Castrate or not?

Re: Castrate or not?

Ruta — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 08:08:17 GMT

I have heard so many speculations from my colleagues. But thanks for all you, at last I have logical explanations.

Cheers!

Ruta

Re: Castrate or not?

Stephen Courtney — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 21:12:27 GMT

Castrate him, and advise not to feed dry food any more. At his age he is fairly well developed anyway. The cat needs a high water intake , so might benefit from a cat drinking fountain as well.

It is difficult to manage oxalate crystals with diet, though several companies have such products i am not sure how good they really are...just my bias, and I am sure several people are poised to contraindicate - always happy to learn!

Re: Castrate or not?

Anthony Todd — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 17:41:12 GMT

[quote user="Laurence Webb"]Castrated males[/quote]

There was a disproved belief in the early 70s, when there was an epidemic of blocked cats, coinciding with the introduction of the first dried cat food, that the early castration of male cats predisposed to urolithiasis because the urethra's development was curtailed and therefore more likely to block.

Total testicles, of course.

Re: Castrate or not?

Laurence Webb — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 17:16:42 GMT

Castrated males are less active and therefore likely to urinate less frequently, which gives uroliths more time to grow from microscopic ones to those large enough to obstruct. They're also more prone to obesity which I think is a risk factor (though this may relate to less frequent urination too). I suppose an entire tom will also scent mark everything in the house which is one way to encourage regular bladder emptying but a bit smelly

Personally I'd castrate for the other health benefits but advise to watch for weight gain, feed wet food (ideally a prescription diet) and encourage water intake to keep USG lower.

Re: Castrate or not?

Ruta — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:51:14 GMT

Yes, Richard, I mean - does the castration increases risk of urolithiasis. Sorry, for not being clear first time.

In this case we are talking about oxalates.

Thanks for useful info.

Ruta

Re: Castrate or not?

Richard Fox — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 15:42:22 GMT

I have heard of this myself - I presume you mean castration increases the risk or severity of urolithiasis? What uroliths are we talking about? There has been talk of it a while ago....

Edit:

[quote]

J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2000 Aug 15;217(4):520-5.

Association between patient-related factors and risk of calcium oxalate and magnesium ammonium phosphate urolithiasis in cats.

Lekcharoensuk C, Lulich JP, Osborne CA, Koehler LA, Urlich LK, Carpenter KA, Swanson LL.

Minnesota Urolith Center, Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, St Paul 55108, USA.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether breed, age, sex, or reproductive status (i.e., neutered versus sexually intact) was associated with the apparent increase in prevalence of calcium oxalate (CaOx) uroliths and the decrease in prevalence of magnesium ammonium phosphate (MAP) uroliths in cats over time.

DESIGN: Case-control study.

ANIMALS: Case cats consisted of cats with CaOx (n = 7,895) or MAP (7,334) uroliths evaluated at the Minnesota Urolith Center between 1981 and 1997. Control cats consisted of cats without urinary tract disease admitted to veterinary teaching hospitals in the United States and Canada during the same period (150,482).

PROCEDURE: Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were performed.

RESULTS: British Shorthair, Exotic Shorthair, Foreign Shorthair, Havana Brown, Himalayan, Persian, Ragdoll, and Scottish Fold cats had an increased risk of developing CaOx uroliths, as did male cats and neutered cats. Chartreux, domestic shorthair, Foreign Shorthair, Himalayan, Oriental Shorthair, and Ragdoll cats had an increased risk of developing MAP uroliths, as did female cats and neutered cats. Cats with CaOx uroliths were significantly older than cats with MAP uroliths.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results suggest that changes in breed, age, sex, or reproductive status did not contribute to the apparent reciprocal relationship between prevalences of CaOx and MAP uroliths in cats during a 17-year period. However, cats of particular breeds, ages, sex, and reproductive status had an increased risk of developing CaOx and MAP uroliths.

[/quote]