Suprelorin

A few years ago a friend told me about Suprelorin.
She heard about it from a Siamese cat breeder, who was already using it with success.
My friend wanted to try it on her male (our Ron Weasley) and i was very sceptical in the first place, because it´s some kind of chemical castration and usually that has some very mean side effects. But when I surfed the net for more information, I was positively surprised because this really has no side effects what so ever!!! With all other chemical castrations the male body is overdosed with progesterone - but this Suprelorin-chip simply gives a sign to the hypophyse that there is enough testosterone in the body, so it stops the production! You can compare it with a pain killer, it works the same way. Also it works on female cats!!! No more uterus infection from using the cat pill or being in the heat too often!!!

This chip is implanted just like the micro-chip. Slowly it dissolves, releasing the working substance (Deslorelin) in intervals. Deslorelin is a GnRH blocker. GnRH is the body own hormone, which regulates the fertility hormones. On male cats it works for 14 months and on female cats 14 till 18 months (also depending on the season). Three days after implanting the chip, the females get in the heat for once. In some cases this heat must be interrupted by giving the cat-pill, but that only happens in few cases. After this heat, the female has a REAL rest for 14 till 18 months and behaves like a real neuter! They eat more, get better coat, play, cuddle, are more tolerant and calmer - just like a real happy neuter! The same goes for the male cats and they even stop spraying!!! The males get a slight hormone up, before it starts working to neuter them. Its very different with the males, but mostly after 3 till 6 weeks they start behaving like a happy neuter!

My own experiences with the chip:

Our Ron Weasley in Germany was the first male cat to try. He was not spraying, but chasing the females all the time. Therefore he lost weight and had no time for his humans anymore. It worked perfectly on him for 14 moths, though he tried to mate again when the chip was 10 months old, it did not give any offsprings. But after 14 months he got fertile again. Because of the chip he got his very nice coat and the calm, cuddly temper back! So the peace in the cat group was back and he felt sooo happy!

Next cat to try was our Vicky. She is just as fertile as a siamesian cat, very often and strongly in the heat. She even marked her territory like a male. After 6 months she got in the heat again and i thought the chip had finished workig, but she didn´t get pregnant. She got in a permanent heat! So i gave her the cat pill once, to interrupt and she stopped being in the heat at once. Afterwards I read about this and giving progesterones, when they get in permanent heat due to the chip. So without knowing, we did the right thing. She stopped marking her territory ad felt a lot better! Finally she got some coat and in the end the chip worked 18 months for her. After that she got a very nice litter of 5 kittens!!!

Same time as Vicky we implanted the chip to Arthur Weasley. He had started to spray and that is not so nice in the house… So he got the chip. He stopped spraying very quickly and had more time to cuddle! Also it was a good way of preventing my two males to get jealous and start fighting each other. And another advantage - that way we could not get accidents like matings between mother and son. So we had only one fertile male at that time! 14 months later, Arthur Weasley mated with our Bumsan and produced a nice litter of 6 kittens. He even did some outside matings, all with nice results! After 5 months of being fertile, he started to spray again. Though i must say that he had lots of very fertile females around him ;o) So maybe if he had not seen so many females, he might have stayed "clean" a bit longer ;o) So he got his second chip and can have a rest for 14 months again. Meanwhile our Memphis is going to get fertile again…

Memphis had not only started to spray, but he also got very thin and his only interest was GIRLS ;o) He had no time to eat, cuddle, play, sleep and so on… Poor Memphis was not himself anymore! So he also got the chip. He stopped spraying, gained weight and he had time for the REAL important things in life again! He got so happy and i got my old Memphis back ;o) I have no female for him at the moment, but he starts to get interest again. So i think he´s fertile. Which means - 14 months workout.

Prima had a litter of 8 kittens and that had taken a lot from her. So we decided for her to have a long term rest and implanted the chip. 16 months later she got in the heat again.

Our Domino also had the chip. She got a wonderful coat and was very happy during that period! Before the chip she never wanted to be brushed, but with the chip, she just let it happen! Simply because she became a happy neuter due to the chip ;o)))) On her it worked 15 months. And than she got a litter of 3 very nice kittens.

Bumsan struggled 4 times with a uterus infection due to using the cat pill! I got her when she was 8 months old and at that time she was using the cat pill already for 3 months! Therefore she got a uterus infection, which was a bit hidden - no symptoms except for the males chasing her all the time, though she was not in the heat! Which is a sign for a hidden uterus infection. But i didn´t realise, so i gave her the cat pill, because i thought she might get in the heat… Unfortunately, we could not get the chip at that time, because it was not yet allowed in Europe and we had some troubles to get our chips… But that would have been her own salvation… So we had to mate her twice in a very short time. But now she finally has the chip and she looks like a neutered male cat with an outstanding coat and body in the middle of August… Finally her uterus has some rest and she is just sooo happy and in TOP condition!

At last the chip is legal here in Europe: "Suprelorin - trademark: Virbac". The vets are still very sceptical, also because it says only for dogs, but it is even used with success in ferrets. Ferrets are very sensitive animals… If you neuter a ferret the usual way, it might get kidney cancer. Also some ferrets get bold. This chip is used on ferrets to prevent the kidney cancer and the boldness. On Dachshounds it is used to prevent prostate cancer! Many Dachshounds get this after being neutered, but when neutered by this chip, it lowers the chance to get this cancer highly! Because this chip simply stops the production of the fertility hormones, it has no side effects even in long term use! On the contrary - the animals live longer because they get the resting periods.

Also it can be used on cats who need to be neutered, but are not in condition for surgery. For exsample a cat with a heart disease. You can spare its life for a long time this way!!!

And there is another important item:
These days you have many inherited diseases in cats like HCM & PKD.
Those diseases often show very late, when the cat already had produced itself very often! But its not healthy for the cats to wait so long before reproducing. Females get uterus infections because of using the pill on long term or getting in the heat too often. Males would get crazy, not being able to follow their instincts. Using this chip, we could "freeze" the cats without doing any harm! Until we know that they are genetically healthy.

Every one who knows me, knows that my males don´t live in outside cat runs, but are fully members of the family. They even sleep in my bed. Therefore i can not have them spraying! Before we had the possibility of the chip, we had to neuter these males and lose them for our breeding. Than i often looked with jealous eyes to the breeders, who can keep their males in cat runs. But i could never do that, because I want them around me. Now we have the chip, i even can have more than one fertile male in the house, without spraying! And think of our Bumsan with her uterus infections - normally i would have had to neuter her in order to save her live - now i still have a healthy, happy breeding queen, thanks to the chip!
But the most important thing is: They are sooo very happy due to this chip!!!!

Update Febuary 2009:

Memphis started to "sing" and sometimes spray again in January. So i had kept him fertile for 7 months without any problems. In that period he mated with Tossa and the result was 3 kittens. Usually Tossa only gets 2 kittens - this was the second time that she had 3!
In January 2009 we gave Memphis his second chip. Meanwhile also Amicus has this chip. Implanted June 2008. He behaves like a happy neuter.
So at the moment following cats have the suprelorin chip:
Arthur Weasley, Bumsan, Memphis & Amicus.

Update May 2009:

Nikita had developed the Dolly Parton Syndrome in a very aggressive form!
She had gotten in the heat very young and we had to give her the cat-pil. That´s why she developed this. Usually she would have been neutered at once, but we decided to give her the chip instead. Now she´s totally recovered... We can not say for sure that this credit goes to the chip, because it seems that some cats recover by themseles.

A lot of people contact me about the chip and i hear many success stories about the cats looking and feeling so good due to the chip!