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When will the feral cat I had neutered yesterday stop roaming and aggressing ?

post #1 of 3
3/10/10 at 4:49pm
Thread Starter 
How long before the feral cat I had neutered yesterday stops roaming, territoriality and aggression ?

I heard that that unaltered males who reach sexual maturity before they are neutered will still have testosterone in their system after the surgery that will drop off gradually over a 2-3 week period and at that point the guys (hopefully not too many in this colony left intact) should show a significant decrease in spraying. Can I expect the territorial disputes and violent outbursts also pretty much diminish at the same rate ? Without hormones, the mating urge wanes, without urinating, there is no territory to mark and thus no fighting necessary to defend it.

This one had only a slight nose abrasion -- I just don't want to see any of them badly scratched and clawed again ! They all tend to end up as "porch cats" eventually after getting altered.


Forgot to mention he was aged by the vet to be about 2 (10 lbs) if that makes any difference.
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post #2 of 3
3/10/10 at 5:19pm
Male anythings will still have some testosterone present after removal of the testes - there is a small production from other glands as well; this means it is also present in females. It takes a bit longer than 2 weeks for the levels to diminish, regardless of age (or for that matter, species); generally 90 days before levels drop. Some toms are so mellow before neutering there is little appreciable difference in demeanor and some so aggressive they remain that way but most fall somewhere in the middle and a noticible difference occurs. Spraying may or may not cease - Jack never sprayed, and he was 18 months before I got him done, Da Lip was almost a year old when he was done, and he will spray outside on his rare excursions, so neutering is not a guarantee that spraying will cease. I have observed one of the neutered barn cats spray around his hunting territory but he has never ever sprayed anywhere that is considered common areas or my areas. Also, females spray for advertising and territorial marking, so testosterone doesn't cause spraying, but it DOES cause tom cat stink. The territorial behaviour will likely remain intact and the two nastiest cats in the barn when it comes to interlopers are neutered and it has to do with hunting territory and house and home more than mating behaviours.
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post #3 of 3
3/11/10 at 5:34am
I had my ferals neutered over the last 5 years, some of them calmed down in days / weeks, three of them still scare me and I am happy to feed them from a distance from the other cats because they are still so aggressive towards them

Sometimes neutering them can actually make the territorial issues worse as they don't get why they are no longer the king and fight for it with other unneutered males anyway

As far as spraying, it may stop but it can also become behavioural / routine for them

Like people and pets. every feral is different and its hard to tell
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