According to Canobolas Family Pet Hospital veterinarian Geoff Freeth, brawling undesexed cats help spread diseases such as feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), the cat equivalent of human AIDS.

“The incidences of FIV sits at around 15 to 20 per cent in Australia, although there are places such as Goulburn where 30 per cent of cats have FIV so it’s impossible to know how many local cats have the disease,” he said.

“The majority of people see it as the responsible thing to get their cats desexed, however there is a small percentage of people who don’t do it because they’re lazy or lack education (on the issue).”

Dr Freeth says feral cats are also an increasing problem in the region and while desexing won’t have an immediate impact on feral cat numbers, he believes there will be long-term benefits.

Orange Veterinary Hospital veterinarian Andrew Litchfield said while he supported the idea of mandatory desexing, administering it would prove difficult.

“I support cat curfews where they are locked up at night; this solves a lot of the problems,” he said.

“There’s nothing worse than a cat that’s not desexed and it’s something that all responsible owners do anyway.

“I think that mandatory desexing will prove difficult to enforce on people who don’t have the resources.”

The proposal would allow registered breeders to have undesexed cats.