LoveToKnow Cats:AllComments

From LoveToKnow Cats

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Hi Fran,

It really varies from cat to cat, but can start as young as four months. Most people get their kittens nuetered right around the age. Getting him neutered young will also make it more likely that he will not develop territorial behaviors such as marking by spraying. I would phone my veterinarian and find out at what age he recommends sterilization. You want him to be old and big enough to tolerate the anesthetic a bit more easily, but not so old that he starts bad behaviors. Good luck!

-- Contributed by: LoriSoard

Hi, I just got a male Kitty. I wanted to know how old do they usualy start having sexual behaviours? When should I get him neutered?

-- Contributed by: fran

Hi Roaming,

I'm so sorry that Spencer is missing. It sounds like you are taking all the necessary steps to find him. Make sure all your neighbors (even several streets away) know that you are looking for him. And don't give up on your search. I once had a cat go missing for a full year before I found her again living just down the street. I believe someone had her locked inside. She came home and lived with me for another fifteen years happily.

-- Contributed by: LoriSoard

My beautiful black neutered male cat, Spencer, took off recently for 2days & came back. He did this last year & the yer before, as well. In the summer he cannot get enough of being out. He will sit at the door like a dog till I let him back out. He has not been eating much lately, but his weight seems fine, as well as his alertness & energy level. Now he has been gone since Sept 5 & I am really considered. I have passed out some flyers & alerted some neighbors & plan on doing more yet today, as well as putting up some posters. I have been checking with animal control & trolling the neighborhood at varying hours calling his name. One neighbor about 4days ago claims they saw a cat of his description sitting in their drive, looking as if he was fine. They did not have my flyer at that time, however. He had a bright pink collar but no name tag. My question is, how common is it for a neutered male to maybe take off for say, 2wks or something?? I read some answers about this on ask Yahoo & saw a variety of answers, including a couple of people that said their cat had done such a thing once for a week or 2 and returned. I adopted Spencer from this neighborhood 4yrs ago. He just came to me. I had his neutered got shots,etc. Altho I have over 12 cats he has always seemed happy & content to be with all of us & he often sleeps next to my pillow. He is a very loving young man. I noticed he has some embedded beebees under his skin, one on the ear & in anther location. The vet did not advise to remove them & thought they were not causing him problems. So I know life before me, was probably not great. Anyway, would appreciate the answer, as well as any helpful suggestions on getting him home again.

-- Contributed by: Roaming in Neutered Male Cat

Hi Ashleigh,

Some of this may just be play behavior, although some cats do begin sexual development earlier than others. However, three months is extremely young. I would just keep an eye on them for now. If it seems that he is hurting her, you can always separate them until he is neutered. Don't be surprised if he continues this behavior, however. I suspect it is either a form of play or showing her who is boss more than anything sexual at this age.

-- Contributed by: LoriSoard

I have a female and a male kitten, they are both around 3 months old, but they are from seperate litters. The male kitten in the last week has developed strange behavior around the female one: sniffing, grabbing and biting, and jumping onto her. He is booked into the vet to be nuetered next week, what should I do up until then to stop him from distressing my female kitten?

-- Contributed by: Ashleigh

Hi Jessina,

I'm so sorry your cat is missing. I've been through this in the past and it really does get you worried. My cat was one that always stayed in our back yard. The problem was that a neighborhood boy decided it would be fun to shoot paint ball pellets at her. As you likely know, those hurt! She got scared and ran away and couldn't find her way home. We wound up finding her through fliers.

My advice is to go ahead and start passing out and hanging up fliers. It never hurts to get started early. He may still come home on his own, as it isn't uncommon for non-neutered male cats to roam for days or even weeks at a time.

You can also call your local newspaper. They often run lost and found pet ads for free.

A couple of things you might want to consider once you find him:

Get him neutered. This will keep him from roaming as far.
Keep him inside 24/7/ While he will likely fuss at first, he should adjust after a few weeks and he will be much safer, especially with coyotes in the area.

Good luck! I hope you find him soon.

-- Contributed by: LoriSoard

I have a 7 month outdoor male cat. He usually goes outside during the day and when he comes in at night we normally keep him in.

He escaped the other night and my b/f said that a few days b4 there was a female cat in heat roaming around. He hasn't been home for 2 nights and this is the second day. I am really worried and think I should start putting up flyers around the neighborhood. It isn't normal for him to be gone this long. He is very attached to his humans and the food we give him.

He always greets me when I come home from work.(as soon as I pull the car into the drive way he comes out of no where and jumps on the car waiting for me to open the door)

I left food out for him yesterday but it was untouched. So I have a million and one thoughts going through my head....could he have been picked up and taken to the pound? run over? someone is keeping him inside after they found him roaming until they see a flyer? A coyote ate him? (I live in a neighboorhood in FL but there have been occassional coyote spottings)

I'm going bonkers. Help!

-- Contributed by: Jessina

Hi Donna,

If he is not neutered, then he will be more likely to roam and get into fights. This can expose him to predators and communicable cat diseases, such as Cat Flu and Feline Leukemia. I would go ahead and get him neutered, especially if you are going to allow him to go outside. Hope this solves the issue of his disappearing.

-- Contributed by: LoriSoard

my cat keeps dissapearing for days is this normal he is a male cat and have been told that males often do this???

-- Contributed by: my cat keeps dissapearing

Hi Hanna,

It is really hard for some cats to adjust to a new pet in the household. There are some steps you can take that will help the situation.

First, isolate the new kitten to a contained area, such as a laundry room or bathroom. It is best if this can be where you plan to keep his litter box. Do this for a minimum of one week, but two would be ideal. You will, of course, go in and pet and love on the kitten. He is simply isolated from the rest of the house.

This will allow your female to get used to his scent and allow him to get used to the new household.

After a week or two, put him inside a small crate and bring him into your main living area. Leave him inside of the crate for about an hour. Let the other cat sniff the cage, hiss or whatever she needs to do. At the end of the hour, open the door of the cage and let him come out on his own if he wishes.

If the two start to fight, put him back inside the cage and wait another hour and then try it again. Try this up to three times and then put him back in his isolated room for the day.

If things go well, you can try leaving him out while you're at home and the two have supervision. I would never leave the kitten alone with the adult cat, since she seems a little aggressive over his presence.

Hope this helps. Most cats do adjust eventually to a new cat in the house.

-- Contributed by: LoriSoard

I've just got a male 3mth old kitten from next door, and my female 10yr old cat, isn't taking a liking to it, will my female cat change her mind, or will she keep hissing at it? please type back!

-- Contributed by: Hanna

Hi Carrie,

You don't mention whether or not the male cat is neutered. If he is not neutered, she may well be in heat. If he is neutered, then this is just a way for him to show his dominance in the feline hierarchy. I would go ahead and take the female to the vet and find out if she is pregnant. If she is, she'll need some prenatal care. You may want to consider having the male neutered unless he already is or you are wanting to breed. It can help with issues such as spraying too. Good luck!

-- Contributed by: LoriSoard

My male cat is about 8 months old and I have two females: 3yr old, spayed, and a 1 yr old who is not. I believe she's pregnant because she's not yowling at my window every night anymore but I've noticed that he still mounts her, bites the back of her neck until she protests, and mimics mating but doesn't actually. She lets him, and he doesn't do it to the other female, and he stops if she enters the room. Why does he do that?

-- Contributed by: Carrie

Hi Karen,

More than likely, this is just aggressive behavior from the toms as the kittens are too young to mate. However, if you don't have the kittens spayed, then you will wind up with more kittens. My advice is to try to capture the kittens and have this done. If you don't start socializing them, they will be feral and harder to adopt into families laer.

Good luck!

-- Contributed by: LoriSoard

We have a feral cat mother that just had kittens which we suspect are somewhere between 4-8 weeks old, we also have 2 feral tomcats which have been hanging around the mother and kittens. Today we had noticed that the 2 toms were biting the necks and trying to mount 2 of the 3 kittens and we managed to run them off briefly before they made several more attempts. The kittens are just weaned and eating dry and canned food and all of the cats are fed at feeding time twice a day. We are very worried about the toms trying to mount the kittens because they are so small and they could really hurt them. Is this breeding behavior and what can we do about it, we have not been able to catch any of the kittens or the mother and can probably only catch 1 tom. The kittens can move pretty fast and are exploring alot now and they play with the toms but this behavior was just noticed today and we don't think the kittens are old enough to be mating and don't want any more kittens. Please help us understand what is going on with this behavior.

-- Contributed by: Karen

Hi Angie,

Since he's never done this before, I'd go ahead and take him to the vet and have him tested for a couple of things, just to be safe. First, have them test his hormone levels. Also, talk to them about this new behavior and see if it is possible he has a urinary tract infection or kidney stones.

If those two things are ruled out, then the behavior is really just part of nature and there isn't a lot you can do to stop him. You may just want to give him his own stuffed animal and put it in an area where others don't have to see him.

The main thing that concerns me is that he has started this after seven years. Any behavior change like that can indicate a potential illness, so I would definitely take him in.

-- Contributed by: LoriSoard

I have my male cat, who is 8 years old. He was neutered when he was 1 year old. Just latly he started to hump my daughters stuffed animals. How do I get him to stop! I've taken them away and told him no. I also used a spray bottle. Please Help!!!!!!

-- Contributed by: Angie

Hi, Marcie,

Chester may just be playing, but it sounds like he's getting pretty rough. The very first thing you should do is to separate the cats when you aren't at home to monitor his behavior. I would also recommend that you use some of the techniques we recommend to owners bringing a new cat into the home to try to get Chester's behavior under control. You can read more in the articles Bringing a New Cat Home and New Kitten Troubles. I hope some of these ideas help.

-- Contributed by: LoriSoard

i have a 16 mo. old male cat that got fixed when he was 3 mo old. i also have a female cat that is 6 mo. old and she got fixed about 1 month ago. chester the male cat will bet on top of her at which time she is laying on the floor like he is holding her down while he is biting her on the top part of her neck .....is this like he is trying to mate....because they have both been fixed. lu lu my female has sores on the top part of her neck because of him doing this......please help

-- Contributed by: marcie fron georgia

Hi, Nancy. I'm so sorry. I know how frustrating it is to have a cat who does this. I once inherited a cat from my grandmother who loved to pee on my new husband's clothing, including a very expensive leather jacket.

One of the main reasons a cat might spray is to mark his territory. Have you made any changes recently that might be upsetting him? A new pet, new type of litter or even new person can create anxiety in cats.

Also, make sure you keep his litter very clean, scooping it regularly. Also, look at where he is spraying. Is there clothing on the floor or some other items that are attracting him to spray in that area? If so, remove that item or be careful not to allow any clothing on the floor.

Also, get a good enzyme cleaner. You may even want to have a professional cleaner come in and remove the cat urine. If he smells any of his previous sprays, he will continue to spray in that area.

Some people suggest you contain the cat for a few days or even a week in a small area with his litter box, slowly allowing him more freedom but taking him right back to the contained area and starting over if he has any accidents. This takes a lot of patience and you have to be certain you are still giving the cat attention during this time.

I hope one of these ideas works for you. Please keep us posted.

-- Contributed by: LoriSoard

I have a 5 year old male neutered cat who recenlty began spaying all over the place. I bought feliway but that doesn't seem to be working. Any ideas on how to make him stop?

Thanks, Nancy

-- Contributed by: Nancy

Why not just let the poor kitty enjoy his stuffed friends?

-- Contributed by: Ann M.
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