Should I neuter my cat?

[eilcon]

Yes, please, please, please have your cat neutered. It's the most compassionate thing you can do to ensure his health and happiness. Besides, it spaying/neutering our pets goes along with being responsible owner.

For what it's worth, my male cat, who was neutered at 4 months, is a lean, sleak, healthy boy with the energy of kitten and he's now 3 1/2 years old.

Personally, I don't see how anyone can live longterm with an unaltered male. I fostered a 4-year-old male cat recently and had him for two weeks before we could schedule his surgery. Poor guy was miserable and loud! I had to sleep with earplugs at night.

Fortunately, spraying wasn't an issue with him, but it was with another male I fostered who was neutered late. He was about 2-years-old at the time. I had Sam for a month after he was fixed and he sprayed all over my apartment. I hope to never have to deal with the smell or mess again. It was a lot of work and big investment in Nature's Miracle to get it cleaned up.

There's no legitimate reason NOT to get your cat fixed. It's simply the right and responsible thing to do.

 

[fats mcgee]

I'm a little late in the game but I can't *wait* until you take him to the shelter because he's peeing all over the house. Or when you just simply can't take the aggression.

/sarcasm.

Seriously. Even if you care NOTHING about the health of the cat or whether or not you're contributing to cat over population--and you are. Every. single. time. he. gets. out. Even on accident. (it takes like 30 seconds for cats to mate) think about the wretched stink of unneutered cat pee. GAG. I would NOT want to come over to your house b/c I'd bet a million dollars you've accilmated to the smell.

 

[dixie_darlin]

Originally Posted by okiron

Well if neutered cats are supposed to be vegetables, Dahmer did not get the memo. And neither did the cats at my rescue I volunteer for. Dangit, who's sending out the memo? They're missing everybody!

Not only did the cats not get the memo but my dogs didn't either

They all go running hell bent around the house.. Oh and you might want to tell all of the flowers and tablecloth that ended up on the floor the other night that animals are veggies when they're altered

 

[calico2222]

Honestly, neutered male cats are not vegetables. With the cat your friends had, was he the only cat and did they play with him? If not, that is probably what was contributing to his overweight issue and his depression. Cats need stimulation, and if he was left to entertain himself, he probably felt neglected. As already stated, neutered cats are much calmer and don't try to escape as much. I have 2 male cats, Harley is going on 4 and Gizmo is going on 2. They were both snipped early and both are still VERY active. In fact, I wish Gizmo was a little less active.

If your cat is already spraying in the basement, it's only a matter of time before he starts in the upstairs rooms. Honestly. I agree, if you don't care enough to get it done for your cat's health and happiness, do it at least for your home. And clean where he sprayed in the basement with enzyme cleaner, or else he's just going to do it again.

You've gotten great advice. I just hope you take it.

 

[epona]

Both my boys were neutered at between 6-7 months (I'd have had it done younger if I could), and are both very lively and active. The only personality change I saw were good ones - one had started to urine mark his territory indoors, which stopped, and the other I had started to see slight aggression and pacing and howling at night, which also stopped.

I have absolutely no doubt that they are happier neutered, and definitely not couch potatoes!

 

[okiron]

I think you guys scared them off. Ilpav has only made 5 posts all on this thread and hasn't signed on since the 2nd of February.

 

[forensic]

Well, they weren't exactly saying what the OP wanted to hear...

 

[saya]

haha, yea I suspected as much a few days ago while looking at this post.

guess truth hurts sometimes...

 

[goldenkitty45]

90% of the cats I've owned have been spayed/neutered - and none of them were ever fat cats!

 

[plebayo]

About the neutering: I heard that when a cat is neutered, it loses all of its personality and just sleeps all day. Right now Leo is playful most of the time and I don't want him to become a "vegetable". I believe he will go nuts if he had to go to the vet and plus he is very smart and knows that if he goes into a portable cage, something is wrong. He is just used to being home every day and I think he loves it because everyone here loves him. Every day I come home he greets me with a meow and falls to his side so I can rub his belly (he absolutely loves that).

No it doesn't take away their personality. It stops them from reproducing, which your cat doesn't need to do, and it stops dorky behavior. Also, shame on you for not completing his vaccine series. It would really suck if he got outside and got distemper. We just finished treating 3 cats for distemper. Two cats were from one home, one cat was from another, and all three of them racked up bills upward into $4,000 a piece. One of the cats has had 3 blood transfusions, his kidneys are going nuts, and we're still not sure if he'll be able to go home anytime soon.

Just because your cat gets neutered, he isn't going to become a vegetable. There are MANY tom cats running around my neighborhood and half of them are fat. My cats are both neutered and both are active and not overweight. Cats only get overweight if you over feed them. Neither of them just lay around the house all day, they are very busy boys.

Also if he goes nuts going to the vet, that is your fault because you should have taken him there for the rest of his vaccine series so he'd get used to it. Both of my cats will walk into the pet carrier by themselves, all I have to do is set it down and they walk in because they know it's going somewhere.

About his urges: Can't he "relieve himself" by himself? I have seen him licking his private area and sometimes I even help him out with that (not what you think, I just rub his belly directly above his private area until some drops of clear liquid come out of his penis). BTW is a cat's sperm clear or white, like a human's? Can't he satisfy his urges by masturbating?

That is seriously just sick and wrong. NO he can't relieve himself. It's really not fair to make him have all of that sexual frustration, that is why he's starting to have a 'tude. The more he gets out also, the more likely he'll be in fights and you'll be spending $300 at the vet to repair abcesses and wounds. GET YOUR CAT NEUTERED. It costs $150 at the cheap places, takes 5 minutes, and then you won't be telling your friends about how you have to masturbate your cat. That's just wrong.

 

[saya]

Originally Posted by Plebayo

The more he gets out also, the more likely he'll be in fights and you'll be spending $300 at the vet to repair abcesses and wounds. GET YOUR CAT NEUTERED. It costs $150 at the cheap places, takes 5 minutes, and then you won't be telling your friends about how you have to masturbate your cat. That's just wrong.

just wanted to clarify... an abcess costs up to $800 and a snip is as cheap as $80 or even $50 if you go to the humane society.

 

[plebayo]

just wanted to clarify... an abcess costs up to $800 and a snip is as cheap as $80 or even $50 if you go to the humane society.

An abscess repair might go up to as much at $800... but it depends on what the treatment is, if you're using a drain, or the umbilical string stuff. I just threw $300 as a minimum. I'm also aware of the $50 neuters that you can sometimes have done at shelters, it's actually $39.95 at Companion Pet Clinics but I so wouldn't recommend going that route. A neuter isn't as easy to screw up at a spay is but it happens.

 

[saya]

definitely. I always get very nervous around spay/neuter time for my kids.
Bea's didn't go that well, the doctor made a mess of it. Needless to say I switched vets and would never take my kitties to a chop shop.

It's better than nothing when you have no money though.

 

[plebayo]

Bea's didn't go that well, the doctor made a mess of it. Needless to say I switched vets and would never take my kitties to a chop shop.

It's better than nothing when you have no money though.

That's a bummer when they don't go well! Granted it IS better than letting your cat reproduce I guess! Just because you don't want to risk cheap surgery.

 

[sakura]

Originally Posted by Forensic

Well, they weren't exactly saying what the OP wanted to hear...

exactly

It's too bad too. The OP was given so many well-based reasons to neuter the poor cat, and he seems so against doing it. I wonder if the cat has even been tested for FIV, I mean he's already gotten outside plenty of times and being un-neutered is likely to get into fights with others cats. I wonder how much cat spraying in the home it will take to get the point across?

The local spay/neuter clinic here just had an all-male neuter day for $15 per cat. Normally they charge $28 for males. Think of all the vet bills, aggression, kittens, fights, health issues, etc. that the $28 could save the original poster.

It makes me sad that someone owns a cat and isn't taking care of its basic health needs.

 

[saya]

it makes me sad to think that kitty might not be getting the care he needs...

I hate to say it but I think spraying might be the least of his problems if kitty is getting out and isn't vaccinated.

 

[glitch]

Originally Posted by Plebayo

No it doesn't take away their personality. It stops them from reproducing, which your cat doesn't need to do, and it stops dorky behavior. Also, shame on you for not completing his vaccine series. It would really suck if he got outside and got distemper. We just finished treating 3 cats for distemper. Two cats were from one home, one cat was from another, and all three of them racked up bills upward into $4,000 a piece. One of the cats has had 3 blood transfusions, his kidneys are going nuts, and we're still not sure if he'll be able to go home anytime soon.


That is seriously just sick and wrong. NO he can't relieve himself. It's really not fair to make him have all of that sexual frustration, that is why he's starting to have a 'tude. The more he gets out also, the more likely he'll be in fights and you'll be spending $300 at the vet to repair abcesses and wounds. GET YOUR CAT NEUTERED. It costs $150 at the cheap places, takes 5 minutes, and then you won't be telling your friends about how you have to masturbate your cat. That's just wrong.

In 2007 I lost a cat named Kitten to distemper, She got sick one day and less than 24 hours later she was dead. It was an awful way to die. I was in so much shock that she didn't have her distemper shot! I hope yours pull through!

I agree by the way, jacking off a cat is just wrong.... YUCKY!!