Conference misery::feline_v1

    Oliver was the same when we got him done.
    I carefully put the box down and told my Mum what the vet had said
    about him probably being a bit dopey for a few days, opened the
    box - and out leapt Oliver, large as life and twice as natural,
    and hid under a chair. I've never seen such a quick recovery!
    Mind you - he was probably wondering what was going to happen to
    him next!

    
    The thing that really cracks me up is the enquiring looks the Tom
    gives his rear end every now and again,I mean,wot must he think????
    
    Phil{}

    Oliver used to spend ages trying to find it - he must have thought that
    it had been buried under his fur. He has now got used to his loss - and
    it doesn't seem to have dampened his hormones either. We had a video
    on about cat behaviour and he went MAD trying to get at the calling
    female on heat! 
    He's only 8 months old, too!

Ah yes, but once he got to her....would he have any idea what to do about it?
May be a case of the brain wanting what the bod doesn't have the equipment
to use?

					D

    
    o.k. folks...i'm going to show my ignorance here.
    
    are there different ways to do "the operation"?  i mean, my stanley was
    neutered shortly after i took him in last january.  BUT--he still has
    "it"!!!  he also has the other 2 "things", but each has an incision in
    the back.
    
    i have heard that there is a way to "scramble" the testes so that the
    cat still has the cosmetic appearance of having all his "parts",
    although the reproductive functionality of "it" is gone.
    
    would be interested in replies from the feliner experts here...
    
    diane, stella & stanley (still has "it" and knows where "it" is...)
    

re: .5

I've only heard of two "neutering"-type operations.

The first is removal of the testes.

The second is a vasectomy.

In my opinion, the vasectomy is a waste of time and money, because, even
though the tom won't be able to sire kittens, there'll be no behavior
change with respect to marking, aggression, etc., and therefore these cats
are as unlikely to make good house pets as a whole cat. 

My neutered male will occasionally chase the whole females when they're in 
heat, and display some of the behavior of a whole tom, but it takes a whole 
lot of provocation from the girls.

Ray

    Back in the early 70's I knew someone who had gotten a vasectomy
    for her tom and a tubal ligation for her female.  Thought they
    ought to be allowed to have their fun and be natural.
    
    ed

    I am not advocating vasectomies as opposed to castration, but
    Sweetie was altered during surgery to correct severe damage that
    had been done when he'd been hit by a car (presumably) before I
    adopted him.  The surgical vet (not his regular vet) did a vasectomy
    instead of castration.  Sweetie is one of the sweetest, most docile
    beings imaginable and never sprays or tries to roam.  (I had asked the vet
    to alter him;  I had no idea he had just done a castration until
    Holly came to live with us and went into heat before she was due to be
    spayed.)
    
    

    I'd never heard of vasectomy, but I do know there are two methods
    of castration.
    
    Dundee had the first which involves just removing the testes but
    leaving the scrotum.  Dundee looked "deflated" when we first brought
    him home.  Now that his fur has grown back it just looks like he's
    got very tiny testicles.
    
    Jesse had the second type which involves removing both the testes &
    scrotum. 
    
    Neither seemed to care in the least that "parts" were missing.
    
    Now Flame is also neutered, but that doesn't stop his intimate "trysts"
    with the fake-fur catbed  :-))))))  We like to say that he knows
    what to do, but not what to do it with!  Should be interesting to
    see how he reacts to the new scottish fold the first time she
    goes into heat.
      Nancy DC
    

    The only form of neutering I've heard of where a sexual organ was
    "crushed" is a form of spaying that is apparently popular in the
    mid-east. There was as article about it many years ago in Cat Fancy
    where an American couple in Iran adopted a kitten (which the snuck back
    into the US when the hostages were taken in 1979), and when they had
    their cat spayed, the vet explained that all that they did was crush the
    ovaries because they do not want to "take away the cat's pleasure".
    (when they got back to the US, the cat had a regular spaying).

    Deb