Remember I mentioned that my cretin of a cat went missing for a few days last week? Last night we were heading to my other halfs sisters for a post Christmas debauch when we noticed six or seven cats hanging around a house along the lane here. Among them was my idiot.
Yes, he was missing again and now I know why. Theres a female at the house and Socks was with his homies, all waiting for her to wander out so they could-.. Introduce her to Mr Wobbley, to put it nicely.
All the cats were in bad condition, all weather worn and all tired, hungry and too weak to leg it as I marched up the drive, grabbed my cat and took him home.
Once home I fed him, gave him a drink and went back out to the party.

When we got back last night the little bas-.. darling had sprayed the entire house, and after copious amounts of alcohol and food, I can officially tell you that IT STANK!

He spent all last night yowling to go out and this morning, we let him out and he ran straight back to the house with the female in it, to take up position in the queue.

So we phoned the vet. Socks is booked in to have his love-spuds lopped off next week.
I never thought I could put another male of ANY species through such a horror, but his sex drive is killing him, hes starting to starve, hes getting hypothermia from the bad weather and the gang of cats keep running into the road. Plus, if any dogs happen by, the cats are too weak to escape, so its for his own good.

Im now going to march down the lane again, grab the cat again, and attempt to lock him in here again.

Haha! Thats why ours are off to the vets as soon as they are old enough! Ive had enough of rampaging rabbit hormones without the cats joining in too.

If you'd like me to make it any easier for you Jabberwocky, I can tell you all about the death rate among entire toms from diseases both sexually transmitted and caught from feral toms whilst scrapping with them for a queen's attention (in fact I'd recommend you get your lad tested for FIV and FeLV when you get him neutered- and yes- the risk really IS that high).

And then I can tell you all about the risk of septicaemia from puncture wounds caused during fights between toms.

And then I can tell you all about the fact that an entire tom can smell a queen in season from about a mile away, and many toms get killed whilst crossing roads to get to an unknown area, just to follow the queen.

And then I can tell you all about the likely difference in age of death of a neutered tom vs an entire tom (cumulative from infections, injury from fights, injury from RTAs, etc etc).

And then I can tell you all about trying to share a house with an entire tom, and what an unpleasant and smelly task it can be.

Are you convinced yet? Let me know- I'm sure I can think of other reason (including that he'll just generally be a less stroppy individual without quite so much testosterone in his system).

Btw Meds whats the youngest they can be done?

The youngest that vets normally recommend neutering boy cats is 6 months- because they rarely hit puberty before that age, and aren't fertile until well after that age. They like to avoid surgery until they're big, strong and healthy so they don't stress their systems unnecessarily. The only exceptions to this are usually feral cats who have to be trapped to get them to the vets, and they do as many things as possible in one visit, to avoid the stress of repeated trappings.

Sometimes they will spay queens earlier as they can conceive on their first season, and with good kitten nutrition, that is getting earlier over the years for some queens- so one of mine was spayed at 16 weeks because she was big and strong enough and the vet predicted and early onset of menses.

Excellent. They are only 3 months at the moment and I had a look in our book and it just said it was best done before 8 months when the male behaviour becomes very ingrained.

Our vet recommended 5 months for lil boy and 6 months for lil girly, just to make sure no accidents happened, so we got them in spot on time and didn't let them out of the house til after they had both been done

The thought of the... of his little jewels being lopped off though... Im in pain just thinking about it, and I hope the vet isnt a woman because from experience, I KNOW that females like to remove a blokes love-tatties!

awww Jabber i know, my man was soooo upset when lil Gus had his chopped too... you could see him cringing :(

I was just jealous when Ghaiyas had her bits removed :(

Ive taken enough rabbits to the vets to not worry now excpt that cats are a little more 'vocal' when they protest!

Males of all species shouldnt have to go through this. Its far less painful and more conveniant to spay females.


Im going to be yelled at now... arent I...?

I'm not going to yell Jabberwocky- I'm just going to remind you that your house is going to stink every day for the rest of your lad's life if you don't get him neutered. No amount of spaying will sort that out.

The stench alone is enough to get me to forget the pain. Mercifully, he hasnt sprayed today and the stench from last nights horror has passed. I let him out though and he`ll be right to the females house so Im keeping him in until his wobbleys are history.

How old is Socks Jabber?

Hes two. Ive been playing with the idea of having him.... de-nadded since he was a kitten, but I just couldnt put him through it!

If you want to remove the smell so he doesn't try to mark on the same spot again BTW- use a solution of biological washing powder to digest the smell, and if you can finish off the washing process with a good blast with a steam cleaner, even better.

Julie uses that, and thank god it works!
Now, if only I could get her to use it on her armpits...