Veterinarians, students , owners and cat people and others with anecdotal stories and opinions…
I became owned about a week ago by a ‘drop’ Tom Cat I call Demon.
We have 3 females ( all fixed ) and a 1 year old and an 7 year old male, ( both fixed ) now and Demon will make six if I keep him.
He is from 1 to 4 years old, have not been to a vet yet so I am guessing, and after he is fixed at this late date, how long until he losses some of his ‘tom cat’ ways. Right now, he is all Tom Cat and that does not work with 5 other cats that are outside cats except at night when we put them up in their own pump house kitty crib. He is in the temp pen for now until I decide what to do.
Actually a good cat and just needs some regular feeding and small medical things from being on his own for a bit.
So, do I need to buy a big jar of kitty Valium or just shoot him and wait for a better drop?
I know about socializing in a new cat with others but I do not know about a ‘late’ fix tom. What is to be expected? How long will that testosterone be a problem after he is fixed?
Clue me in. I need information so as to make a decision about him. Does he have much of a chance of fitting in since he has gone so long before getting fixed?
Our family once had a tomcat “fixed” at the age of about five. He settled in almost as soon as his stitches had healed, and he seemed to be far happier indoors and neutered than he ever was outside and intact (the other cats in the neighborhood hadn’t been kind to him). As far as I’ve been able to tell, neutering really doesn’t seem to make as much difference to a cat as you might think.
The whole cat socialization thing will depend far more on the personalities of the cats involved than on whether there’s any testosterone in the mix. A dominant cat is likely to be aggressive to other cats even if he was neutered as a kitten. If you’ve been successful in socializing new cats into established groups before, I’d guess you have a good chance of doing it again, provided the cat’s basic temperament allows for group living.
We had our “rescue” tom (Jumpin’ Jasper Ginger Cat) neutered at about 6 months, he might have been a bit older. But it calmed him right down. He was attacking our other boy (Neutered). After the proceedure, he was less aggressive and calmer.
We have a 24 lb. tomcat (he weighed that much when he still had is ‘nads). We called him Mr. Meanface because he scared the living shit out of us. We captured him in one of those wild animal cages and brought him to the vet, all hissin’ and spittin’.
When we picked him up two days later, we told them we were there to pick up that big mean-ass cat. They’re like, “we don’t have a cat like that here.” We’re like, “You know, big black and white asshole cat?” And they’re like, “Oh! You mean Domino? We’re all in love with him. The girls take turns hanging out with him all day!” So we’re thinking they lost our cat. They bring him up from the holding cell and he was IMMEDIATELY the nicest boy we’ve ever seen. We changed his nickname from “Mr. Meanface” to “The Good Boy With The Nice Face.” So there you have it. One happy anecdote.
