Neutering Anxiety? Is it necessary?

Talien

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Not meaning any disrespect or anything like that but - I guess it’s completely abnormal that Link is drinking his water? Every morning I have to refill it! And it’s on the counter so no, no dogs is getting into it and he’s the only cat. I did read before cats don’t like drinking but I swear Link loves his water. 😅
If he's eating dry food then yes, he'll be drinking water because he's not getting it from his food. But that's not natural for Cats and you'll want to make sure he's not getting dehydrated (easy way to check is pinch the skin on the back of his neck and pull up on it, if it drops back down right away he's ok but if it goes back down slowly or stays up then he's dehydrated), but while rare some Cats do just like water.

Excessive water intake can be a sign of kidney problems though. It's unlikely in a young Cat, but if he lived outdoors for a while then it's possible he may have gotten into something that damaged his kidneys.
 
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M_Intentions

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If he's eating dry food then yes, he'll be drinking water because he's not getting it from his food. But that's not natural for Cats and you'll want to make sure he's not getting dehydrated (easy way to check is pinch the skin on the back of his neck and pull up on it, if it drops back down right away he's ok but if it goes back down slowly or stays up then he's dehydrated), but while rare some Cats do just like water.

Excessive water intake can be a sign of kidney problems though. It's unlikely in a young Cat, but if he lived outdoors for a while then it's possible he may have gotten into something that damaged his kidneys.
Thanks for the info. I think I may give him dry food normally, and canned a couple times a week, but I’m still researching it all before I make a final decision and I’ll talk it out with my vet. Thanks so much!
 

tabbytom

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Side note : Male cats are bigger in size compared to female cats. They look big next to a female cat. Plus if a cat is neutered at a much later age or unfixed, chances is that he may develop a large jowl as you see in many stray or feral Toms.
 

Willowy

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Canned food is not that expensive, even decent stuff is going to be around $3 to $5 a day to feed an average Cat.
To be fair, that's quite a lot of money for most people! $90-$150 a month per cat just for food, plus litter and vet care. . .yikes.

But yeah, there are lots of options in all price ranges :)
 

ailish

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My 5-year-old female is spayed and is not fat or lazy. I don't free feed and feed her a set amount of calories each day. She's small, nine pounds, and we have stuck to that weight since she was two. Vet says nothing over ten pounds for her. I feed good quality wet and very few treats. She hates people food, so she doesn't counter surf for food. It does work.
 

ailish

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Not meaning any disrespect or anything like that but - I guess it’s completely abnormal that Link is drinking his water? Every morning I have to refill it! And it’s on the counter so no, no dogs is getting into it and he’s the only cat. I did read before cats don’t like drinking but I swear Link loves his water. 😅
Ailish drank water when I adopted her, but since I changed her diet to wet she never drinks. I add water to her food, which she happily consumes. My personal, anecdotal belief is that it's not that most cats don't like water, they don't like plain water. Ailish will drink any amount of water mixed with food, even to the point of it being soup.
 
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