Good post Steven - for me there are breeders who do it for the right reasons and those that don't - your reasons make absolute perfect sense to me

Excellent post Steven.

we contractually require spay and neutered by a certain date and are very through about following up to make sure every kitten has been altered. I do this because my vet and I agree it is in the best interest of the animals the reproductive organs play a part in regulating growth and in dogs there is published research showing that there can be serious negative affects related to early spay and neuter

It always helps the ESN debate when people have to quote other species to point out risks. It's been researched for about 40 years now and, so far, none of the studies have been able to confirm or agree with the theories and concerns about cancer, growth, UTI etc.

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Lollo

Im still mulling over what to put as my reply on this seeing all the replies, I have written one about 15times now!

So for now Im just going to put this up and sort out my reply later lol

Just wanted to put a British shorthair Example as the BSH was mentioned and I have expereince in this, have to say that all of my EN kittens have delvoped extremly well rounded faces, the bengals are just bengals slender muscley and crazyyyy, the raggies and huge bigger than their parents by up to 12lb, and some I wish I never sold as they look better than the un-neutered ones I have lol!

Both Were EN and now 11months old


They wanted to show so neutered him at 8 months, here he is at 12months on the left – no jowels even though was neutered a lot later on!! And at age 2years once they had developed!

I know this thread hasn't been touched in a while, but I thought I would share my experience as someone who isn't a breeder:

A couple of years ago I adopted a Bengal from a rescue that took in 5 of the approximately 20 Bengal queens that were removed from a BYB. That's not counting the males or kittens. The "breeder" said he did not have papers for "most" of them. I later fostered another of the five for the rescue until she found a home. The one I adopted was underweight and ultimately passed away about six months later. She had a mass in her chest that my vet believed was cancerous and, based on the neurological assessment, the cancer more than likely traveled to her brain. She was negative for FIV, FeLV, and FECV. Three of the other females became ill and passed away as well, all of the cats had weight and health issues.

If I posted pictures of any of the girls, no one here would question that they were Bengals. I can easily see how anyone less than 100% ethical regarding their breeding program would jump on a "cheap" cat that totally looks the part. It's sad, but true. After my experience, I feel like the only real solution to overpopulation, BYB, truly breeding ethically, monitoring and trying to eliminate the health issues of the breed, and all of the other issues I am unaware of, is only homing the cats after they have been spayed or neutered. Whether it is early or late, until it is not acceptable to adopt/purchase/acquire a cat as a pet unless it comes spayed or neutered, all of these problems will continue. The control, at least when it comes to purebred animals, lies with the breeders.