BarbarainOrlando
Member Since 2012
Thank you to all the cat lovers that have offered such valuable information on this site. I do not have a diabetic cat, but am involved in rescue and advocacy and my research on megestrol acetate as a birth control for feral cats brought me to this message board. As an introduction I should also say that I served three years on our local animal control board in the hope of reducing the euthanisia rate for cats, and volunteered at the shelter for several years.
I used 1mg per cat of megestrol acetate (marketed under the name Feralstat at the time) in wet cat food once a week for over a year in a colony of feral cats where the caretaker would not TNR the cats. There were no births in that time or any noticeable side effects, although clearly with feral cats we could not get close enough to observe, for instance, mammary tumors.
I have done extensive research using PubMed and while there seems to be a risk to some cats of developing diabetes from MA (also sold as Ovaban), especially in the dosages described in the studies, the risk of being a feral kitten or a constantly reproducing feral mother cat seems much higher. Especially when you factor in that all ferals are euthanized at municipal shelters and most private shelters will not take them.
What prompted me to post was a message from a cat owner with a neutered male driven to bad behaviour by visiting unspayed females. He was put on MA and developed diabetes. My thought was, rather than putting the inside cat on MA, she might have gotten a script for MA, and once a week in wet cat food give those "visitors" a mg each. The errant behaviour might have stopped in the inside cat, and unwanted kittens could have been prevented from coming in to the world.
My other questions is this. The ACC&D (Alliance for Contraception in Dogs and Cats) and most other large humane organizations officially oppose Feralstat (megestrol acetate/"MA") and the most often quoted reason is diabetes. The studies I found on PubMed showed no higher incidence of diabetes among MA users than non users, but I'd really like to hear from actually users/pet parents about their experiences along with dosages. I don't know if that's appropriate for this board and will certainly understand if this post isn't shared.
I used 1mg per cat of megestrol acetate (marketed under the name Feralstat at the time) in wet cat food once a week for over a year in a colony of feral cats where the caretaker would not TNR the cats. There were no births in that time or any noticeable side effects, although clearly with feral cats we could not get close enough to observe, for instance, mammary tumors.
I have done extensive research using PubMed and while there seems to be a risk to some cats of developing diabetes from MA (also sold as Ovaban), especially in the dosages described in the studies, the risk of being a feral kitten or a constantly reproducing feral mother cat seems much higher. Especially when you factor in that all ferals are euthanized at municipal shelters and most private shelters will not take them.
What prompted me to post was a message from a cat owner with a neutered male driven to bad behaviour by visiting unspayed females. He was put on MA and developed diabetes. My thought was, rather than putting the inside cat on MA, she might have gotten a script for MA, and once a week in wet cat food give those "visitors" a mg each. The errant behaviour might have stopped in the inside cat, and unwanted kittens could have been prevented from coming in to the world.
My other questions is this. The ACC&D (Alliance for Contraception in Dogs and Cats) and most other large humane organizations officially oppose Feralstat (megestrol acetate/"MA") and the most often quoted reason is diabetes. The studies I found on PubMed showed no higher incidence of diabetes among MA users than non users, but I'd really like to hear from actually users/pet parents about their experiences along with dosages. I don't know if that's appropriate for this board and will certainly understand if this post isn't shared.