Spaying and Neutering Good for A Cat’s Health?

Most people realize that preventing cats from breeding reduces the number of homeless felines. Spaying or neutering at an early age provides huge health benefits:

· 99.9% reduction in breast cancer. 33% of un-spayed female cats will get breast tumors. Half of these will be malignant. Spaying a cat before its first heat cycle (as early as 6-months old) can reduce the odds to 1 in 20,000.

· 10% of our feline pets get ovarian cancer. Spaying eliminates this risk.

· After age 7, 33% of the unspayed feline population will get a severe uterine infection, called pyometra. This typically requires emergency surgery, and can be fatal. Spaying reduces the risk of pyometra by 100%.

· Un-spayed females have an 85% chance of needing a costly emergency procedure.

· Spaying a cat before six months of age adds, on average, 12 to 18 months to their life expectancy.

· Un-neutered male cats roam and spray urine to mark their territory. Un-neutered cat urine is horrendously smelly. It soaks into clothes, hair and furniture and is very difficult to remove with any cleaner.

· Roaming cats face life-shortening risks in our urban environment.

--- Information provided by Dr. Michael Rumore, Lake Seminole Animal Hospital See Dr. Rumore on Studio 10 each month with SPCA Tampa Bay