OK, another cat thread, but I’m seeking information.
FairyChatCat, aka FartCat, LeadFoot, Norbert, and whatever other nom du jour we happen to use - anyway, he’s about due, possibly a wee but overdue, to be snipped. My sister will be taking him to the Neuter Scooter when it returns to her neighborhood. (Fairychatdad has been working 14 hour days/6-day weeks, so he doesn’t have time to do the deed himself.)
So, what I’d like to know is what we can expect. Is his personality likely to change? He’s a big loving baby now. Will he get fat and lazy? Will he be more mellow? Will he hate us forever? How did your cat react to this, um, procedure?
At least in dogs, neutering is supposed to mellow the poor castrated creature out, but I don’t own dogs, and cats might not even notice the Boys are missing!
My male is FAR from fat and lazy. He’s worse then a ferret for his activity levels. The only time when I’ve seen male cats get fat is when they’re overfed. Just make sure you feed him accordingly.
I don’t think you’ll notice any huge changes. In my experience, all cats change as they age anyway. My evil fluff-monster is now an old sucky slut.
And we all know that a neutered male cat is MUCH better then an unneutered male cat! My male was neutered late in life (he was a stray) and he sprays every so often.
I have (had?) two boy cats, I had the first one neutered when he was about 8 months old (homeless cat we rescued) and he is still as sweet as ever with a terrific personality, and not fat, but very lazy (eat, sleep, poop, sleep some more). My second boy cat was neutered very young and he is enormous…he is 20 pounds, but has an even better personality ( probably decided to be loving so no more body parts would be taken from him) then he had pre-snip. So both are snipped and seem to suffer no long term results, Margo
Nice first post FairyChatDad! Welcome from a fellow newbie!
Oh what a present for your sister…but can you imagine your cat…“hey those look familiar…”
My kitty is sitting on my lap as I type, the heavy cat, the one that is cutting off all circulation in my legs…
Margo
I’ve had it done to three cats, and it’s No Big Deal. I didn’t notice any real personality change. Only one gained weight, and he was a stray cat half-starved, so he would have gained weight anyway.
It just makes them less territorial, less likely to spray to mark their territory, to fight, and to demand to go out looking for lady cats. In other words, more pleasant to live with.
Mine all still play, squabble, and demand attention like they did before.
And they didn’t appear to have much more than a few days of discomfort from the operation itself. Kind of slow-moving and groggy for a couple of days, then they were their old selves again.
Our boy, Duffy, was snipped at 8 months. I swear he went in totally unafraid of strangers and came out scared to death to meet anyone who comes to the house.
Daddy had to take him in since Mommy was sick at the time and couldn’t go with him, but Rico assures me the vet seemed to be a good guy. Since we’ve been there a lot with Shae’s illness and death in the past couple months, he’s right. Everyone we’ve delt with over there have been great people.
Duffy went in for his annual shots and exam this past Saturday. He yelled the entire trip to the dr, but once he got there, he was fine. He was really good for the Dr. and didn’t misbehave at all.
That’s the long way around to say it’s all been my imagination like Rico’s been saying. (I’ll deny it if anyone tells Rico I said that. ) Duffy is just fine. He hasn’t tried to hump his sister or the pillows or anything else.
Since I thought he needed a wheelbarrow to haul those things around, I can’t see how it is he can’t be aware something is missing, but it doesn’t seem to bother him.
My .02 cents… it’s in his best interest Dad (for lots of behavioral and longer life reasons the vets can tell ya all about).
My brave Sir Galahad was super-aggressive before, and he was reallly, really pissed off at me for a few days, but he got over it. He did gain a LOT of weight (ever try putting a cat on a diet), but now he’s extremely mellow and affectionate. He was a bit shy of a year old when I did The Deed.
For those who don’t know, the aforementioned feline lives aboard a 37’ sailboat, so the wandering isn’t an issue. In fact, this past weekend when I was up there, he didn’t even want to come out into the cockpit. He’s definitely an indoor kitty.
My big concern was the spraying - not the sort of thing one needs on a boat. And I didn’t want him to turn into a grouch - he’s a real lover. The cat, I mean. Well, my sweetie, too, but this isn’t his thread.
I can’t say it stopped spraying activities, my cat Henry seems to have developed a crush on me, he will sit on my lap and purr and look up into my eyes with this dreamy look (half glazed, like he just had some good drugs/love) and then I will notice this horrendous cat spunk smell…but he is still a sweetie-pie…
Margo
A bit late is good - my vet told me that if you neuter males too young, they don’t fully develop intellectually(!) Our cat wa
The op was apparently painless and he was up and running within a few hours. The differences? No spraying, no staying out all hours looking for females and his voice changed from
) Duffy is just fine. He hasn’t tried to hump his sister or the pillows or anything else.