Please spread the word!
We hate to lecture, but…..how to become part of the solution, not the problem!
The number of unwanted pets in our area is becoming endemic. HAWS has a strict non-destruction policy (no matter how old or how much medical help our cats may need) but that does mean that our resources are often overstretched.
One of the key reasons for the huge number of unwanted pets and strays is that people are not neutering their pets.
Here’s some pointers about neutering to keep in mind
- If you let your cat have a litter, her kittens will take homes that kittens in a rescue centre could have had.
- Thousands of unwanted cats are destroyed every day in the UK because there are simply not enough homes to go round. HAWS operates a non-destroy policy but we are often just not able to take in more animals because our foster homes have no more space.
- There are no natural predators of the cat or dog in the UK so if the cat population control is left to nature it would be controlled by starvation and disease – a common scenario in other countries where starving colonies of sick animals have to be killed by the authorities.
- Bear in mind, that female cats in season often become lost when they are chased by unneutered male cats, then invariably become pregnant and have kittens on the streets.
- You probably know that an unneutered male is territorial and sprays foul-smelling urine to mark his territory in and around your home….but he will also roam, often far from home in search of females; he will be aggressive to other cats and so can often receive and cause serious injuries.
- Many once-loved pets end up with life-threatening injuries and cannot find their way home. This is how colonies of feral cats are formed. These cats struggle to survive, hungry, often sick or injured.
- There are other important health benefits of neutering – many unneutered male cats carry the F.I.V. virus that female cats are at risk of contracting if they are bitten during mating, and male cats transmit the virus when fighting.