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.”
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