Neutering Your Cat
Neutering your cat is something that should be done as a matter of course in the modern world. It is simply a matter of practicalities.
Unneutered males will tend to roam over a large territory and spray mark the area to tell other cats he is around and basically stay out.
Once neutered he will behave more like a unneutered female. He will have a reduced tendency to roam and therefore stay nearer your home which is naturally safer and preferable.
If a male (Tom) cat is neutered before reaching puberty he will not develop the secondary features that I personally like a lot such as the ruff (I’m thinking of cats such as the Maine Coon and Siberian but there are others with great ruffs).
He will also not develop the thick skin around his neck and the jowly look. Male cats develop these features to better protect themselves when fighting over territory.
When cats fight, the parts of the anatomy that are most likely to be injured are the face and neck (the front of the cat) so it is these areas that are well protected.
The thick skin on the neck brings to mind the kind of scratch that one can receive when you play with a cat. For a cat, playing with claws, is not a problem but our skin is relatively delicate and if we play we can get scratched. From the cat’s perspective, we are large cats, mother and father cat. The cat expects us to be able to play without getting injured. So if we are injured, please don’t blame the cat. He or she is just doing what comes naturally. It is up to us to control the situation and be aware of the hazards.
Neutering your cat is one way of modifying your cats behavior to fit into our behavior. Although I would normally say we should fit into their way of behaving there has to be exceptions for practical reasons.
Neutering or castrating the male cat entails removing the testicles. It is a simple procedure. I have a sense of sympathy for the male cat however as this procedure is done for our benefit primarily. But it is the most practical way that the domestic cat can live with the human.
