Cat pattern?

fonecrusher1

hello all. First time posting here. This is a bit silly but ive never had the opportunity to ask this before.

My parents have a healthy 11 year old male un-neutered cat. We've noticed he has a little pattern of disappearing for a whole day sometimes two days maybe once or twice per month. He always comes back but always with a few scratches & cuts like he's been fighting.
He's back in again tonight after being away all day yesterday with the usual scratched nose, had a bit of food & he's fast asleep in his bed.

Obviously nobody can tell me exactly what he gets up to but does anyone have any idea of what he gets up to on these little disappearances?
Is he just going out on a patrol of his territory or something? If thats the case it must be a huge area he covers.

Anyone with a cat that displays similar behavior?

The Sweeper

If he's an 11 year old un-neutered tomcat, he may have a territory up to five square kilometres (but probably closer to 2.5 square kilometres). Within this territory, he seeks out calling females in heat and mates with them, scent marks his territory by spraying urine everywhere, and fights with all of the other cats in his territory who are not females in heat.

This may involve him attacking other people's neutered male cats, fighting with other stray or feral cats, fathering litters of unwanted kittens who will die as ferals, be captured and put to sleep, or live short lives where they have kittens of their own (see previous for what happens to them). He may also be spraying urine in places that really irritate your neighbours, like on their doors or gateposts, or in sheds or garages on their properties.

He also stands a risk of contracting various cat diseases that are spread through blood and saliva and therefore spread by fighting, including feline aids and feline leukaemia.

I'd love to be able to tell you he visits the elderly couple two doors down and gets fed turkey breast and yoghurt and spends the night sleeping in front of their fire, but if he's an intact tom cat that's highly unlikely.

fonecrusher1

The Sweeper wrote: »

If he's an 11 year old un-neutered tomcat, he may have a territory up to five square kilometres (but probably closer to 2.5 square kilometres). Within this territory, he seeks out calling females in heat and mates with them, scent marks his territory by spraying urine everywhere, and fights with all of the other cats in his territory who are not females in heat.

This may involve him attacking other people's neutered male cats, fighting with other stray or feral cats, fathering litters of unwanted kittens who will die as ferals, be captured and put to sleep, or live short lives where they have kittens of their own (see previous for what happens to them). He may also be spraying urine in places that really irritate your neighbours, like on their doors or gateposts, or in sheds or garages on their properties.

He also stands a risk of contracting various cat diseases that are spread through blood and saliva and therefore spread by fighting, including feline aids and feline leukaemia.

I'd love to be able to tell you he visits the elderly couple two doors down and gets fed turkey breast and yoghurt and spends the night sleeping in front of their fire, but if he's an intact tom cat that's highly unlikely.

Thanks for the info. Yup, thats our Jack for ya! A right little rogue.

Cheers.

The Sweeper

Your folks need to ensure his vaccinations are up to date, his worm tablets are up to date, and that he's microchipped. (Actually, they should really restrict his roaming, but the concept of non-roaming cats is a new one and I understand that with parents and an 11 year old cat who's been doing this all his life, it's a big ask to request that they make such a dramatic change.)

They should absolutely also neuter him, but I suspect at this stage they won't.

Vaccinations will help him if he comes into contact with the contagious things he may come into contact with; the worm tablets will help keep his health and condition good and the microchip means if someone gets pissed off enough to trap him because they're sick of him in their garden, or if he gets hit by a car and picked up, he may be scanned for a chip and your parents will be told where he is and/or what happened to kill him, which can be better than spending your whole life wondering why he didn't come home one day.

The number of people who'll trap a nuisance cat and hand it over to the pound is slowly but surely growing - something to keep in mind if your parents choose to get another cat after this one.

(And for God's sake - please get them to either neuter this cat or neuter any future cats they may own - that really is cat ownership 101.)

fonecrusher1

The Sweeper wrote: »

Your folks need to ensure his vaccinations are up to date, his worm tablets are up to date, and that he's microchipped. (Actually, they should really restrict his roaming, but the concept of non-roaming cats is a new one and I understand that with parents and an 11 year old cat who's been doing this all his life, it's a big ask to request that they make such a dramatic change.)

They should absolutely also neuter him, but I suspect at this stage they won't.

Vaccinations will help him if he comes into contact with the contagious things he may come into contact with; the worm tablets will help keep his health and condition good and the microchip means if someone gets pissed off enough to trap him because they're sick of him in their garden, or if he gets hit by a car and picked up, he may be scanned for a chip and your parents will be told where he is and/or what happened to kill him, which can be better than spending your whole life wondering why he didn't come home one day.

The number of people who'll trap a nuisance cat and hand it over to the pound is slowly but surely growing - something to keep in mind if your parents choose to get another cat after this one.

(And for God's sake - please get them to either neuter this cat or neuter any future cats they may own - that really is cat ownership 101.)

Thanks i appreciate the advice. The thing is we have had discussions about neutering him & unfortunately we feel it would be cruel to do it to the little guy at this stage in his life. I know that probably sounds selfish but i definitely wouldn't be able to bring him to the vets for the op.
It is our fault as we never took care of the issue many years ago when he was a kitten. I suppose we thought neutering him would result in a loss of character or something.

I take on board what you were saying about getting him vaccinated & the worming tablets as he seems to have an endless appetite. And getting him chipped is also a good idea. The idea of him disappearing & us not knowing what happened to him is not a nice thought alright.
I'l go down to the local vets & get some info on both suggestions.

Thanks. Its obvious you know what you're talking about.

Cheers.

morganafay

I know alot of people don't get male cats neutered, so I'm not judging you or anything, just saying that I don't really think it would be cruel to. My brother always says I'm cruel when I get males neutered! But really, it doesn't make a difference to them. They don't enjoy going out mating and fighting and all, they're just doing it because their hormones tell them to. They're happier neutered, in my opinion, cos they can just be lazy and stay around home and be like a kitten.

And also want to add that unneutered tom cats are annoying me so much right now, because I have a female kitten, there's suddenly 5 of them around! Fighting my neutered tom cats, scaring the female cats, meowing, making the dogs bark, spraying all around my house, scaring my rabbits and guinea pigs! I used to have unneutered tom cats (when I was like 12) but since then I've gotten them all neutered because they used to disappear and sometimes never reappear.

Mink

You absolutely should get him neutered. Cats (both male & female) are generally happier once neutered & will be safer.

By not neutering him, you are possibly condemning all his future stray kittens to a really miserable (& short life). Also, by neutering, you'll be protecting other cats he's possibly bashing to get to females.

The op for males is not nearly as invasive as the one for females, they don't even need stitches usually. Try to look at the bigger picture for the sake of all kitties. He may be miffed after being turfed off to the vet for the day but he'll get over it. And he won't wander for days on end.

I promise you, he'll forgive you & your parents, in fact he'll forget after about a week!

paddyland

I have a male cat who is spayed and chipped, but stil displays all those unspayed tendencies, disappearing, fighting, and marking his territory indoors. Why would he still behave this way, and how can I stop him marking territory indoors?

The Sweeper

Hey paddyland

First, are you certain the cat was successfully speyed? They wouldn't have accidentally left behind a non-descended testical? (That's a very slim chance though!)

Second - there may be a lot of cat activity in your area, and even neutered males can still get sucked into territorial squabbles if there are a lot of other roaming cats. Neutering a tom cat doesn't automatically mean he loses interest in everything but the sofa. Even neutered cats will still establish a territory (that's why trap-neuter-release colonies work - they retain a territory, but no longer breed, so they don't create any new cats, and they stop other, intact cats moving in and breeding).

If your cat is spraying inside the house to mark his territory, this would suggest to me he feels his territory is threatened and he constantly needs to defend it. There are a number of different solutions. You can restrict your cat's movements by keeping him inside at night. The best way to get him to come home at night is not to free-feed him with an on-call bowl of kibble - set an 8pm meal time for him. If he doesn't come home, he doesn't get fed. When he comes home, he gets fed and praised and then not allowed back out again. Try keeping him indoors from 8pm to 8am and you'll solve a good deal of his antisocial behaviour - cats are most active at dawn and dusk, so you'll limit his interaction with other cats and also help to protect him from roaming or being hit by a car at night.

For your cat to stop spraying indoors, he needs to feel secure and unthreatened inside the house. You can help with this by giving him an established space in the house that is 'his' space - this helps address anxiety caused by other pets, visitors and marauding cats outside. He needs somewhere he can go to get away from all of the above. If it's a space in a small enough room, you can try plugging in a feliway diffuser, which is like an air-freshener plug-in, except you'll smell nothing. Feliway is a synthesised replica of feline facial happy hormones. In some cats, you'll see no noticeable change, in others it will help considerably in settling them.

You will need to thoroughly clean all areas the cat has sprayed with an enzyme cleaner to remove all traces of cat urine. You can also try restricting the cat by closing doors or erecting barriers inside the house, so he can't get to the places he usually sprays.

So you keep him in at night, set him up with a territory inside your house, clean all traces of cat urine from indoors, and go about adding to his new, calm environment using a feliway diffuser, a cat scratching post, possibly some bachs flower rescue remedy (again, some cats really react well to it, some show no changes). This should help to reduce the fighting and the roaming, which will hopefully reduce the agitation and the spraying indoors. Break the cycle of his habitual behaviours and replace them with a more pleasant experience for him.

Another option is a trip to the vet for some advice. There are hormone supplements that can be given in either injection or tablet form that can help some cats settle down and stop spraying and roaming. The vet may also be able to suggest other solutions for you that will fit with your personal circumstances.

planetX

paddyland wrote: »

I have a male cat who is spayed and chipped, but stil displays all those unspayed tendencies, disappearing, fighting, and marking his territory indoors. Why would he still behave this way, and how can I stop him marking territory indoors?

What age did you have him neutered? If it was later than 6 months and he had already begun to spray then he will continue to do so.

As for the OP - I have a neutered male cat lying injured in his bed right now thanks to cats like yours. I'm planning to catch the unneutered tom and take him on a little trip to the vet. Hopefully someone will do that to your parents cat, maybe they would think of homing some of his hundreds of offspring?

The Sweeper

planetX wrote: »

What age did you have him neutered? If it was later than 6 months and he had already begun to spray then he will continue to do so.

I don't agree with this; it is a habit you can break with some persistence. Many neutered male cats will start spraying after a stressful incident, and just because they start doesn't mean they'll never stop.

planetX

The Sweeper wrote: »

I don't agree with this; it is a habit you can break with some persistence. Many neutered male cats will start spraying after a stressful incident, and just because they start doesn't mean they'll never stop.

My point was for people thinking of neutering, get it done early to prevent all this. You end up with a much nicer pet that way.