After having read an article in Le Monde about how it’s more reasonable (financially and ethically) to get your cat or dog neutered/sterilized/identified through the SPA, I was wondering if anyone had done it and if they knew of somewhere to get it done in the 64 or 40 area?
I want to get my 4 month old kitten done as soon as she’s old enough as there are already too many kittens without homes out there, without her having a litter on top of it! So any advice would be very much appreciated!
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Yes please. I’m interested in the very same thing too.
I think…but not totally positive that you would have to take your kitten
to a vet of your choice and pay for this to be done. In my experience the SPA
just about manages to rescue some abandoned or lost pets.
I have seven of my own cat friends and help wild ones all neutered at the vets.
All SPA’s are independant so you need to contact your local one directly.
You can have a word with your vet too, most will offer reduced rates and/or payment in a few cheques.
There are many other associations that help too, like our own Chats du Quercy, have a look on the individual websites
www.chatsduquercy.com
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Reply to Tilly - Cats start to reproduce at 4 months too, so don’t delay as having kittens at this age is dangerous for her, don’t listen to vets who tell you to wait until she is 6/7/8/9 months of age, you’ll be trying to rehome kittens in the meantime!
In France there is also a legal obligation for identification of cats, so think about doing this at the same time, it can save their lives!
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Our cat is from a feral litter and was owned by our neighbour until he had to go into a retirement home. She’s had 2 litters to our knowledge and although not friendly, unless it’s feeding time, we’d like her spayed as there are too many cats around here. Not sure how we’d get her to a vet without her sinking her teeth into various parts of me!
It is worth ringing around your local vets and finding out if they do sterilisation for a nominal sum, lots of them do, depending on the animals’ circumstances and those of the person taking the animal in.
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Hello, yes i know but luckily she’s in a flat at the moment, but I will ring the local vet and look into the cat charities too! Thank you
I don’t know a great deal about cats, so will there be any other obligations I should be aware of, apart from spaying and chipping? She is unlikely to have ever been to a vet.
Chris, you are best off trapping the cat as cat bites and scratches can lead to serious medical issues. Depending where you are, Chats du Quercy loan out cat specific traps, or ask your local vet if they know of an association/local SPA that may be able to help.
The one legal obligation for every cat is identification and better to be by microchip as these are internationally recognised.
You are right that there are just too many cats and thoses living outdoors usually have a short, miserable life, so sterilisation should be a must. think about worming and defleaing too and if she can be handled, protect her by vaccination, bear in mind a booster will be needed in 3-5 weeks time.
Don’t hesitate to contact me at Chats du Quercy 05 63 94 73 97 or www.chatsduquercy.fr
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Thanks Lynn. We have given her flea and tick treatment as she doesn’t mind being handled when she’s eating! She spends the days indoors but goes out late evening returning early morning for food. She will sometimes tolerate being picked up so maybe we will borrow a cage and try to get her to a local vet. We live in a small hamlet where there are many feral cats, domestic too but people don’t seem willing to have their pets neutered. It’s expensive though…
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As you say, I think the SPA can just about cope with all the strays they are currently trying to rehome - I believe about 180 at our local branch.
We acquired a stray (actually he acquired us!), and managed to have him neutered at our local vets (the cat was as happy as Larry after a day/so, and became the most amiable of chaps.) About a month after he had had had his op, another cat was seen around, and shortly after that she appeared at the door of the barn to present her 4 kittens (their first excursion on a sunny day!) They were definitely his, we just missed the crucial time by a week or so, I think!..SO, we now have a splendid family of 6 cats (very happy together), all of whom have been neutered and are wormed etc as necessary. Female neutering costs about E60, males about E30, as far as I can recall…but the kitten production can be exponential if you don’t get it done, and accept responsibility for their wellbeing…
Hope all goes well: I suggest a small dish with a tiny bit of tuna/cheese to tempt them into the carrying basket/cage when you’re ready to take them to the vet’s. It’s a great thing you’re doing for catkind…
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Take your cat to your vet and they will do the operation, it’s very simple. Costs around €100 from what I remember. Not sure what you mean by getting it done through the SPA?
If you get a cat from a rescue centre they have usually already been done. We got our cat from Chats Du Quercy and the fee we paid covered her sterilisation.
You can’t expect a charity which struggles to feed and look after the health of the animals it rescues to pay for the veterinary care of individual peoples cats. Your animal = Your responsibility.
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I would agree regarding the ‘responsibility’ bit but very often people end up with animals through a slightly random set of circumstances rather than having decided to take on an animal and thus may well find themselves in a situation where they simply don’t have the necessary cash.
Equally people’s situations change and pet owners are no more / less likely to fall on hard times than anyone else. In both these scenarios it strikes me as being far more ‘responsible’ to try and get the animal sterilised cheaply than simply not bother.
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I had a bunch of cats to have spayed and castrated (4 females and 3 males or the other way around) and my vet booked them all in on one day ( so easy planning for him) and charged me less than half price. He said it was the prix famille nombreuse which is a doubly witty joke because he knows I have 5 children.
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Surprised he didn’t offer to do you as well 
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…and the moral of the story?..don’t leave it too late. We had an unexpected lengthy stay in the UK, and when she was spayed recently, after our return, it was discovered that she was pregnant, so it turned into a major op with 6 tiny foetuses as an end result. At least there won’t be any more unwanted kittens, but we don’t exactly feel that we’ve covered ourselves in glory.
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I just leave the cat box open for a cuple of days so my cat gets used to it. he sometimes sleeps in it - even after being taken to the vet. getting my tom cat neutered caost 50 Euro which was less than I anticipated. I had to avoid using car litter for a few days in case of ‘ingression’. He has ben bit calmer after.