Early fix: pre-pubertal desexing

With RSPCA’s Operation Wanted campaign in full swing, there is a strong focus on the crippling effect that cat overpopulation has on animal welfare.

Queensland Veterinarian and Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) Executive Committee member, Dr. Michael O'Donoghue BVSc in conjunction with RSPCA Queensland Principal Scientist, Dr Mandy Paterson BVSc, PhD conducted a research study asking Queensland veterinarians at what age they recommend pet cats be desexed and compared that to when they were actually being desexed. This project yielded some important cat desexing findings.

“What we found was the actual age desexing was occurring [was] a lot later than what vets were recommending.”

“It is obvious what is happening out there. And that is that there is still a lot of vets recommending people desex cats at six months of age – but they are still not getting them in at six months – they are coming in at seven months or eight months or even later.”

By this age, most of these cats will be pregnant or have had a litter of kittens.

Dr. O’Donoghue explained the difference between pre-pubertal and early age desexing and said there was no danger to younger cats’ health by desexing them at four months.

“Early age desexing is often something that shelters do when they have a litter of kittens and they want to adopt them out desexed as soon as they are able to, so they do them at eight weeks of age or as soon as they can safely do so,” he said.

“Pre-pubertal desexing is a different concept in that its focus is making sure the cat is desexed before it becomes sexually mature and can become pregnant.”

Dr O’Donoghue stated every unwanted litter meant an uncertain future for those animals.

“One of the hardest things I have had to do as a vet is euthanising a healthy mother cat and her unwanted kittens, it was pretty haunting,” he said.

“It is just another level of heartbreak, working in a shelter. If you must euthanise unwanted kittens, it is just really heart-wrenching. For me personally, euthanasia is just one of the hardest things.”

Dr O’Donoughe said that a lack of understanding existed among some cat and kitten owners when it came to pre-pubertal desexing, however, vets have an important part to play in spruiking the benefits.

“Vets can definitely play a role in communicating this information on their websites or at the first consultation by making sure this information is obvious to people,” he said.

“If they are putting reproduction information and desexing advice on their website, Google will find it.”

"And if vets do have this information on their website, that will contribute greatly to the sheer volume of knowledge publicly available to pet owners.”

When Dr O’Donoghue was asked about the idea of financial discounting for desexing cats at an earlier age, he was in favour of it.

“I think there should be a difference in price before cats are coming on to heat and afterwards. A lot of vets do apply that. So, that is a good approach that does not involve discounting,” he said.

“And then what we really need is targeted subsidies for people that cannot afford it.”

To find out how you can take advantage of 20% off pet desexing until August 31, visit RSPCA’s Operation Wanted website to register for your discount and find your nearest participating vet.