A Research team led by David Pépin, PhD, Associate Director of the Pediatric Surgical Research Laboratories at Massachusetts General Hospital, and an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School has developed a gene therapy as an alternate to spaying and neutering animals. They are hopeful that this method will eventually be available to be able to control outdoor pet populations.

While this discovery is promising, the researchers have yet to develop the infrastructure to treat thousands of unowned feral cats. This will also give pet owners an alternative to traditional spay and neuter programs to prevent pregnancy in their pets.

What is interesting is this gene therapy was first used in people. Typically discoveries in animals help humans, in this case it is the reverse.

Journal Reference:

1. Vansandt, L.M., Meinsohn, MC., Godin, P. et al. Durable contraception in the female domestic cat using viral-vectored delivery of a feline anti-Müllerian hormone transgene. Nat Commun, 2023 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38721-0

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Massachusetts General Hospital. “Gene therapy produces long-term contraception in female domestic cats.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 6 June 2023. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230606111636.htm>.