When taking a little puppy or kitten, the most people do not even think that it will take not so long and the cub will grow up. On becoming mature its temper will change drastically.

If an animal is acquired for further breeding, for participation in exhibitions, masters will be only glad with sexual activity of their pet. Meanwhile, if an animal is acquired just as a home friend, its behavior during heat or in the period of rut will make a lot of troubles.

It is almost unbearable to be in the same apartment with a cat having heat. It starts meowing loudly and importunately, tries to go away outside, is very unquiet, takes indecent postures, has convulsions, rolls on the floor. Even if masters decide to wait over firmly this period, they will have a «surprise» – in three-four weeks this hormonal madness will come back. Some especially active females start tagging the territory as tomcats do, leaving all around smelling urine spots.

However, nobody would envy tomcats’ masters. When spring comes (and often the whole year long), tomcats become excessively excited, start tagging everything and everywhere, showing to competitors what a wild predator lives on this territory. The smell of urine gets stronger due to the secretion of anal glands, and when you just step over the doorstep of such home where such predator lives, you will feel at once by his “killing” smell that you have come on his territory. Not having possibility to satisfy their sexual instincts, tomcats suffer, lose appetite, get aggressive even to masters and well-known people.

Male dogs just run away, on feeling smell of a «bride». It’s not a unique thing when you can see pure-bred males in expensive collars among some “dogs’ wedding” guests. Many dogs, not getting used to walk without the master, are lost in the neighborhood. At best they get into a new family, taken from the street, at worst they die of diseases, hunger and even because of claws of some street dogs.

Females have rut twice a year (some breeds have it only one time a year), in this period they gather all male dogs in the neighborhood that accompany a “bride” on a leash during walks. However, if hormones win, a female can run away in order to find some romantic adventures. If masters are lucky, and she will come back, almost surely they should be prepared to get puppies in two months. It is well when delivery is going on without any complications. However, if a tiny female had coupling with a big male, puppies can be very big; in such case she will not be able to deliver them by herself, it will be necessary to make cesarean section. Complications during the cesarean section and after surgery can be more difficult and more often than while a planned castration.

That’s why pets’ masters frequently ask the question: “Is it possible to decrease troubles made by pet’s behavior within the period of rut or to avoid them at all?

There are several ways to do it:

- using medicines, correcting pets behavior within the time of rut (sedatives);
- using medicines oppressing the rut (hormonal medicines);
- castration

It is up to a pet’s master what way to choose. We can help to examine their advantages and disadvantages.

Contraceptives for animals are split on two groups:

1. Medicines made on natural basis (most frequently they content several vegetable components, mutually enhancing action of each other)
2. Hormonal contraceptives.

Natural medicines are much weaker than chemical hormonal ones, but they make a minimal harm to the animal’s body. There are herbal teas, used to calm down cats and dogs. Herbal teas are made to eliminate a whole set of symptoms, displayed by animals in the period of rut: dogs barking and cats meowing, imitation of coupling, aggression to the master, tagging around the apartment or house, hyperactivity. But the main disadvantage of these medicines is the low grade of reliability as a contraceptive, masters should keep an eye constantly on their pets in order to avoid undesirable coupling.

Chemical hormonal medicines are made as drops or pills. They help to oppress totally the rut. However, we must notice, contraceptives for animals are not the same with contraceptives for people, and they are not capable to prevent pregnancy, they only “move” the sexual cycle. The main plus of these medicines is its reversible action. As soon as the medicines stop their influence, cat or tomcat will start again their loud concerts. A significant disadvantage of these medicines is that you can use them only one time (at maximum, two times) per year, or these pills and drops can destroy totally the hormonal system of an animal and spoil the health irreversibly. The fact is receptors to progestagenes (steroid sexual hormones) are situated all over the body, thus these medicines impact all organs in general. Hormonal medicines for males and females bring to very serious consequences, for example, to tumors growths.

Suppurative inflammation of uterus, tumors of testicles, diabetes mellitus are only a few diseases from a long list of possible consequences after taking these hormonal medicines. At present almost all veterinaries say that uncontrolled use of contraceptives for animals is inadmissible.

New generation medicines have much less complications. The old ones bring a wide range of side effects, while advertising says the opposite. Some manufacturers of these old medicines often mislead unsuspecting pets’ owners, deliberately giving false information in annotations saying their medicine does not have any side effects. However, now the most of manufacturers add to annotations the list of contra-indications and possible side effects.

Contraceptives in injections get popularity («Covinan»). First injection is active for three months, the second for five, and then it will be enough to make two injections per year. This medicine is indispensable for cats categorically refusing to take drugs. Meanwhile, this injection medicine is also hormonal. So it has the same disadvantages as other medicines from this group (pyometra, diabetes, tumors), however, not so often. Moreover, injections are not good for male dogs and tomcats.

How to Give Hormonal Drugs In A Wright Way?

If your cat has already started meowing invitingly and bending, you should not give the pet any hormonal medicines, in such cases only very high doses will help. It will surely bring to the break of the hormonal system functioning, fraught with complications (inflammations, cysts). It is recommended to start giving these drugs in advance when a pet is sexually calm, then preventive, minimal doses will be sufficient.

If pet’s masters do not plan receiving kittens or puppies from their pets and do not want to charge themselves with care during the heat, possible pregnancy and delivery, veterinaries say all the same: it is better to castrate the pet. In everyday life people often use the term sterilization, but it is not quite exact. The surgical removal of sexual glands with further impossibility to reproduction is called castration (either for males or for females). It is the most often surgery made by veterinaries, it is easily done in a veterinary clinic. Some clinics even offer such service as surgery at home, when a veterinary comes at your place and makes surgery in home conditions.

Male dogs and tomcats are made a section in the scrotum and removed testicles, cats and are removed ovaries through a little section (the most veterinaries recommend to remove ovaries together with hysterectomy). Small male dogs and tomcats are not made sutures, as they have a little post operational wound. Bitches and cats’ sutures are taken off on the 10^th day.

It is recommended to castrate tomcats in the age of 6-12 months, if you are late with surgery, your tomcat can get a stable habit to ‘tag’ the territory. Cats are castrated when they are 6-9 months old; it is desirable to do that before the first heat. Many dogs’ and cats’ owners have a mistaken opinion that it is necessary to let the animal delivery at least once. It is not the truth. While making castration before the first heat the probability of tumor development in the mammary gland makes less 0.5 %. After the first heat it grows up to 8%, after the second one it becomes more than 25 %. Castration after 2.5 years can not be prophylaxis of the development of malignant tumors of mammary glands. It is much easier and ten times cheaper to prevent the disease than to cure it afterwards.

Dogs’ castration is less popular and it is made in the older age. Experts recommend castrating male dogs after they are two years old and after the whole course of training, as dogs often lose partially the ability to be trained after this.

Castration of male dogs and tomcats can be made in any time of the year without any dependence on seasonal sexual cycles. However, it is not recommended to castrate cats and bitches within the heat period (sexual activity), as the risk of the surgery increases as this time reproductive organs are filled with blood. It is necessary to wait for two weeks after screaming и back bending; only then the surgery is possible.

You should not think that such surgery has the same meaning for pets as for people. The animal would not suffer because of castration but it will surely suffer from constant importunate sexual desire, and its masters will suffer too.

Let’s summarize by comparing all pluses and minuses of castration:

+ Life duration of castrated animals is almost twice longer than life of not castrated ones (15-18 years versus 7-10 years correspondingly).

+ There are no problems of the possible cubs giving away.

+ Pets become more obedient and well-managed; they do not try to run away, to jump from the balcony. The pet spends less time outside, thus, there is less danger to get under some vehicles, to fight with street tomcats.

+ Pets do not have hormonal problems, aggression, masters do not suffer due to shrill meowing at nights, from strong smell of “tags”, and there are no fights between males.

+ Your pet will be set free from such frequent serious diseases as prostatitis, ovaries cysts, pyometra, neoplasms in testicles and uterus.

+ Animals do not feel guilty or sorry if they are not capable to reproduction.

+ Castrated young pets almost do not have risk of tumors formation of mammary glands.

+ In the old age many pets need castration but the risk of anesthesia problems is much higher.

Minuses of castration:

- Castration is made under the total anesthesia and it is a definite risk. Some animals can even have reaction to injection of a medicine for anesthesia.

- Every surgery can have complications even if the surgery was made in an ideal way.

- In some cases (at obese bitches) urine incontinence is possible after castration; however, it is easily treated with special medicines.

- After castration pets tend more to obesity as they eat more while their energetic requirements decrease at more than 30 %. The most critical period is two months after the surgery. Meanwhile, on correcting the daily diet of your pet, you, will be able to avoid problems with pet’s obesity.

- Castrated cats and tomcats are more prone to urolithiasis. If a pet has excessive weight, it comes more seldom to drink water, so it excretes less urine. As result the urine in the urine bladder gets concentrated and conditions for urolith formation are developed. However, a correct diet and modern prophylaxis pet food exclude this problem totally.

In conclusion of the article we want to address to masters of not castrated pets: think twice, is there any necessity to procreate kittens and puppies that nobody needs, or to bring slowly your pets to cancer with hormonal medicines or it might be better to go to veterinaries? The harm made by chemical hormonal medicines exceeds significantly all known negative consequences of castration, anyway bringing the pet to a surgical table. So if you do not want to spend money and time for treatment, if you take care about your pets’ health and life, it is time to consider a planned castration.

USEFUL LINKS TO CHECK OUT:
1. Cat Owner’s Home Veterinary Handbook
2. The Nature of Animal Healing
3. Tell Me Where It Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing, and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon

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