breeders & cat rescues on early neuter Sweden

J Feline Med Surg. 2012 Jun 29. [Epub ahead of print]
An internet survey of breeders’ and cat rescue organisation’s opinions about early castration of cats
Karin Pernestål 1, 2
Eva Axnér 1

1 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health, Department of Clinical Sciences, Division of Reproduction, Uppsala
2 Bagarmossens Animal Hospital, Bagarmossen, Sweden

Eva Axnér DVM, PhD, Dipl ECAR, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health, Department of Clinical Sciences, Division of Reproduction

Abstract
There has been concern that early castration of pedigree kittens may lead to a depletion of gene pools. Web-based questionnaires on early castration were distributed to breeders and cat rescue organisations. One of the reasons that breeders used early castration was to counteract what they considered irresponsible breeding, such as overuse of strains within the breed or production of cross-breeds. Of all pedigree kittens, 45.1% were kept intact while 54.9% were neutered before re-homing. Nineteen (65.5%) of the cat rescue organisations believed that early castration could be beneficial in reducing the number of homeless cats, but only six had applied early castration (20.6%). Three organisations replied that their veterinarian declined to do early castration and two believed that it was not safe for the kittens. There does not, necessarily, seem to be conflicting interests between keeping genetic variation in pedigree breeds and the possibility of limiting the population of homeless cats.