Animal Welfare Professionals

The article below has renewed old questions about population control of community cats. Certain activities have always been concerning to me, from a "population control management perspective", that increase the carrying capacity of the environment. One item that potentially falls into this category is the behavioral modification that comes with traditional OE/OHE of cats. There have been published literature in the past indicating that vasectomy/hysterectomy may be more beneficial in population management. I am curious about other peoples experience with this and current thinking about best practices when it come to this aspect.

https://www.fntiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2019.00238/full?utm_source=Email_to_authors_&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=T1_11.5e1_author&utm_campaign=Email_publication&field=&journalName=Frontiers_in_Veterinary_Science&id=433654

I'd certainly be interested in hearing if there is good evidence from the field that vasectomy  / hysterectomy alternatives do (or do not) lead to behavioral changes that are beneficial from a population management standpoint. The topic was explored in a modeling paper several years ago in which assumptions about these benefits were made, but at the time it seemed like the validity of those assumptions remained to be determined.   

It's difficult to imagine vasectomy/hysterectomy being used widely. In many, if not most circumstances, nuisance complaints are a major consideration (especially among policy makers). Even if there's an advantage from a reproductive biology perspective (and, as John has already pointed out, that's not clear), it's probably outweighed by the trade-off (i.e., little/no change in nuisance behaviors).

Interesting point, and that makes sense... 

One of the items on my "in the future" list for Kitizen Science is to monitor a controlled trial of trap-vasectomy/hysterectomy-return.  One of my board members is the vet at our local TNR clinic, and it's something we have on our " start in year or two" to do list.  Both she and I are generally not keen on it for reasons stated by Peter, but I think it could be useful in contexts where nuisance behaviors aren't a concern, and it certain deserves further study.  (As far as I know, there hasn't been a practical field study comparing a population of TNR'd cats with TVHR'd cats - but maybe someone will beat us to it.)

Even if nuisance behaviors aren’t a concern to the people, IMO it’s still a better idea for the welfare of the cats to provide them with full neuter or OVH.

I think this is an ethical question, too. Are you trying to look at cats from a native wildlife lens (sterilize for control of population but allow them to continue their “natural” behaviors of fighting for territory, roaming large areas, and other behaviors that continue to leave cats at higher risk to their general health), or as pets/companion animals - where we strive to provide the best medical intervention that we reasonably  can for the individual animal in their given situation?