I am sure a lot of people prefer to adopt a female cat over a male cat and vice versa. There is a possible reason why a person should adopt a male or female cat if there are cats already present in the home and a new cat is to be introduced. It is said that opposites attract.
Therefore, in a multi-cat household introducing a neutered male cat to a group of spayed females has a greater chance of successful integration than if a spayed female were introduced.
A male cat is more likely to get along with a small female than with a large male cat. I have been unable to confirm this from a study or research. However, common sense says that opposites are more likely to attract because to a male cat a female is less threatening. Even though the neutered male loses a lot of his territorial motivation and his sex drive, some of these behavioural traits remain. The potential territorial problems are lessened between male and female cats compared to male and male cats.
In the wild, the male wild cat of the species normally has a larger territory than the female and it can include the female’s territory. This arrangement is harmonious. There is no overlap between male territories. This supports the idea that opposites attract for neutered domestic cats in multi-cat environments. Or to put it more accurately there is less of a chance of repulsion.
Has anyone had any experience of this?
Having taken in several older, stray tom cats, I’m not even sure neutering has that much impact.
At around 14-15, Horace is the oldest of my cats. He was only neutered 4 years ago when I took him in and he was the dominant tom in the neighbourhood. He’s always been tolerant of other cats. Blackie (an older tom I also had neutered) moved in at the same time and he loved being in Horace’s company and was always close by his side, even outdoors. When Blackie died, I took in Charley and he also really likes Horace. If Horace goes out, Charley follows him and they spend a lot of time together. My garden has become a hot-spot for local cats and I have two regular male visitors who come every day to spend time with my boys.
I’ve never had a female cat who was close to others in the home – even when they were her sibling. The more gentle and sociable the male, the more Sophie disliked them. She was okay with Horace though and perhaps that was because like her, he didn’t seek close physical contact with other cats. She did seem to like a young tom cat who visited our garden a lot during the summer, but I haven’t seen him since. Maybe she prefered them a bit rough and ready – the Danny Dyer’s of the cat world (lol).
My own experience is that neutered males tend to be pretty sociable, or at least tolerant towards other cats regardless of gender. It has always been the females who’ve assumed top postion in my home, irrespective of whether they were there before the other cats or not.
I’m coming to the conclusion that females tend to be more territorial and I wonder if this is because instinctively they need to hold onto a good territory to ensure their offspring get the best start in life? (A male cat’s territory may be larger, but it’s also on a more fluid, time-share basis.) I watched a documentary earlier this year about tigers in the wild and they also mentioned about female cubs being more aggressive than their brothers, but didn’t offer an explanation as to why that might be.
I think we need to remember that cats are individuals with their own personalities and likes/dislikes. Sometimes cats simply don’t get on due to a clash in personalities rather than gender.
Perhaps neutering the male domestic cat has a bigger impact on his instinctive wild cat behavior than spaying does on the female cat. This leaves the female more territorial and dominant after neutering. The male loses more. Good point about individual personalities.