Very strange behaviour from neutered male

Hi There,

I've been managing a very small colony of about 5 cats. 4 male 1 female. To date i've managed to neuter/spay 3 cats and rehome two of the 3 neutered/spayed cats. Anyway, Slim, who is the second male cat that we neutered is exhibitng some very odd behaviour.

He has become totally passive. He no longer shows any interest what so ever in attacking our 3 in door cats and today while i was feeding him the unneutered female appeared and i thought that i would be in for a big brawl... However, to my surprise Slim, the neutered male just sat and watched her eat. In fact at one point the whole time they were within a foot of each other. Slim was lying on the ground observing her, he seemed totally at ease and she, was eating the chicken that i was throwing to her. She was about 5ft away from me.

In addition to this whenever i walk my cats (on harness) he comes right up to them in a non aggressive manner and just rolls around on the ground in front of us....of course as soon as he shows up that usually means the walk is over... but anyway, i'm totally perplexed at his behaviour. Is this normal?

What does it mean? I always thought that neutering just meant a SLIGHT behaviour alteration. He's like a different cat entirely!

Before he was neutered he would yowl and threaten our indoor cats even if he just caught a glimpse of them through the glass windows. If the glass was even slightly ajar there'd be a huge racket with him trying to get in and attack them. Now when he sees them he sort of just looks at them and seems totally ease. Once or twice when the door has been slightly ajar he has out of curiosity stuck his head in, and seen our (all spayed) cats... and just sort of ... aknowledged them but not tried to attack them...

I'm really puzzled. I'm really hoping that neutering will have a similar effect on all the other males in the compound.

Welcome to neutering effect on the feral cat population. Since neutering takes away the need to compete for females...it does diminish and sometimes eliminates the negative behaviors such as yowling, fighting, spraying etc. You aren't the only one who has been surprized by the change....a lot of the caretakers I have spoken with at our feral cat clinic report mellower cats who are healthier and nicer then when they were intact. Of course, how extreme the difference in the behavior will depend on the cat...but what you are reporting matches what I have heard from the caretakers at the clinic.

BTW...keep up the good work. I do hope you catch the remaining 2 soon.

Katie

Well i sure hope it has the same effect on the other 3. Right now my most pressing concern is the female who i hope to trap within the next 3-4 days as i have a sneaky feeling she is pregnant.

Two out of three are pretty healthy but the 3rd male is in quite a state. I think th evet may suggest to have him put down as he ... well he can't possible be having a good time out there and he's also posing a threat to the other healthy cats.

Anyway, i'll keep you posted.

I would be looking for a loving home for this fella. In the past, when I see this type of behavior from a newly neutered tom- I take him into my home, socialize him further and adopt him out- even making him a stable or a barn cat works-

That's exactly what i was thinking. I do need to find a home for him... Unfortunately my husband is not going to be too happy about me bringing him into the house... He's a bit iffy about that.

I do however make a point of going outside to play with him in the evenings. He'll let me pet him and stroke him and he'll roll over on his back etc. and sit next to me. He's calmed down a lot since his "intact" days...

Anyway... we are in a relatively safe area away from dogs (luckily for the local there are NO street dogs in dubai becoz it's a muslim country) and traffic... so its no huge hurry...

How else can i socialise him without bringing him into the house? any suggestions? also how will i know when he is ready to go to a new home?

How long ago was he neutered? The reason I ask is that I saw a similar HUGELY dramatic change in one of my feral males and it turned out that his little bum had become infected after the neutering. Once he was treated with antibiotics he was still less aggressive because he had been neutered, but he went back to being a feisty old guy in terms of his personality.

i'm quite sure he is fine health wise... i think he is getting in touch with his feminine side.

He seems to only get a bit aggressive when the other males are around. Other than that he has actually formed a little bit of a companionship with the female. They spend a lot of time together... Just within a few feet of each other... And he is not showing any signs of aggression towards our female cats...

I'll be keeping an eye on this friendship. I hope it develops further.

Do you think it ispossible that they are litter mates?

Originally Posted by zazi

i'm quite sure he is fine health wise... i think he is getting in touch with his feminine side.

Click to expand...