Friday, March 1, 2013

A Vaccine to Control Cat Population


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There is a vaccine for sterilizing dogs, called Zeutrin, but did you know that there is also a vaccine that can control over population of wildlife? It is even being considered for use in controlling cat populations.

The drug is called GonaCon and it was developed by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service National Wildlife Research Center. It was developed to control the deer population but has been used on other species with similar plights. The Morris Animal Foundation is a non-profit veterinary research organization that funded a five year study to see how the drug worked on feral cats. What they found was that of the 15 cats that were given the drug 93 percent remained infertile on year 1, 73 percent on year two, 53 percent in year 3, 40% at year 4, and 27% at year 5. In the placebo group all five cats became pregnant in the first year.  The efficacy decreases over time as the cat develops antibodies to the vaccine.

                Joyce Briggs, president of the Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs, a group seeking methods for nonsurgical birth control in animals stated, “Although a permanent sterilant would be ideal, a long-acting contraceptive could be an effective tool for managing feral cat populations.”

                This was adapted from a November 2011 article in the Veterinary Practice News, “Vaccine Could Help Control Feral Cat Population.”

For the complete article go to;

2 comments:

  1. This sounds very promising and I hope this would be a step in the right direction. The secondary thought is I hope this doesn't cause any long term negative effects, but as with all drugs we just have to wait and see. Even at 53% in 3 years would be "one small step for mankind" and a giant step for for reducing all the suffering of those feral cats.
    Robert Biser

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  2. This is pretty great. When you consider all the populations in the world that need thinning-- feral cats, kangaroos, deer in my area, etc... this could really help both the ailing animals, but the ailing environment around those animals! It would be so much better than some of the other practices being used to thin populations.

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