Aggression due to high testosterone levels?

The only reason why I thought of it is because I remember reading it here, I think before the crash.

L.S. has been exhibiting some odd dominant and aggressive behaviour towards the other three cats, and I can't help but wonder if they missed something when they neutered him in October. It's been getting worse as the months pass - he's almost a year old now, and it is that time of year for males to want to mate. I just wondered if anyone knew what the signs were in a cat who has this problem? He's never had shown any aggression to humans, just the other cats. I was hoping someone could give some insight on whether this really can happen and what it's like, before I run and call the vet. I'm still maxed out from Han's bladder surgery, so no vet trips unless it's an emergency. There's no danger of him seriously hurting the other cats, it's just really distruptive to them, and to mom and me.

It can and does happen that the vet can miss something, but in a male, it is far less of an occurance than it is in a female. Since it has only been 5 months since his surgery, I would presume this to be a reworking of the hierarchy but can't be certain of that. When did this all start with him? Is he spraying too?

He's been slightly dominate since I brought him home in mid-October. He was fixed a week prior to that. According to my vet, he was 5.5 months when I brought him in due to a URI. (I asked the vet to check teeth.) So he's around 10.5 months old. It started as a little tiff every week... then twice a week, then every third day, then every other day, then every day, and now it's up to several times a day. He'll just suddenly decide to start chasing everyone through the house.

He'll usually start by nipping at the back of Han's legs, so Han's will charge him just enough to chase L.S. away, and then he'll run downstairs and hide. Next is Ho Ho, who will lead him on a merry chase, and then jump somewhere high to get away. (L.S. is very thick, and has some trouble jumping.) Merlin usually steps in around this time. L.S. will jump Mer, Mer will take off with L.S. following, and about fifteen feet later Mer will turn around and charge L.S. This leads to a minute or so of wrestling. (I'll only step in if one of them hollars, which doens't normally happen.) Merlin will come out victorious, with L.S. running out of the room to attack the rugs or a toy. About an hour or so later, it starts all over again, even when I try to distract him.

If L.S. is just trying to play, then the other three certainly aren't understanding that. He just seems so... vicious at times. That's the only way I can describe it. It's like he's deliberately trying to pick fights.

Talk with your vet, and let him know what is going on, maybe your cat was cryptorchid and your vet failed to mention it. Believe me if it is due to testosterone take care of it immediately, I have been there done that with Sturgis and it is no fun.

One of ours has aggression issues. He is on medication for it and doing quite well. The signs were aggressiveness toward the other cats, bumping his head on anything he could find (especially the underside of the coffee table), and inappropriate elimination. There may have been a few other signs, but those were the main ones. He is fine, except when his Daddy forgets to refill his Rx

He was fixed by the shelter, not my own vet. I don't trust the shelter vets, and I think they do a really poor job. (ie. The foster I had to put to sleep because she had distemper. She was 2 and a half pounds, 5 and a half months old, and probably hadn't been able to keep food down for weeks. She was nothing put bones, and was vomiting up green foam every four hours. The vets fixed her the day before Thanksgiving, told me she was perfectly healthy, and the day after Thanksgiving I had to put her to sleep because she wouldn't have made the trip home from the vet's office. They told me later that because they had only had her for two days they wouldn't have noticed anything. Um.... )

Petnurse, that's what I had thought might have happened. He certainly doesn't look like he's had all the equipment removed. Mom had been asking me from day one if he had actually been fixed. According to the paperwork, and shelter policy, he had been. (He was actually kept in recovering for 12 days after the surgery because there was no other place for him to go, and he was so wonderful they didn't want to put him to sleep. When I realized it was the same cat I had seen almost two weeks prior, I kinda ran out the door with him. I'm wondering if they didn't get the paperwork messed up in that time.)

He's never sprayed at all; believe me, the other cats and I would have known. My mom has said that he continues to nip at the back of her legs, but insists that it's just "love nips", and it's harmless. To me, that's a sign of dominance, and tomorrow I'm calling the vet and am trying to get him in next week.

I just didn't want the vet to think I'm crazy if I say - yeah, I think they messed up with the neuter. Now I know that it can happen.

If no one knows for sure you can do a testosterone test, whe the take blood then inject him with a hormone (the name escapes me at the moment) and take blood again 4 hours later. Chances are your vet would have to order the hormone (we did, and haven't used it since), but it might help. Sturgis of coarse was right on the borderline (at the 4 hours mark) that there could be a testicle in there, but then again there could not be. We did an ultrsound and found nothing, 2 exploratory surgeries, finally his last surgery we found the stupid thing, I now keep it in a jar of formalin on my desk it's the best trophy I could hope for.

3cathouse said:

One of ours has aggression issues. He is on medication for it and doing quite well. The signs were aggressiveness toward the other cats, bumping his head on anything he could find (especially the underside of the coffee table), and inappropriate elimination. There may have been a few other signs, but those were the main ones. He is fine, except when his Daddy forgets to refill his Rx

Click to expand...

What medication was it? My neutered male, almost 16 has been on megesterol acetate for about 4 years. He was neutered by a rescue pre-pubescent and it has been figured they missed tissue as he grew up to look like a tom. big head/neck etc. He started marking after we got a second male. his behavior was fairly well under control until recently when he has peed in my sunroom twice this week. I am leery of exploratory surgery due to his age, although he is very healthy.

Yeah, have the vet run tests to see if there was a missed testicle. But. . .teenage males are jerks. They just are. So it could be that too.

The vet ran the bloodwork on him, he's got the testosterone of a unneutered tom.

pb0523 said:

The vet ran the bloodwork on him, he's got the testosterone of a unneutered tom.

Click to expand...

I wonder then if he ever was neutered at all?

He was, it was just done before his balls had dropped, prior to 4 months, so something got left behind which is still pumping out hormones. He was okay until we added a male to the household and ferals outside.

Ah well, if the missing testicle dropled it should be easy to deal with. If it didn't the vet will have to go into his abdomen to look for it :/.

No, the testicle never dropped. Due to his age I won't put him through surgery. I was hoping to find out what med 3cathouse had used.

He's only 10 months old. Do you want to live with this for the next 15-20 years?

Oh, sorry, wrong poster . I meant the OP's kitty. Yeah, your guy is a bit old to go poking around.

The OP's kitty should be "re-neutered" as soon as possible. The shelter might have missed him entirely; I've heard that can happen in high-volume situations. But it certainly sounds like something went wrong, especially since he looks unneutered too.

Just a note that this thread is from 2005.

Yes, I saw that but was hoping answers still might be available