Does your male cat pee everywhere? Is he fighting with other cats? Is he howling at night and coming home with sores and busted ears? Most likely he’s not neutered, right?
Initially, you may have been spared the so-called indignity of having your “fun” surgically removed, due to some very misguided opinions, but even cat owners reach the end of their own ropes when their prized kitty starts sniffing the water. . House. They pee everywhere, and there’s nothing stronger than untouched cat urine. It’s so strong you’ll think your eyes are bleeding and wish your lungs would shut down.
So what do these owners do? Most of them just throw the funny kitty-turned-stinky-monster outside, where he can find some fun on his own time from now on.
Others, still wanting their sweetheart to live indoors, finally break down and agree to castrate him. They also usually have his claws removed at the same time, since he has been clawing at the furniture to the frame. But they have waited too long.
They don’t get it either.
These cat owners have a whole list of wrong notions about your cat, and cats in general, like…
- Their cat will not be like that, because they will simply love him more.
- Neutralizing him is supposed to calm him down and stop being aggressive.
- Neutering will instantly prevent him from urinating on everything, scratching everything, and starting fights.
- He’s just being stubborn.
Many people simply shouldn’t have cats, no matter how much they claim to love them. It is true that there are not enough houses for everyone, but then why should we put cats in a house that is not going to be a good location? Is it really fair to make them suffer with some clueless people who just don’t get it? Or reject you?
First, it is a mistake to believe that simply neutering a cat will stop it from spraying the house. Fact: Once they have started this behavior, it may take Mohammed to move the mountain for them to stop. Castration, to be most effective, should be done before the cat reaches puberty, preferably even earlier. With current advances in surgical techniques and equipment, it can be performed safely at 8 weeks of age. But check with your own vet, as this should be done by someone who is also comfortable and familiar with the procedure.
Since spraying is usually a marking behavior, and the cat doesn’t just urinate, waiting for puberty only allows instinct to take over. Stopping something that Mother Nature put there is much more difficult than preventing it from developing in the first place. What is this instinct? Well, what is puberty? Also called sexual maturity. This is the age when mating behaviors begin, and spray marking is one of them.
Then, castration can soften the development of aggressiveness, another necessary trait as part of the entire mating process. Aggressive male cats are more successful at winning a mate. But you don’t want an aggressive cat, do you? Well, then castrate him before those hormones feed that instinct. At the latest, castrate him before 6 months.
Neutering (before it’s too late) goes a long way toward “taming” that cat.