Neutering a male cat that isn't yours

[McGraw]

• Please not that I don't intend to do this, it just crossed my mind and I'm interested in the legalities of it*

We are fully registered breeders and keep a couple of our girls active so we can have the ocassional litter with them.

For reasons of unwanted pregnancies, safety and fleas, they live indoors. They have the run of the house and back garden which has high walls that they seem to not be bothered to escape over so we leave them out there semi-supervised.

However, we now have a regular intruder who is very interested in our girls and he is equipped to impregnate them. This has to be avoided due to the possibilities of feline leukaemia which our cats are purposely not vaccinated for, unnecessary preganancies and fleas (kitten killers).

Now we can't really let them out for any period of time on their own and I feel that I shouldn't have to put up with someone else's cat coming on our property and trying to impregnate our girls. Netting the top of the garden is not a possibility.

I'm hoping I can track the owner down and offer to pay for their cat to be snipped but I'm wondering if he could be a bit of a wandering stray so this might not be an option.

What would happen if I nipped him to the vet and had him done?

It would also stop a few unwanted litters in the area as well.

His owner might not like the idea of him being operated on unnecesarily and would no doubt be freaked out by his emasculated moggy turning up one day but would the police even care?

[McGraw]

Well it would be cat...or maybe kitnapping wouldn't it

No way I would do it unless I knew for sure it was a stray and how do you ever know for sure?

Just frustrating really...maybe a few squirts from a water pistol might encourage him not to come back.

[McGraw]

Some interesting replies.

Firstly, I won't be doing this as I said, the thought crossed my mind and I was interested to know the legalities...if I can take a stray/feral on, surely I can have it neutered? I did think if it had been chipped then it would be a good way to track the owner.

Secondly, to anyone who was an entire male cat, don't they spray in your house?

I might end up having them done if they can't have their outside freedom anymore but that means we won't be able to have our own cats to breed anymore and will have to buy them instead and get no satisfaction from producing our own. This is hardly fair on us just because someone who probably can't be bothered or is ignorant of the unwanted litters their cat will produce.

And yes, they are "our girls" as opposed to "our boys". I think calling them queens might have come a cross a little pretentious in a car forum.

[McGraw]

shoehorn said:

Mine is fully functional,I couldn`t bring myself to do it to him (and have yet to find a vet brave enough)but I think its down to feeling like there is a need,lack of confidence or perception of threat or competition is a trigger,apparently neutering wont always stop spraying

Or the urge to hump.
In our garden and the surrounding fields there is no direct competitor,save the odd fox that fancies its chances,even our goats give a wide berth.
Never seen or smelt evidence of spraying but have noticed a lot of him rubbing against prominent trees,fence posts and my boots. .

I was under the impression that neutering males gives them a much more chilled out life as they don't care about mating.

Our pet male may "mount" one of our females if they are pestering him incessantly for days but he does not seek it out.

[McGraw]

numtumfutunch said:

Dear OP

I have a male dog
He is the most placid and well behaved creature you could imagine

Every now and then somebody takes a female dog who happens to be on heat into the local park
My dog goes berserk and is uncontrollable

I can only imagine the local male moggies do the same when your little cuddly princesses fancy a shag too

Are you sure you are fit to have animals?

cheers

My cats are in my own back garden and although they would never be left out when on call, I'm sure there must be a risk of them being fertile before I realise it but not before the local tom does.

You have admitted to having an uncontrollable dog...are you sure it is uncontrollable or is it that you can't control it?

Edited by McGraw on Tuesday 29th July 08:38

[McGraw]

Martin4x4 said:

The Cats Protection neuter stray(ing) toms all the time and is regarded as entirely legal.

I like the the way you bandy around the Registered Breeder label when all that means is you completed a form and paid a fee. You didn't pass any exams on genetics and I would hazard you have little or no experience since you don't really appreciate several pertinant facts.

You can and should vaccinate against felv; and if you neuter the local tom it will make little difference. When your queens are in heat they will attract all the entire Toms from a considerable distance.

I stated that we are registered breeders so there was no thought that we just randomly decided to not have the girls done.

There is actually quite a lot more to it than you imply. We attended seminars and signed up for a charter that ensures the cats aren't sold too young amongst other things because we wanted to do things properly.

No, we haven't passed any exams on genetics but my other half knows a heck of a lot more than you would believe. Certainly enough to know what potential combinations of patterns and colours we can produce depending on the stud.

Why vaccinate for FLV when your cats aren't going to be exposed to other cats? The vaccination has its risks. Our fear is that if the owner (if there is one) hasn't had the cat done than it may not have had its vaccinations.

As soon as we see other cats on the wall, we bring our cats in until they have gone. This cat is different, it is fearless and just jumps straight in.

We have been doing this for about 5 years and have put more time and effort into it and have faced some heartbreak on the way so don't start trying to be a know it all as you blatantly aren't one.

[McGraw]

Some Gump said:

Wow OP, just wow.

I've always thought of cat people as slightly mad, but seriously? If you're breeders then presumably you love animals. How the hell can you come to the logical conclusion that you can chop a cats knackers off, just to suit your breeding business? Jesus.

I haven't though? I asked for the legalities of it as a potentially interesting discussion topic after it had crossed my mind.

How many more times do I have to state that I'm not going to do and I only ever considered it for a brief moment.

If the cat was mine it would be done, just as our non stud/pet male is. Most people get their cats neutered you know? It's pretty standard practice.

[McGraw]

I can see it hasn't been neutered...unless it's had a vasectomy of course!

[McGraw]

leigh1050 said:

How do you breed your moggies if they don't get exposed to male moggies?
Artificial insemination? I wouldn't like to extract spunk out of moggie, probably get clawed to buggery for trying!

The studs we used are either vaccinated or certified FLV free.

Plus they aren't moggies.