Effect of sterilisation on body weight, metabolic rate and glucose tolerance of domestic cats

This short post is based upon a study published online in March 1997. The concern is quite a well discussed topic, that of domestic cats putting on weight after they've been neutered (males) or spayed (females). I am only able to see the study's summary.

Image: MikeB using Canva. Feel free to use it but please credit me and link back to this page.

This study found that "the castrated males gained more weight as fat than the sexually intact males". And "the neutered males gained significantly more weight than the entire males".

Further, "There was a significant increase in daily food intake after neutering.".

Neutered males gained weight faster than entire (unsterilised) females.

The scientists also said that "Spayed females underwent a significant decrease in fasting metabolic rate". I take this to mean that the spayed female cats had a slower metabolic rate when they were not eating i.e. fasting. It is not stated in the study but it would seem reasonable to conclude that with a lower metabolic rate there is a greater chance of fat being stored because less energy is being used and therefore the food is being burnt up at a slower rate.

They found that there was no or little effect from sterilisation on glucose tolerance. I take that to mean that there is no impact on domestic cats in terms of a predisposition towards Type II diabetes but that is my personal interpretation and it is not stated in the study.

The term 'gonadectomy' is often used by scientists to mean the removal of female testes and the female's ovaries. In other words, sterilisation of both sexes of cat.

Comment - my views

The advice given by veterinarians is to modify your male and female cats' diet after the neutering and spaying operations. I think the operation will affect different cats differently. My cat did not put on weight and was always relatively skinny and only now when he is in middle age is he putting on a little bit of weight. I delayed his neutering operation as long as possible but was pressured by the veterinarian to have it done as soon as possible. I resisted that pressure.

Extruding penis

There is another study online which says that neutering a pre-puberty male cat can leave the cat unable to extrude his penis which would be a scientific way of saying having an erection! I'm not sure this is true although the study was completed by a PhD student. She said that 100% of male cats neutered before puberty were unable to have an erection. I don't believe that at all. 

I have first-hand evidence because my cat gets boners all the time and he was neutered after puberty but there may be an issue here is to whether you neuter a male cat before or after puberty which is about seven months of age in order to allow the male cat to retain some normal malfunction and appearance. In this instance I'm talking about the facial appearance specifically the jowly, square, larger face of the intact male tomcat.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Study: Effects of neutering on bodyweight, metabolic rate and glucose tolerance of domestic cats. Link to the study: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-5288(97)90134-X.

Well known American animal advocate is conned into believing that the Greeks are kind to their street cats

Nathan Winograd and his wife went on holiday in Greece. He is a great American animal advocate and an expert on no-kill animal shelters. I can visualise his visit now. The warm balmy evenings, the white buildings and the deep blue sky reflected in the sea. And in Greece there are lots of street cats. 

It seems that all the domestic cats are on the street joining with the stray cats and the feral cats. I guess we call them community cats. But in Greece the domestic cats live outside which contrasts with the 50% in the US who live inside 24/7. But there are too many stray and feral cats in Greece.

Nathan Winograd in Greece interacting with a dark tortoiseshell street cat and enjoying himself. Perhaps this little fella will be poisoned like many thousands of others in October. Picture by Nathan Winograd's wife (believed).

The feral cats are quite friendly because the meet with the tourists who like to have them around. Just like Nathan Winograd they enjoy interacting with the street cats of Greece. He wanted to help them, to feed them but was told that they are fed and well looked after.

He asked a restaurant owner to give him some food to feed the cats but he insisted there was no need. He was told not to worry. They are taken care of.

The street cats of Greece are tourist attractions which brings me to the next point. When the holiday season is over in Greece sometime in October, the local people poison the street cats. They put down poison in water or in food. It might be weedkiller it might be antifreeze. You name it they use it.

They rely on the dustbin men to pick up the dead bodies and throw them away. It's as simple as that and its mass cruelty. It is mass animal cruelty and, in the UK, and in America I suspect there would be mass prosecutions of these friendly Greek locals who think nothing of poisoning the charming street cats of mainland Greece and the Greek islands. But not in Greece. It is simply accepted as normal.

You don't have to research very hard to find out that what I have said is true. It appears that the Greeks don't like to neuter their animals which is why there are hundreds of thousands of them in the street. And it also appears that they don't like to operate TNR programs. This implies to me that they are lazy about looking after these cats. They say it's easier just to put down poison and kill them at the end of the season.

It doesn't seem to be a very good relationship between humans and cats, does it? It is not the way it is meant to be. It's not part of the unwritten contract between cat and person.

The Daily Mail online recites an interview between a visitor to Greece and a local. And the visitor asked why aren't the cat poisoners caught? He said no one's bothered. They aren't bothered about catching the poisoners. They know who they are but nothing is done. "It's just the way of things here".

It's the attitude and the attitude is that the cats are expendable. They have zero value. It almost seems that they believe that the street cats of Greece are not sentient beings; just decorative objects to add a bit of colour to the streets for the enjoyment of the tourists.

I'm afraid that Nathan Winograd, the great man he is, was conned mercilessly by the locals when he was told that they looked after the cats. I guess that was partly true because during the summer months they are looked after by the residents and by the tourists but come October, the cats that Nathan Winograd saw and interacted with will be dead, in a landfill site, out of the way.

And then in the spring of next year more kittens will arrive to live their short lives as entertainers to the unknowing tourists.

Why are there so many stray cats in Israel?

Feeding stray cats divides Israelis. Image in the public domain.

There are several reasons why there are so many stray cats in Israel.

Firstly, cats have a long history in Israel and the Middle East, and have been present in the region for thousands of years. In many cultures in the region, cats are considered to be good luck and are sometimes even kept as pets in homes or businesses to ward off evil spirits or pests.

Secondly, the warm climate in Israel allows cats to reproduce year-round, leading to a high population growth rate. Additionally, some owners may abandon their cats, which can contribute to the number of strays on the streets.

Thirdly, there is a cultural reluctance to spay or neuter cats, as some people believe it is unnatural or cruel. However, this has led to an overpopulation of cats, which can result in disease and other health problems.

Lastly, many Israelis feed the stray cats out of kindness, which can contribute to their survival on the streets. However, this also perpetuates the problem of overpopulation and can lead to issues with waste and sanitation.

Overall, a combination of cultural, environmental, and social factors has contributed to the large population of stray cats in Israel.

One kitten hates the other after they were neutered. What's happening?

This is a question on the Reddit.com website which I would like to also answer on this site. This is quite a typical problem actually. Domestic cats identify almost everything that they encounter through their sense of smell. Or to put it more accurately, they confirm the identity of the object. This happens as you can see when they eat. They sniff food because at close range their eyesight is not that great and therefore, they've got to identify whether it is edible and nutritious through its smell.

One kitten hates the other after they were neutered. What's happening? Image: u/jkamio

When a cat goes to a veterinary clinic for any procedure including a minor operation like a male neutering, they come back smelling of the veterinary clinic. And the veterinarian has probably used a sterilising agent on the site of the wound which also will have a strong smell.

These smells transform the freshly neutered cat into a complete stranger to the sibling. Whereas once they recognised their sibling as a friendly cat who they knew, all of a sudden, they are encountering a stranger who has invaded their space.

In response they hiss at their sibling which is disturbing to their human caregiver. They hate to see this agonistic behaviour among friendly cats.

But the smell will fade and the kitten when then once again become a sibling who they like. And perhaps the smell of the operation can be removed with a damp cloth. In addition, a bit of bedding used by both cats could be rubbed over the cat who had the operation to speed up the return of their body odour to its true smell.

It is nothing to worry about although it is concerning initially. Years ago, I had a brother and sister siblings who got on well. The sister fell into a pot of white paint. It was water-soluble and I immediately washed it off. I also washed off her body odour. 

Her brother no longer recognised her and hissed at her. She groomed herself fastidiously for about an hour to put her scent back and at that point he recognised her and the status quo was renewed.

There is another point worth making. Siblings when they are young are normally friendly towards each other. When they become adults and independent, that friendship may disappear as they become competitors for resources.

That's the wild cat behaviour which looks peculiar in the home of their caregiver. There is no need to be independent-minded when they are both being looked after but of course it is instinctive. They may get along but they may not any more.

Calm Larry the Cat at No 10 Downing Street had been neutered just before selection for his role

It has been suggested that the celebrity Downing Street cat, Larry, who has kept five Prime Minister's company at the offices and removed all signs of mice from the building, was selected because he was very calm at the time when he was chosen at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and the reason why he was calm was because he had been neutered the day before.

Government Chief Mouser Larry the Cat questioned over Partygate. Screenshot.

The suggestion is that just by chance Larry and thanks to castration he was selected from a group of five.

I find this implausible to be honest. Although we know that the neutering of male cats makes them calmer. In fact, I did some work on how castration of men changes their character.

I wanted to get into the heads of neutered male cats and tried to do this by researching how the operation affects humans. It might interest you. It's certainly chills out men and that's why male cats become calmer and more manageable.

Effects of Castrating a Cat (and a man)

And it is this character trait which convinced David, who was an Australian staff member at Battersea at the time. He was chosen to choose the best cat for No 10 Downing Street.

He visited Battersea on January 29. He saw five cats, Larry (the successful one), Spencer, Crockett, Trixie and Bart. Larry was chosen "for having the perfect personality". He was less needy than the other cats. This indicated to David that he would be able to cope with the activities at 10 Downing Street as it is full of 400 people occupying 100 rooms.

Number 10 Downing Street is a bit like a Tardis. It looks quite compact from the outside but when you're inside it is a complicated network of corridors and rooms. I have been there.

The Times newspaper tracked down the other cats, the ones that didn't make it to No 10. Spencer is still alive. That's worth stating because Larry looks quite old now. He was adopted in January 2011 to be the working cat of No 10.

Spencer's owners, said: "I don't think Downing Street would have agreed with him". They mean that Spencer would not have got along very well at the Prime Minister's offices.

Realistically, I don't think many cats would. It's just too active. Too much most noise, kerfuffle and commotion to be ideal for a domestic cat.

Crockett apparently would have been a decent mouser. He was rehomed in Forest Hill, south-east London. He died at the age of eight or nine.

Bart could not be traced. Trixie spent her life in Hackney, East London and at a family home in Hampshire before she was euthanised due to ill health in 2015.

Trixie was owned by Charlie, a retired administrative worker. He said that Trixie was a loving cat but shy. She might have found life difficult at No 10 Downing Street.

As for Larry's mousing skills, they appear to have waned somewhat because of his advancing age. But they said: "Having said this, no mice have been spotted in Downing Street for years."

Neutered male cat wants to mate with a spayed female in the same household. Why?

A cat owner on the Reddit.com website finds it difficult to understand what their male cat is doing to their female cat. They are both sterilised. The male cat is neutered, and the female cat is spayed. Therefore, the female cat doesn't come into heat. Why is the male cat pestering the female for sex?!

Neutered male cat wants to mate with spayed female. Image: u/Ok_Reference2122 on Reddit

The owner of the cats asks: "What is my cat doing to my other cat??? He will do these little chirps and follow her around mounting her like this but why? They are both fixed so he can’t be in heat."

My answer on Reddit was: 

"Neutered male cats might still desire to have sex with a spayed female cat. They may also desire to have sex with their owner's arm! The drive to mate is still there despite being neutered and the removal of testosterone. It's in their DNA. So being fixed does not stop this but it depends upon the individual cat. The little chirps he makes is a sign of excitement before mating."

The fact of the matter is that male cats even after being neutered and therefore even after the stopping of the production of testosterone, can still have a drive to mate with a female even when that cat is herself neutered.

And sometimes male cats have sex with their owner's arm or perhaps a leg or some other similar object. We see this quite a lot with dogs as well.

RELATED: Reason why some dogs try to mate with your leg.

Clearly, the drive by a male cat or dog to mate with a female is in their DNA and they will try and do it even if it is impractical. It becomes instinctive and illogical sometimes because they want to have sex with your arm.

It's just this internal drive and a lack of testosterone doesn't stop it in some individuals. I think this is very much about individuals and how they personally react to being neutered.

I speak from first-hand experience by the way because my cat has sex with my arm every day! I let him do it because it pleases him. There is a duty on all cat owners to please the domestic cat and it doesn't do me any harm so why stop it!?

For most dogs, the environment is sterile in terms of opportunities to mate with females. Forgive the pun. There is no opportunity and therefore they dive for the nearest object which is a substitute such as their owner's leg or the leg of an armchair or something like that.

It's all normal and dogs and cats should not be criticised for this behaviour. It's just that humans put them in a world where this kind of 'strange' (to humans) behaviour happens. From the dog or cat's perspective it is not strange but entirely normal.

Rescue centre insists people contact them if they want to relinquish their cats

North Wexford Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NWSPCA) ask people to contact them if they want to relinquish their cats and not dump them in the car park!

Joe Murray, the chairperson of the NWSPCA is upset because when people just dump cats near the rescue centre that he manages it creates all kinds of problems because they are suddenly presented with a large number of cats. It upsets the management of the cats currently in their charge and those cats due to be taken in.

Cats and kittens dumped at NWSPCA in sealed containers. Image: NWSPCA.

And of course, the dumped cats can be at serious risk of harm. He prefers it if people contact the rescue centre and discuss the matter with them so that the cats can be handed over in a controlled way which is good for the health of the cats and good for the management of the rescue centre.

What sparked this request was a couple of incidents in which sealed boxes were dumped on the premises with mother cats and kittens inside. The fact that the boxes were sealed is I think unforgivable because the cats inside could have been harmed.

RELATED ARTICLE: Cat rescue centres in London, UK – mapped to facilitate finding them.

Joe Murray said that it was extremely hot day. Two adults and ten kittens were dumped. The second incident involved two adults and four kittens. It seems certain that this was a failure to sterilise cats. This happens far too often, and it is due to carelessness and ignorance.

Joe Murray said: "They weren’t left at the cattery, they were left in the car park, and it was only by chance that one of us noticed the boxes and decided to look in. If it wasn’t for that, they probably wouldn’t have survived the night in that heat."

Rightly, he said that dumping cats in this way is unacceptable and that it hinders the operation of the rescue centre and therefore the service that they can offer other animals and other caregivers.

The North Wexford rescue centre has limited resources and they are trying to service as many people as possible. They have a waiting-list. They only have a certain amount of space and dumping cats leads to the dumped cats jumping the queue. 

This means that people who want to relinquish their cats in a reasonable way and who are working with the rescue centre are then pushed back which is unfair for both people and cats.

They are forced to turn away people who are doing the right things he said. He further added that "Dumping cats like this is selfish of people because they're not giving us a choice."

RELATED: A cat rescuer describes what she faces when those who won’t spay/neuter are part of the problem.

He said that the cats were probably fine where they were, and they could have stayed there for a week or so which would have enabled the rescue centre to organise themselves and help with food and then use crates when they took them in at the next opportunity at a time when there was space available at the centre.

The key point that Joe Murray wants to make is: "The answer is to contact us and work with us."

As anybody who follows cat rescue knows, it is quite commonplace for people to dump cats at rescue centres either over the weekend or at night even in freezing weather in order to avoid meeting with the rescue staff because no doubt the person relinquishing the cats is embarrassed.

They should swallow their embarrassment and take courage to admit that they can't cope and then make arrangements with the rescue staff to hand over the cats in a controlled manner.

Irresponsible cat owners TAKE ADVANTAGE of rescue centres

NEWS AND COMMENT-EVANSVILLE, INDIANA, USA: This is not an untypical story of the dumping of nearly two dozen cats at the Vanderburgh Humane Society shelter in Evansville, Indiana, USA. Clearly, the "owner" decided to get rid of all their cats in one fell swoop so they drove them down to the shelter, when I guess no one was there, in cardboard boxes and left them outside the building. Actually, it was on their back porch.

Nearly 24 cats dumped at humane soc. This is taking advantage of a rescue facility,

The shelter facility has no space. The Humane Society has "been keeping our heads above water lately thanks to our awesome community. But this has put us over the edge today and it's time to sound the alarm."

They are happy that the cats are in good hands i.e. their hands, but they say that "dumping animals off to them was not the right decision."

The shelter has done their best to manage unwanted cats which are currently at a level beyond their capacity with, as they say, the help of the community and "then situations like this happen where someone totally takes advantage of us. Yes, they are safe. Yes, we are glad they brought them here instead of dumping them in the country. BUT. That does not mean that this was the right way to get rid of unwanted cats."

The right way is not to allow cats to breed in the first place. The right way is to exercise more self-discipline and more responsibility, which is not a very hard thing to do. The person who did this is very ill-disciplined and irresponsible. They lean on the good people to mop up their mess. They count on somebody else to fix the problem which they have got themselves into. That is the definition of an irresponsible person and an anti-social person.

These sorts of people need to contribute to society rather than lean on it to support their irresponsible ways. The Vanderburgh Humane Society is asking for help. They want people to come forward to foster an animal or donate and finally to volunteer.

There are takers and givers in society in all countries. The person who dumped their cats is a taker.

I guess they have dealt with the overflow of animals at their facility through local people providing fostering services.

I think that the irresponsible people who do this should be punished to teach them a lesson. The hard part in that achieving that objective is finding them as they dump their cats surreptitiously. They avoid shelter staff.

UK: number of neutered cats fell from 91 to 86% in 2020 due to Covid

NEWS AND COMMENT - UK: The legacy of Covid is with us in the world of cats because it is reported that the pandemic has caused the number of neutered cats in the UK to fall from 91 to 86% in 2020. The reason: cat owners were frightened to go to a veterinary clinic because of the fear of getting Covid.

Cat at a veterinary clinic in the UK. Photograph: Getty images

The problem is compounded by the fact that more people than usual adopted cats and dogs during the Covid pandemic as company at home during lockdowns. The two changes in human behaviour combined resulted in more than the usual number of unsterilised domestic cats. This in turn produced more unwanted litters which further in turn has put rescue charities under increased pressure as the number of unwanted cats has increased at their rescue centres.

One veterinary clinic is offering low-cost neutering and spaying for eligible cat owners on low incomes in the Bristol area: Bristol Animal Rescue Centre. The cost of neutering a male cat at this centre is £30. Spaying of female cats costs £45 to eligible pet owners across Bristol. I am sure that there are many more clinics offering the same service to try and rectify what is a problem caused by Covid.

The RSPCA report that over 1 million cats remain unneutered in the UK resulting in an unprecedented increase in cat breeding.

The Independent newspaper reported that the RSPCA had warned that these conditions might lead to hordes of cats roaming the streets. I think that was an exaggeration. A bit of good news according to Cats Protection is that the number of cats neutered under four months of age rose from 22% in 2020 to 24% in 2021. This was a welcome increase in the uptake of pre-pubertal neutering by the veterinary profession.

TNR volunteers spend money on cats before they spend it on themselves

Often, TNR volunteers spend money on cats before they spend it on themselves, which is why Feral Friday's free spaying and neutering service provided by the Golden State Humane Society, in Long Beach, is so welcome. They don't operate the Friday service every week because of insufficient funding but on this occasion, on August 23, they operated the discount service because of a $1,500 grant from Petco Love, the pet supply company's non-profit foundation.

Registered Veterinary Technician Tracey Murphy, left, and Ruby Areilla prepare a cat for a neutering surgery at Golden State Human Society. Photo by Harry Saltzgaver, Grunion Gazette/SCNG.

Golden State's Executive Director, Alexandra Casswell, correctly stated that the volunteers won't stop. They really don't stop because they are driven by compassion. There is a huge body of people, nearly always women, who can't let feral cats struggle and starve and do nothing about it. 

They have to get involved. So, this service is a welcome relief to the expenditure which I'm going to guess is potentially or actually a constant worry because a lot of volunteers are on tight budgets. Perhaps they are women living alone who obtain a lot of satisfaction from what they do and rightly so.

The first Feral Friday event took place in October 2019. Golden State has neutered 88 feral cats with this discount service so far in 2021. They believe that in neutering 88 feral cats they have prevented the births of 352-562 kittens. That's a lot of pain and distress avoided.

These cats are probably better described as 'community cats' as they become semi-domesticated through their contact with the volunteers. Long Beach's Animal Care Services endorse the TNR programs.

In case you are unsure, TNR stands for trap-neuter-release which is the standard and most humane method of stabilising feral cat populations. It is far superior to the concept of elimination through inhumane means which almost invariably leads to the vacant space being occupied by incoming feral cats.

Can you detect a faint smile on this rehabilitated feral cat?

This is Sad Boy. As you can see, he had a hard life as an unneutered feral cat. In the photograph on the left his face is tense, his eyes are closed slightly, his nose is badly scarred through fighting, and his mouth points slightly downwards. All in all, his face as a feral cat indicates the difficulty in surviving.

Can you detect a faint smile on this rehabilitated feral cat? Photo: Reddit user: u/PoetsSquareCats.

Move forward a couple or three months and thanks to the care of an individual (we don't know her or his name), he is rehabilitated. Sad Boy appears to have been a semi-domesticated feral cat because he looks domesticated in the second photograph implying that it didn't take that long to integrate him into the human lifestyle.

What is noticeable is the lightness in his face. I even detect, I believe, a faint smile. His eyes are slightly more open and the tenseness in his face has disappeared.

Also, his jowly cheeks have disappeared. This is because, I presume, he has been castrated (neutered) and when you do that the production of testosterone is more or less completely stopped (but not entirely as it happens as the adrenal glands produce this hormone). This shrinks the cheeks and you end up with this slightly less masculine appearance.

The two photographs help us to focus on a domestic cat's facial expressions. I suspect that a lot of people think that domestic cats have no facial expressions. They are used to seeing the same impassive face every day. This leads people into believing that domestic cats are aloof. It is not actually true. They do have facial expressions and they are not aloof. Pain is certainly reflected in a cat's face. That is been established scientifically and a cell phone app has been created to read a cat's face so that the owner can better understand their mood.

Perhaps, the subtle changes in the expression of a cat when their mood lightens as reflected in this pair of photographs, is due to the fact that they suffer pain with greater stoicism than humans. Humans express their emotions almost wildly sometimes through facial expressions. There is a stark difference between felines and humans in this regard.

Can a neutered male cat still mate?

Yes, neutered male cats can still mate because they are driven to mate by 3 things including testosterone, but they can't procreate.

This question has been asked thousands of times and answered pretty comprehensively but I'm going to throw my hat into the ring. In this article I interpret 'mating' as the desire to have sex with a female.

It seems to me that there are 3 drives which make a male cat want to mate with a female and they are (1) it's in his DNA i.e. it is inherited, and (2) behaviourally he has learned to do it after mating with queens (unneutered female cats normally breeding cats) and (3) the presence of the hormone testosterone in his blood.

Gunner an unneutered male Sphynx cat. Photos: Helmi Flick. As he is hairless his testicles are very visible. Sorry Gunner, I realise it is a bit rude to talk about you like that.

It is the last factor which is the most relevant and certainly the most relevant in this instance because it is the male cat's testes (testicles) in which testosterone is produced. Neuter (castrate) him and you remove the testes and you remove the testosterone although some of this hormone may remain in their body afterwards for a while. So, there should be less motivation to mate with a female once a male cat has been castrated.

But it's not true that there is no motivation because you will read stories on the Internet of male cats who want to mate with female cats even though they have been castrated. Certainly, male cats who have been neutered later in life may still want to mate with females although it is uncommon. It appears that they have a habit or a practiced mating activity which continues instinctively even though they're not driven to have sex with a female because of their testosterone.

And there must, it seems to me, be some inherited desire through their genetics to procreate and therefore that innate desire is present even without the hormone testosterone.

It also seems, though, that even young male cats who have been neutered at about 7 months old can retain their sex drive. And I have personal experience of this because my male cat regards me as his mother and when I wear an old dressing gown, he likes to have sex on my arm. He treats the dressing gown as his mother. It does feel a bit like a cat because it's woolly and about the rough shape of a cat! I know it sounds a bit ridiculous and bizarre but I let him do it. Given the opportunity he would do it at least once per day.

In short, he has a very strong sex drive even though he totally lacks testosterone and is about 6 years old so he's been without testosterone for 5.5 years. It seems that the two factors I mentioned above other than the testosterone drive have come into play for my cat. Instinctively, he wants or needs to procreate. He instinctively wants to mate with a female. This is strongly evident in his behaviour towards me.

And, it has to be said, it is not that strange for domestic cats to hump a person's arm or to hump something inanimate. The same thing happens with dogs. It entirely instinctive and we should not laugh at them or belittle them for it. Humans are no better when you think about it!

To get back to the question in the title, can a neutered male cat still mate? Yes, they can and I don't think that it is as uncommon as people think. However, they can go through the act of mating but they can't procreate because they have no sperm due to their missing testicles. That's obvious but perhaps it needs to be stated just in case it isn't that obvious.

The neutering operation is called an orchidectomy. Both testicles are removed and the cat can go home the same day. Neutering does not change the cat's personality except to reduce or eliminate the desire to roam and his sexual impulses. Clearly it does not entirely eliminate his sexual impulses but it presumably varies on a cat-by-cat basis. Also, males become less aggressive when neutered and this is partly because they are less territorial and a lot of their aggression is expended in protecting their home range.

Early neutering produces a cat which is slightly taller in size due to delayed bone growth plate closure. Early neutering might cause the inability to extrude the penis! For that reason, I insisted that my cat was neutered no sooner than 7-months-of-age. I wanted him to at least have a decent willie that worked for Christ's sake! It does and he has it out (it is erect) when he is humping my arm for around five minutes. He only humps my arm when I am wearing the same dressing gown.

He becomes very excited and makes a pleased squeak before he starts. He grips the cuff of the garment in his teeth in the classic mating position to stop the 'female' turning and slapping him when he removes his barbed willy. Yes, I am being a bit graphic but it is the reality of it. Oh, and he washes his willie after the mating. And then jumps back on my lap for a pleasant snooze.

Do neutered domestic cats hump and get boners?

Yes and yes is the response. Neutering of male cats removes the testes. This removes the organ that produces testosterone. How do they feel emotionally going forward? I did an article about how a man feels when castrated to try and get inside the head of a cat. Click here if you'd like to read it.

Do neutered domestic cats hump and get boners? Yes and Yes.

Testosterone is not the only trigger or motivator for a feline's desire to have sex. It is a complex interaction of psychological, neural, vascular, and endocrine (hormone) factors, and is associated with sexual arousal. 

I guess that losing the ability to create one important hormone, testosterone, is not enough to stop a male cat's desire to hump and get an erection. But this be a personality issue too. It'll depend on the individual cat.

My male cat humps my arm when it is in a fleece dressing gown. He loves it and it substitutes having sex with a female cat. He was neutered when very young as is normal for rescue domestic cats.

He is also still territorial. He is still an aggressor to other cats who he likes to boss around. 

Some commenters say that cats gradually get used to not having testosterone in their bodies and will stop humping about 12 weeks after the operation.

This has not happened for my cat. He was neutered 5.5 years ago and he still humps my arm daily. It is as regular as that. Something more than testosterone is driving it.

Some say that when male cats are neutered at an older age they don't lose the desire to hump. Not so for me and my cat. As mentioned he was neutered at the earliest opportunity as directed by the cat rescue. This is about 8 weeks old.

Veterinarians have decided to spay or neuter rather than consider the more delicate tubal ligation (females) or vasectomy (males)

When it comes to preventing the reproduction of unwanted cats, it is universally accepted that the two operations to choose are the spaying (ovariohysterectomy) and neutering (orchidectomy) operations. For the female cat the spaying operation is pretty invasive. It is the removal of her entire reproductive system and it looks quite brutal to be honest. An alternative would be to prevent the eggs from the ovaries going down the fallopian tubes with an operation called a tubal ligation; far less invasive but hardly ever considered.

Female cat in Syria about to undergo the spaying operation. Picture in the public domain.

For male cats, the standard operation is to remove the testes which can be done very quickly with little problems. However some cat owners don't like the thought of this! An alternative would be to allow a domestic cat to keep their balls and to prevent the sperm going down the tube and joining with semen to fertilise the female's egg (vasectomy).

Some male cats might be well-behaved and don't need their behaviour altered by the removal of their testes. Some female cats might be healthy and don't need the added benefits of a full spraying operation which brings health benefits such as the removal of certain cancers and pyometra - an infection of the uterus. It also stops the female cat going into heat. This is a behavioural benefit to many.

The issue that I'd like to discuss is whether in some instances a cat owner wants his or her cat to retain their normal and natural behaviours and simply wants to prevent them reproducing and creating babies. This option is not on the table. Veterinarians don't want to do the lesser operations. One reason possibly is because they are not trained to do tubal ligations and vasectomies according to one report that I read. Secondly, a tubal ligation is a more delicate operation which may put some veterinarians off doing it.

The bottom line is that veterinarians, probably most veterinarians, believe that the added benefits in terms of behaviour and health from the spraying operation pretty well precludes any alternatives and therefore they have shut them out as an option. With respect to the male cats, once again they probably consider the behavioural benefits of removing the cat's balls as being overwhelming and therefore there is no point offering an alternative which is the vasectomy. To do something else would be unethical is what some vets believe. I am not sure they are correct.

And what about the complications and chance of the operation going wrong? These are factors in deciding which option to take. Perhaps a tubal ligation carries less complications. In which case it may be a better operation for certain patients.

I think veterinarians should provide options and allow the customer to help decide. After all the cat belongs to the customer. The customer should be thinking overwhelmingly about their cat's welfare. If they are prepared to deal with the natural behaviours of a male cat who has retained his testes then they have the right to make a decision which achieves that objective. Veterinarians are shortchanging the public it seems to me. The alternatives to spaying and neutering achieve the basic goal: no unwanted cats. The finer issues should be down to choice but at the present that choice is not on the table.

Why Does a Tomcat Spray Urine On the Garden Wall?

Tomcats (this word is usually used to describe a male cat that has not been castrated) mark their territory by squirting a jet of urine backwards onto vertical objects within their environment.

They aim their urine at tree stumps, fence posts, bushes and walls which are landmark features within that territories. Sometimes these features are at the borders of their territory and sometimes they might be at a crossroads but they would usually be in some sort of prominent area and possibly on a path or track that is used by the tomcat and other cats in the area.

They are particularly keen on places where they have sprayed before and where other cats have sprayed before so that they can add a fresh dose of urine to freshen the smell.

We all know that cat urine is very strong smelling and very hard to remove. It is interesting that although cat urine is very strong smelling to a human, another way that a cat marks his territory is by rubbing against objects to leave his scent on the object. We cannot smell this odour.

The odour of a cat's urine fades gradually and the degree of fading is indicative of when it was deposited. This provides a message to a cat who sniffs it telling him or her about the movements of the cat who deposited the urine.

In short, deposited urine on vertical surfaces provides information to cats about what is going on. Apparently, the smell also carries information about the emotional state of the sprayer and the individual's identity so there is some variation in the smell between cats. A sprayer in effect leaves a calling card and leaves a message to other cats who pass by.

It makes no difference to the act of spraying whether a cat wants to urinate or not. Urination and spraying are quite separate behaviours. You will even see cats that have no urine still going through the motions of spraying and marking territory even though no urine is actually involved.

Neutering both male and female cats reduces the incidence of spraying but may not eliminate it. Personally, my cats have never sprayed. The other day, I saw a Siamese cat outside my flat spraying  onto a bush next to a flowerbed. It is the area where the Siamese cat likes to frequent and to urinate and defecate. Clearly, another cat had visited the area and the Siamese cat was just topping up the marker to make sure that her message was loud and clear.

Sprayed by Tiger Urine

If you go down to the zoo today be prepared for a big surprise! We know that our domestic cats can spray sometimes. This means marking territory by spraying a horizontal jet of urine against a vertical object behind the cat. Male cats have a "specially retractable penis" that allows them to leave these scent markers at a height that is perfect for other cats to sniff.

It is relative rare that domestic cats spray objects because they are usually neutered or spayed and domesticated and don't really have a home range to protect.

A home range is the area that the cat considers his or her home territory. They can be extremely large for the bigger wildcats such as the snow leopard. When the area is large it is impossible for the cat to physically patrol the area and see off intruders so scent marking is the next best thing. It says to intruders that the occupying cat is here and recently.

Here are some examples of how frequently wild cats spray their territory:

• Male serval - up to 41.2 times per kilometer (46 times per hour).
• Bobcats spray urine from 1.9-7.5 times per km.
• Canada lynx spray more frequently than bobcats at about 10x per km.
• Tigers spray mark territory "up to 11 times every 30 mins.

I found these to be high numbers. I had not realised how frequently wild cats sprayed their territory.

If you are visiting a zoo and looking into the tiger enclosure don't get too close because if you do and see the tiger turning around presenting his rear end towards you, you know what you are about to receive - a large shower of prime quality tiger urine. This has happened and will no doubt happen again.

I have been sprayed with serval urine when I entered a serval cage to photograph them - there were two, one male and one female. The male, a large cat, sprayed me very quickly. I had no chance to get out of the way. The picture below is of the cat who sprayed me.

Morpheus at A1 Savannahs.

You can read about Morpheus on this page. The information on spraying frequencies comes from The Natural History of the Wild Cats by Andrew Kitchener ISBN 0-8014-8498-7.

If you hate declawing you must hate neutering

It has been said that cat lovers who fight against declawing are hypocritical because they agree with and accept the neutering and spaying of cats. I disagree that we are hypocritical.

There is a great difference between the operations at a fundamental level and the difference concerns us.

There is no benefit whatsoever to the cat when the last digit of his toes are amputated. In fact there is great loss and pain. It is damaging a cat and it is for the convenience of the person.

In contrast, the neutering and spaying of cats is essentially for the benefit of cats in general as it prevents unwanted cats being born and possibly being abandoned to lead short miserable lives or be killed at cat shelters.

There are benefits to "cat owners" too. The male cat is less aggressive because he is less territorial and he will spray less or it is less likely that he will spray. Also there are less unwanted cats and therefore less of a burden on dealing with unwanted cats. But the primary purpose is to prevent unwanted cats being brought into the world and that benefits cats.

What cats are hypoallergenic?

No cats are hypoallergenic although some individual cats might cause less of an allergic reaction that other cats. Also some cat breeds might cause a reduced allergic reaction than other cat breeds. But all the claims are anecdotal. There is no science on this.

Also we should remember that most people are not allergic to cats. The allergen that causes the allergic reaction is a protein in the cat's saliva called Fel D1. It is deposited on the fur when the cat grooms. It dries and flies off into the atmosphere as cat dander. If you are allergic to cats you need not touch a cat but just be in the same area and feel itchy.

Unneutered male cats are more likely to cause an allergic reaction. Incidentally, the word "hypoallergenic" means less likely to cause an allergic reaction.

Cat breeders like to mark out their cat breed as special. It is a marketing method. One Siberian cat breeder claims the Siberian cat is hypoallergenic. I cannot confirm or refute that. The Savannah cat is said, by a respected person who knows, to be hypoallergenic but this is not confirmed with science. The Life Style Pets (Allerca) Ashera GD is an F1 Savannah and claimed to be hypoallergenic. That is why they are sold.

Answering the question, "what cats are hypoallergenic?" we get the answer, "None, except that some will be less likely to cause an allergic reaction in people who are allergic to the Fel D1 allergen." The key is to find the individual cat or go to a Siberian or Savannah cat breeder and see if you start to itch!

Low Cost Spay and Neuter

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They say that there are an estimated 60 million cats and dogs in the USA that are unneutered (males) and not spayed (females).

This is a real problem because it is the reason for the feral cat problem. One barrier to resolving this problem in the cat world are veterinary charges. Some clinics provide discounts. This widget helps locate these clinics.

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