Scientists Develop New Birth Control for Female Cats--No Surgery Necessary

[Judi Lynn]

The one-time injection of a gene therapy could eventually be used to control cat populations

Will Sullivan

June 8, 2023 8:12 a.m.

Researchers have developed a permanent birth control for female cats that would mean the animals don’t have to undergo invasive surgery to be spayed, according to a new study. The single injection could aid the effort to control cat numbers globally.

The world cat population has reached an estimated 600 million, and roughly 80 percent of them are free-roaming. These natural hunters cause a lot of harm to wildlife: In the United States alone, domestic cats kill between 1.3 billion and 4 billion birds and between 6.3 billion and 22.3 billion mammals each year. Currently, the main method for sterilizing cats involves surgery—a costly and risky procedure.

The new technique, described in a paper published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, involves a one-time injection of a gene therapy that could provide long-term birth control for female cats. The preliminary study was small and involved only nine felines, six of which received the treatment. Later this year, researchers will meet with the Food and Drug Administration to discuss how to further test their method, David Pépin, a co-author of the new study and molecular biologist at Harvard Medical School, tells Inverse’s Elana Spivack.

“This is really exciting, and I hope it will pan out,” Julie Levy, a veterinarian at the University of Florida who did not contribute to the research, tells the New York Times’ Alla Katsnelson. “Wouldn’t it be great if we could send out a technician into the field to inject cats and then let them go?”

More:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-develop-new-birth-control-for-female-cats-no-surgery-necessary-180982319/

[50 Shades Of Blue]

1. That almost sounds too good to be true!

[thatcrowwoman]

2. Could you cross post this to the Pets group?

Many thanks
🕊thatcrowwoman

[Judi Lynn]

13. Just saw your post, and got'er done. Sorry it took so long! Thank you. 🐈❤️️

[montanacowboy]

3. YESSSSSSSSSSS

hopefully it will work

[yonder]

4. Would it work on Republicans?

[BWdem4life]

5. How would they be able to tell if a cat had already been injected or not?

If the procedure became widespread

[PSPS]

6. TNR operations normally tip or tattoo the ear of a sterilized feral cat before being released.

[Judi Lynn]

14. Thanks for your post. ⭐️

[TomSlick]

8. The question is whether multiple injections would be harmful.

I know nothing about gene therapy but if multiple injections would not be harmful, the possibility of a permanent, non-surgical birth control for stray/feral cats is promising.

[localroger]

7. If it can be made to work on cats, it can also certainly be made to work on humans

While controlling cats is a noble cause -- my wife is a big time bird watcher -- I worry that this might lead to a kinder gentler form of genocide. Would you even know it had been done to you until years of infertility made you suspicious?

[Duppers]

12. Wow. That's some "Brave New World" paranoia there.

And genocide is: "the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying."

You know the world is overheating and overly populated now, right? There's a correlation. Check this:
https://www.magellantv.com/articles/overpopulation-in-the-era-of-climate-change

However, I understand what you are saying:

it would be as if Russia just rendered all Ukrainians infertile and just waited to take their land many decades later.

[localroger]

15. Actually the definition of genocide is a bit broader than you realize

Forced sterilization and also taking the children, even if you do not kill them, and dispersing them to adoptive parents of other cultures is also considered genocide. Not my idea -- I had a big argument about this over on Reddit over a plot point in a story I wrote, and it was specifically about using an infertility virus to make sure humans returned a world to the aliens we'd been borrowing it from. Turns out the other guy was right. And it's exactly because of the last line of your post.

[Warpy]

9. I notice they're suggesting it mostly for feral females

It would greatly reduce the cost of trapping, neutering, and releasing. Since the long term health consequences aren't known, or whether the shot wears off some years down the line, I doubt it will be recommended for domestic cats for a very, very long time.

It would also be great for invasive colonies in places like the Galapagos Islands.

[pansypoo53219]

10. will it precent 'marking', spraying? my fixed girl would wrigle her ass/tail in the shower.

[localroger]

16. The article is a bit light on details about the underlying mechanism

It would actually be more effective if the sterilized girls remain sexually active because then they would be distracting still-fertile males from opportunities with fertile females.

[Random Boomer]

17. I could really use this right now

Our neighborhood, and especially my block, is overrun with feral/stray cats and few people here can afford to spay/neuter even the animals they (loosely) consider to be their own.

A few doors down from us, a neighbor started feeding some stray kittens (as we've done in the past, as well). They grew up and now both have a litter of kittens living under his porch. My wife and I have discussed paying for the two females to get fixed (they would be relatively easy to catch), but we have nowhere to keep them while they recover from surgery. Our house is already full with the six local cats we've rescued (and neutered). And even if we get the two mother cats fixed, some of those kittens are going to survive, and we can't afford the cost of neutering another 1/2 dozen cats.

One shot each, no recovery room needed? Sign me up!

[NickB79]

18. Injectables likely aren't good enough. Any hope it could be incorporated into edible bait?

I can't imagine trapping and injecting feral cats across, say, the Australian Outback would provide enough coverage to control their population economically. Given the sheer number of cats out there, you'd need a small army of volunteers and live traps.

But for urban and suburban areas, this could be a game changer. Petco could have spay shot clinics and save people hundreds of dollars. People like my sister, who won't get her cats spayed because of the cost, and is therefore constantly giving away kittens, wouldn't have an excuse anymore.