Thread: Neutering

Sebaceous glands are in other areas of cats as well as the tail,areas around the head such as chin & lips,kittens that rub their head round furniture,your legs etc are actually releasing sebum to mark their territory but the reaction isn't the same,you never get a phone call to say "My cats territory marking by rubbing its face along the carpet,best get its balls off before it starts spraying"so why a sudden panic when the same starts the other end....? A lot of kittens get feline acne round the chin& that is when the hormones start becoming more active & sometimes due to excessive sebum produced they get blocked,hence the appearance of teenage spots & some need ab's to settle it all down but actually by having the cat neutered at the point of stud tail appearing doesn't always stop it occuring in either males or females,my only one that I had castrated at 6mths, & would not have one done that early again for the reason I posted earlier in this thread,still had stud tail at 4 years old,it is only in the last couple of years that it has completely resolved,my two boys that were not done until after they were a year had a short spell of it once at about 7mths.Like us they all differ in their growing patterns & as said before if the worse happens to you then you are going to think one way or if like me you have never had a problem then there is no reason to get them done that early.I still think that as our breed doesn't mature as early as the domestic or smaller breed of cat then that part doesn't mature so quickly either,in the last four weeks I know of two people who have got 10mth + stud boys who didn't know what to do when a female was present,would that happen in amoungst the domestic population,I don't think so but makes you wonder if it is proof that some of the MC's do need a bit longer to get to know what it is all about,my friends boy is 11mth, 10kg lives in with the girls & he ran to tell his mum this nasty girl keeps putting her bottom in my face & I don't like it,help please,her neutered boy hopped on the girl & said look at me this is the way to do it,that has caused a few titters amoungst us all....
The choice has got to be what you are comfortable with,my breeder did give me permission to leave my last two longer because of issues that I had with one of them & even at their older age I had no spraying or any hint of them smelling like a tom,could have been lucky because there was no whole female to influence them but at that point one of them had become the dominant male of the pack & that alone made me wonder if I might have to get him done before his brother but no everything was fine.....

I keep reading this topic over and over.
I guess one of the factors I need to consider here is this...Sparta will rarely go outside, and when he does go out he will be extremely supervised. I live near a busy road, and can not take the chance of just letting him out on his own. So, the chance of him smelling a female in heat is slim.

Decisions, decisions, decisions....I hate making decisions.

Originally Posted by jckkerrison

Sebaceous glands are in other areas of cats as well as the tail,areas around the head such as chin & lips,kittens that rub their head round furniture,your legs etc are actually releasing sebum to mark their territory but the reaction isn't the same,you never get a phone call to say "My cats territory marking by rubbing its face along the carpet,best get its balls off before it starts spraying"so why a sudden panic when the same starts the other end....? A lot of kittens get feline acne round the chin& that is when the hormones start becoming more active & sometimes due to excessive sebum produced they get blocked,hence the appearance of teenage spots & some need ab's to settle it all down but actually by having the cat neutered at the point of stud tail appearing doesn't always stop it occuring in either males or females,my only one that I had castrated at 6mths, & would not have one done that early again for the reason I posted earlier in this thread,still had stud tail at 4 years old,it is only in the last couple of years that it has completely resolved,my two boys that were not done until after they were a year had a short spell of it once at about 7mths.Like us they all differ in their growing patterns & as said before if the worse happens to you then you are going to think one way or if like me you have never had a problem then there is no reason to get them done that early.I still think that as our breed doesn't mature as early as the domestic or smaller breed of cat then that part doesn't mature so quickly either,in the last four weeks I know of two people who have got 10mth + stud boys who didn't know what to do when a female was present,would that happen in amoungst the domestic population,I don't think so but makes you wonder if it is proof that some of the MC's do need a bit longer to get to know what it is all about,my friends boy is 11mth, 10kg lives in with the girls & he ran to tell his mum this nasty girl keeps putting her bottom in my face & I don't like it,help please,her neutered boy hopped on the girl & said look at me this is the way to do it,that has caused a few titters amoungst us all....
The choice has got to be what you are comfortable with,my breeder did give me permission to leave my last two longer because of issues that I had with one of them & even at their older age I had no spraying or any hint of them smelling like a tom,could have been lucky because there was no whole female to influence them but at that point one of them had become the dominant male of the pack & that alone made me wonder if I might have to get him done before his brother but no everything was fine.....

sudden panic was he was pulling all his fur out his tail and turning into a mad cat, 1 and a bit weeks of having his ball off and the stud tail as stopped and he's chilled out a lot, but yes i no many cats can go years without being done. like i said this is just my experience and i'm by far no expert

It appears from people's comments that there can be quite a bit of variation in when/whether males will spray. We took in an unfixed male MC mix a few years ago, and had him neutered right away. He never ever sprayed in the house--even though spraying bushes was one of his favorite activities when outside. On the other hand, I already noted that a 7mos old male kitten of ours sprayed a wall the day before his surgery was scheduled though never outside nor exposed to intact males/females (never did it again post-neutering). I have heard from breeders that they sometimes have to neuter studs because they spray constantly (e.g., the father of our male Remy), while others obviously do not. There probably is no way to predict what spraying behavior will develop with any one male kitten, so I guess the question is whether somebody is willing to gamble. How much damage could this do if he sprayed a wall or couch in your home? If this happens, are you willing to deal with eliminating the behavior? Certainly all the literature I have read about cat elimination problems suggests that once a cat has done something inappropriate several times, breaking them of the habit can be very difficult, and this is the single biggest reason that people abandon cats. I would not be at all optimistic that neutering would immediately cure this behavior once it was established. On the other hand, my experience with two males that were neutered fairly early suggests that they will never spray, as I have never seen any hint of them assuming the spray position. (The MC mix used to sometimes get into what looked like a spray position before peeing, but then switch just in time--would sometimes give us a start.)

Shall I,shant I,not being much help are we,some do early,some do later,I don't know if it makes a difference or not to the growth outcome of MC's,perhaps someone on site can come up with a way we can compare growth & looks afterwards,but where as NCarver is pointing out the downfalls of a cat spraying & Paul had the stud tail problems with his I am in the situation of having a boy whose head doesn't seem to have grown to the rest of him where as the others that were done later look in perfect proportion & he was the only one I had neutered at six months so for that reason I wouldn't have mine done early again,it may have nothing to do with it at all,he could be an exception of another kind,perhaps Merl was meant to have a massive big body & a kitten head,I still love him & he still looks stunning but it will always leave me wondering what if .....
Everyone must go with what they feel happiest with on this,they are your babies & what ever you do is right for them & you,we will all be here to hold your hand on that "Big Day".
whenever it is x