in show.

The Championship Class are those cats who are established cat breeds. The breeds in the Provisional Class have been more recently established. They are still being watched to insure that they conform to the new breed standard. Finally, the one breed currently in the Miscellaneous Class is still having a breed standard created and cannot actually compete for the best in show title.

In Canada, you can register your cat in the Canadian Cat Association. This association was formed by Canadians who did not want to register their cats with an association in another country. There are other popular cat registries including the Traditional Cat Association, which supports original breed standards and does not uphold current trends that exaggerate breed characteristics, the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy, which is the United Kingdom’s cat registry, and the F

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