Is this advice correct?

I went to the RSPCA today to enquire about getting a companion cat for my 1 year old male cat. A staff member said that it would be better to get a female cat as if I were to have two males in the same household they would spray their scent everywhere. I didn't think that this would happen with desexed male cats. Would they really do this?

I have read some other threads here and I can see that there are plenty of 2 male cat households. Surely you can't all just be putting up with the smell !!

Hi Chom-chom,

Welcome to the cat site. As the proud carer of 9 neutered male cats I can assure you that they don't spray everywhere. One of the older boys, who likes to think of himself as the boss, sprayed a few times when I first brought home a stray I found at the side of the road. However, they've since been introduced and become good friends and he doesn't spray any more.

I think if both of the male cats are fixed and you do the introductions carefully you won't have any problems.

I completely agree with the above post.  If both cats are neutered and introduced properly there should not be any territory spraying.  I have 2 neutered males living in the house.  One is a former feral.  Introductions took lots of time, but there was never ever any spraying.  The formal feral wasn't neutered until he was 3 and lived outside for 2 years.  Still no spraying in the house.

I think most shelters and rescues give this advice, that the second cat in a household should be the opposite sex.

You have to remember that they are dealing with 'the general public.'  They don't know much about the person asking; does that person research, investigate, take the time to learn about the animal?  I would say all of us on this site do!  But the folks at the RSPCA don't really know the person.  Their goal is to get a cat to a good forever home, and not have it returned in a few weeks.  So the old adage, "consider the source" applies.  From their perspective, this is the best way to answer the question.

I also have a house full of rescues, at one time I had 11 cats, now down to 7.  Of the 7, 2 are male.  Of the 11, 5 were male.  But way back 20 years ago, my second cat was opposite sex of the one I had.  I didn't know much about cats at that time, and the internet didn't exist to the extent of advice sharing, as it does today. 

As others have said, you can get another male, just be sure to do the introduction slowly.

I know that, with male dogs, if they are neutered before they reach puberty and START marking behavior, then most likely the dog will never mark in the house.  Not sure if this is the case with cats.

Let us know who joins your family!

I, in fact, PREFER two neutered males, they bond and get along a lot better from my experiences. The ONLY neutered male I had that sprayed was after we moved and there were a lot of feral tomcats that sprayed around our house and scared him. After he was used to them he quit. Females tend to be 'bossy' and don't like to play as much as the males. Of course this is from MY experiences, and the cat I loved the most was a female that didn't tolerate much! Just follow the 'introduction' instructions and you should be fine. Good luck!

3 males, 3 females.  Sadie has always been the princess queen since she came into my household 10 years ago and they shall all bow down to her. 

Yes, your post makes sense to me that they would have given this me this advice. Aren't we lucky now that we have the internet and we can share our knowledge and create online communities? I'll be sure to do a gradual introduction when the time comes. 

Okay so it looks like my choices just got a whole lot bigger! I think it's more the personality of the cat rather than the sex isn't it?