Thread: Neutering...a step too far?

NCarver- yes I agree that there is a distinction between truly feral and 'pet' cats. I am however of the opinion that a completely indoor life is unnatural for even a domesticated cat (Dudley and sylvester are however kept indoors, I'm mainly worried about theft) and I'm not sure if cats would choose to live with lots of other animals if given the choice. I guess my point is that although we do our best for our pets, there's probably always going to be something we could do better. Don't get me wrong, I think pet cats have a fantastic time...in fact if I were reincarnated I'd want to be a cat in a nice home. And I reckon I'd rather be neutered than be climbing the walls with frustration, or thrown out because I am stinky.
It is interesting what you say about feral cats hanging out in groups. I was on holiday in Greece this year and there's a massive feral cat population there and they do seem to roam in groups. But then again, there were so many of them that you couldn't go a couple of metres without bumping into one of these scrawny (but surprisingly attractive!) cats. I wanted to cuddle them all but was expressly forbidden by my partner . I managed to smuggle a couple of them a piece of calamari......
Regarding the sterilisation rather than castration, I'm guessing the urge is still there? And totally agree NCarver that it is much kinder to remove the urge than deny it by locking the cat up!