Since September 2012, cats are required to be sterilized before they leave the shelter by law. From September 2014, this also applies to cats sold by private individuals and breeders. Only cats that are destined for an approved nursery or for people abroad will be allowed to be traded without prior sterilization. This means that in the long term there will be no more fertile domestic cats. The house cats that are now born will die sooner or later and can no longer provide for offspring. Wild cats, which are also sterilized if they can be caught, are born in an environment without humans. Consequently, these are very difficult to domesticate. I suspect that I have somehow overlooked something so that my children can have a socially adapted house cat within 20 to 25 years.
Answer
Dear Chris,
Yes, right now this is really the best choice. There is such a big problem that mandatory sterilization/castration is necessary. However, it is also foreseen that the measures can be relaxed if the cat surplus has decreased sufficiently. In addition, anyone can always request a recognition number as a breeder (this costs 75 € for 10 years), so whoever wants to breed responsibly (I am thinking of testing parents for FIV and FELV, deworming and vaccinating kittens, leaving kittens with the mother long enough). with purebred cats, he has the opportunity to do so.
But let’s be realistic: checking this RD is going to be difficult and cats obviously don’t stop at the border with Belgium. I think we should rather worry about whether the measures will be effective and we will actually see a decrease in the cat surplus, than we should fear a shortage of purebred cats.
Sincerely,
Els Peeters
Answered by
Els Peeters
Biology: cat behavior
Prinsstraat 13 2000 Antwerp
http://www.uantwerpen.be
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