I have a delicate question

Does anyone know if after a tom cat is neutered the smell of the urine will change ? Why is the smell of the urine so different? It is overwhelming!

I was hoping I could gradually introduce Pharaoh to the other cats and he could stay inside. We had a tom cat that showed up 8 years ago , Conner, he was already at least 5 or 6 years old, battle scared and territorial, he had no intentions or getting along with any of the other cats and, he sprayed, even after we had him neutered. We had a cat door put into the garage door and he never did spray in the garage, he went in the little box with the hood (otherwise he sprayed right over the side) Needless to say he had to be an outdoor cat, he had a heating pad in his bed in the winter and a fan in there at night during the summer but I always felt terribly guilty that he had to stay outside, especially when he would come to the glass doors on the patio and stare at us and the other cats in the house. It makes me cry just to think about it. The vet found a large cancerous mass in his lungs in May and he had to be put to sleep. I was really hoping that I would not have to spend another 10 or 12 years feeling guilty every time I shut the door to come inside, especially when He tried to come in with me. For several days after he was diagnosed with cancer we kept him inside in our bedroom and locked the other cats out. I stayed with him most of the time and just let him sit on my lap and petted him constantly, he got to be an indoor cat for 3 days and he actually drooled while I petted him and I don't think he ever stopped purring even though I know he was in pain even with the medication. Every time I think of him staring in the window, I try to remember him sitting on the bed making biscuits with his eyes closed and purring so loud you could hear him on the other side of the room.

The vet said that Pharaoh is about a year and a half old, just small. Is there any chance he won't spray and the smell of the urine will change to what my other male cats smell like? Is it hormones that change the smell?

Anyway, hope someone can answer this one.

Dani

Yes, the smell of urine changes when they are neutered fortunately, male tom cat pee isn't pleasant. Not all cats will spray, hopefully as he is so young it will help - with your previous cat (RIP), it was probably due to his age, as they dont always stop spraying after being neutered. It can take a while though, I have fostered two whole toms this year, and it took 2 weeks for the smell to die down, but their fur wasn't back to normal after that time.

I agree. The smell disappears after a while,, and usually also the urge to spray (if it began at all). like some of the aggressivity. But some cats proceed to spray - like yours old apparently did. Especielly if cut late and or territorial - as yours was. R.I.P.

I believe it will get much easier with Pharao.
Let it take at least a couple of three weeks for the hormons to go down before you let him meet your homecats.
It can go faster, but why take risks??

I don't know if this is usual, but it seems that it took a couple months for the smell to go away with Loki. He was neutered a week or so before I adopted him, and I think it was late March or April before it went away. I remember being in the bathroom and Loki came in and urinated in the litterbox, and it was just horrible! His urine has no strong smell now, and I don't smell it at all (my sense of smell isn't the best, so others may be able to smell it somewhat, but it's not a stench anymore!).

Tricia

If you want to transition Pharoah to the inside, you might need to do things differently than just any cat that you adopt from someone. There are a lot of techniques listed under the improper urination thread that I would use for him. Things like confining him to a small room until he consistenly uses the litter box, using Cat Attract litter, using Feliway plug ins, etc. You don't know exactly what to expect when you bring him inside, but if you transition him using some of these techniques from the start, he might never have the urge to spray, or eliminate outside the box.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9563

Don't be so hard on yourself for Connor. If you had kept him in your house you would have hated him and he would know it. You cared for him for a long time and you did right by him during that time.