Unneutered cats male and female???

[Waves]

Hi everyone
I would like your opinion. I have a 3-year-old unneutered male cat. We are considering getting a female kitten, but we are uncertain about the seemingly obvious practice of neutering both cats. However, I have been told that pregnancies harm the health of the female cat, causing her to have a shorter lifespan.
As someone personally inclined toward a natural approach to health, I would like the same to apply to my pets.
What would be the most appropriate thing to do? Would it be reasonably feasible to keep the two cats physically separated during the female’s heat periods?

Have you experiences with female and male cats?
Thank you so much

 

[Chicken Heel]

You can separate them during the female's estrus cycles, but be prepared to listen to a lot of caterwauling back and forth between the two. And even if the female is inside your house during this time, indiscriminate tom cats will most likely show up to spray urine everywhere and fight.

 

[Susan Dye]

Don't know where you got your information from, but I've personally known a number of cat owners who had neutered females that lived very long lives. Never heard of a vet who suggested otherwise. Vets recommend neutering FOR the health of dogs and cats. Trying to keep them separated will be next to impossible. By the time you realize she's in heat, she'll be pregnant. Google how many kittens the typical female will have in a years time, then google how many cats/kittens are euphonized every year due to over population.

 

[FrostRanger]

I'd get both fixed if for no other reason that queens in heat are a pain in the neck. I had an intact queen growing up named Sky, she was an absolute treasure and I miss her to this day but she was an absolute pain in the neck when she was in heat. Not to mention intact toms roam and get into fights. There's this absolutely sweet tom cat I feed I named Simon Blackquill, he's one of my favorite regulars and I am always excited to see him when he makes an appearance but he has so many scars from all the fights he's been in. I'd 100% get them fixed

 

[Chicken Heel]

Don't know where you got your information from, but I've personally known a number of cat owners who had neutered females that lived very long lives. Never heard of a vet who suggested otherwise. Vets recommend neutering FOR the health of dogs and cats. Trying to keep them separated will be next to impossible. By the time you realize she's in heat, she'll be pregnant. Google how many kittens the typical female will have in a years time, then google how many cats/kittens are euphonized every year due to over population.

Not the OP, but the statement regarded cats getting pregnant reducing their lifetime(s).

 

[Chicken Heel]

I'd get both fixed if for no other reason that queens in heat are a pain in the neck. I had an intact queen growing up named Sky, she was an absolute treasure and I miss her to this day but she was an absolute pain in the neck when she was in heat. Not to mention intact toms roam and get into fights. There's this absolutely sweet tom cat I feed I named Simon Blackquill, he's one of my favorite regulars and I am always excited to see him when he makes an appearance but he has so many scars from all the fights he's been in. I'd 100% get them fixed

Love the cat's name. Had a stray yellow tom cat show up years ago that was a warrior and must have fathered a slew of kittens in my quaint crossroads town because there were yellow ones everywhere. He became a real sweetheart after being feral as they come when I first noticed him hanging around the property.

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

There are health benefits to neutering.
Keeping them seperate is going to be very difficult and not very pleasant for you. Letting her get pregnant will affect her health to a point and then you will end up with kittens you may or may not be able to find homes for.
There is also the fact unneutered female cats that do not breed are far more susceptible to things like Pyometra (infection in the uterus) which is life threatening and expensive to treat.
I would really reccomend neutering them both, and if you ring any vet clinic they would happily go over all the pros and cons of neutering in depth with you

 

[FrostRanger]

Love the cat's name. Had a stray yellow tom cat show up years ago that was a warrior and must have fathered a slew of kittens in my quaint crossroads town because there were yellow ones everywhere. He became a real sweetheart after being feral as they come when I first noticed him hanging around the property.

Ferals are the best! I actually ended up getting adopted by 2 kittens who are most likely Simon's sons, both are gingers and they are both wonderful boys. I did try in the past to take Simon in but Raven vetoed that hard. She minds the 2 kittens a bit less so they can stay. The 2 kittens are named Phoenix and Edgeworth

Phoenix is the one with the tail (yes, Edgeworth is indeed tailless. No, nothing happened to him, they are both simply Manx mixes and Edgeworth inherited their mama's taillessness)

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Neuter both. A female cat in heat is in misery until she's bred, and she screams and makes everybody around her miserable, too. I don't know how you'd keep them separate, she'll dash through any opening to get out, no matter how small or how briefly open. If you open a door to slip food in, she will run over the top of you. As for an un-neutered male spraying ... ugh! There is no odor like it, and I'd sooner burn my house down than deal with trying to get rid of that smell in or around my house. Good luck.

 

[nuthatched]

Get them both neutered, it's not practical since cats go into heat several times a year and are capable of getting pregnant before they show signs of in heat.
but no, pregnancy doesn't shorten the life span.
.