Do neutered tomcats still court females?

Question

I have observed an outdoor tomcat (an abandoned pet, judging by his tameness) hanging around a feral female who comes to my house. At first I thought he was guarding his territory, but he allowed her to come to the porch and eat and seemed to be socializing. Neither of them made any sounds or cries. I have not yet been able to bring him to the vet, so i don't know if he is neutered. I have seen neutered male dogs go after females in heat and wondered if a cat would do the same.

He is affectionate in behavior but nips me if i stroke him more than a minute. He is very affectionate with my other outdoor cat, who has been to the vet and is neutered. They spend a lot of time together and rub heads. I feed him dry cat food and he won't eat any other food.

I am planning to take him to the vet but I am wondering if his behavior indicates anything about whether he is neutered or not. I might trap the female and take her in, although I've already spent a small fortune spaying and releasing feral cats.

Sapient · Accepted Answer

Neutered males might still be friendly with females, whether the females are spayed or unspayed.  The friendliness might be look like courting, I guess.  However, I don't think that toms really court, they just attempt to mate and if the female doesn't fight them off, then they go to it.  Toms (and when I say toms, I  mean males that haven't been neutered) are frequently quite affectionate to other cats, but it's not really courting.

I happen to have two (spayed) female cats, and two (neutered) male cats.  I got the older male when he was 4, and had him neutered then.  He's extremely affectionate to all the other cats, and also very affectionate to humans, too.  He's constantly snuggling up to everyone and asking for attention.  I got the younger male when he was about 10 weeks old, and had him neutered shortly afterwards.  He's fairly affectionate to everyone, but he's far more playful than the older fellow.  The younger male also tries to hump the other male and the younger female (the older female won't put up with this) despite being neutered before he was sexually mature!  The other male and the younger female keep swatting at him when he makes advances, but he still tries to put the moves on them.  

The older female, by the way, will attempt to seduce most human men, even though she doesn't want the younger male cat to try to hump her.  She acts exactly like a cat in heat when she meets a new human male, she rolls, she calls, and she presents her genital area to the guy.  This can be a little embarrassing when a repair man shows up and our cat tries to have sex with him.

It's pretty easy to tell if a male has not been neutered, just by looking at him.  If you're not sure, it's easy for a vet to tell.  It's harder to tell if a female has been spayed, as some queens are rather quiet about their heats, while other females act like they're in heat even if they've been spayed.

All I can say is cats is weird, it's best to just enjoy them and not even try to figure them out.

Hannah · Answer

No they don't.  I suspect he has not be neutered.
And I appreciate that you are going to take care of that.

Anonymous · Answer

Yep they do

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Do neutered tomcats still court females?

3 Answers