to abduct the neighbourhood tom and get him "done"?

[trellism]

We have a perfectly affable ginger tom who likes to prowl around our garden and who has made friends with our two spayed cats.

However, he has decided that our front doorstep is one of his waypoints and piddles on it regularly, meaning the smell of tomcat wee percolates round the house. For a while we were unfairly accusing our cats, but I've caught the bugger in the act a couple of times now.

Would it be so terribly wrong to gain his trust and then whip him off to the Blue Cross to get him neutered? I know it might not help much with the piddling, but I also worry that he will get run over as he is constantly wandering the street looking for skirt.

I think he has an owner somewhere around as he looks well fed, but I doubt he's chipped - surely if you care enough to get a cat chipped, you'd also get him done?

[melmog]

If there's a zoo or safari park anywhere near you, see if you can get some tiger or lion poo and spread it around a bit.

Failing that, squirting with water does work but you have to be there all the time.

[Liskey]

Spraying water at the ginger cat from across the road worked for us when he kept coming to serenade our female (done) cat at 4am. After a couple of times of shooting at him with a water gun he stopped and now if he starts we just have to open the window and he runs - water gun no longer required.

[Stayingsunnygirl]

Could you put something on your doorstep to deter him, trellism? Cats dislike the smell of citrus, or my mum swears by dettol - she says she used it when housetraining our cats, and it put them off using the same spot again.

Or you could lurk in wait with the hose - a soaking or two, and he'd find somewhere else for his antisocial urinary proclivities.

[Longtalljosie]

They hit puberty at just past 6 months, so it's common to do it at 6.

But there is a movement for earlier neutering. My vet said six months though, so that's what we did.

Ask your vet what their policy is. If they say 5 months, I'd go with it. But eight weeks seems a little extreme.

[purpleflower]

Thank you, the same as a girl cat then. I might be getting a boy kitten very soon

My next door neighbour told me she had her male cat done at 8 weeks

[IotasCat]

My neutered tom is fiercely territorial and sprays everywhere. If a strange car parks in our street he sprays it

he was done when he was a kitten

[ClaireDeLoon]

cast cats

[ClaireDeLoon]

purpleflower from 6 months but if he's a decent size and he's bothering other cast (e.g. if you got brother and sister kittens and he's sniffing around her in a naughty way) the vet will likely do it at say 5 months.

[kitkatqueen]

read this

[purpleflower]

Sorry to hijack but does anyone know whats the earliest a boy cat can be done?

[ClaireDeLoon]

I have a very affable, slightly (well, very) threadbare ginger tom that does spray on our fence. Is it him? Are you my neighbour? If so, I wouldn't bother as he's been bollockless for years and years.

[Longtalljosie]

Cats are people's property - have a look here. Altering the cat could constitute criminal damage.

Also - it may be too late to alter his behaviour. If you don't fix a cat early enough, they get into a habit of spraying.

[kitkatqueen]

Cats are property just the same as a dog or any other animal,but have the "right to roam" If you have his bits whipped off yourself you could be liable for court action - don't go there!

There was a thread on here a while back where someones pedigree cat had had its nuts chopped when it got out - the owner was v upset if she had of found the person who did it i suspect that she would have prosecuted.

Cats that are neutered late generally continue to spray and in my cats case have hanky panky with all the local females anyway.

I don't think that taking him to be snipped is actually going to help you in any way, you would be better to deter him from peeing on the step.

Really if you get him snipped you will be interfeering in a way that is unreasonable.

[Callisto]

I'd do it, and I thought on a legal basis that cats are classed as vermin (though my brother told me that many years ago so it is probably bull). TBH, if he is visiting you regularly and he hasn't got a collar he is fair game to be taken in to be done. And how would his owner ever find out you had done it?

[booyhoo]

sorry, the owner

[booyhoo]

apparantley cats arent actually property. they cant be owned by someone in the same way that a dog can. and would they owner be able to tell who it was got him neutered? if it was me i'd call CPL.

[Mumcentreplus]

Try and find the owner they are exposing their cat to Cat AIDS...

[trellism]

Ahh, good idea. I will call the CPL and see what they suggest. He is a nice kitty, peeing aside, and my cats seem to be quite fond of him.

[curiositykilled]

You can't take someone else's cat to be neutered. Cats are property and you could get in trouble. When we moved into our house we had a neighbour's cat constantly using our garden as it's litter tray, we also had another neighbour's cat who liked weeing on our front doorstep.

Apparently, I am very scary to cats. I stalked them both then hissed and screeched at them right in their faces till they backed down and ran away. I only did this ONE time for each cat and they have never been back... weird... I did not expect it to work at all...

[Zalen]

Although I think YANBU to want to take him down the vets and get him snipped, as others have suggested, you might be laying yourself open to all kinds of grief from the irresponsible owners.

I seem to remember having a similar problem when we were small. IIRC my mum would sprinkle pepper down around the front door to discourage this behaviour, I've heard other people say coffee grounds will deter them too.

[whoisasking]

Have you called the CPL to see if they can advise you?

We had 2 tom cats and suddenly a much larger, much harder, much more "street" cat arrived in town. He sauntered about in our garden, sparying EVERYWHERE and also pooping in our alley. My 2 cats were terrified of him (haha! they really are pussies) and in response, they started also pooping in the alley.

Jesus it was awful, we were bloody knee deep. ANYWAY I called the cat protection league, and they told me to trap the intruding cat and call them. They would come and collect him and whip his nadgers off.

I might have called a mad rogue CPL lady though, so..in conclusion, call the CPL.

[trellism]

He's a bit threadbare so I doubt he's prime breeding stock. Anyway, I think cat breeders are a bit more responsible and don't let their toms prowl around busy streets looking for some random.

I'm pretty sure he owns a functioning set of nadgers though. He does keep trying to seduce my cats - he seems eternally optimistic that one day their ovaries are going to grow back.

[melmog]

My old cat was neutered but still managed to spray a bit. It may depend on how old they are when they have it done?

Bear in mind this is not your cat. If an owner is dead set against neutering (stupidly) then you could have all sorts of disputes on your hands.

Put a poster up or tape a bit of paper to his collar asking if he is owned first.

I know from experience that people sometimes feel strongly enough about things like this that they contact solicitors and all sorts.

If it's a stray though, the cat protection league may help with costs.

[scottishmummy]

i read initially neighbourhood tom and thought prostitute.get him done?what talkin of putting malkie on the local tom.

[imbored]

perfectly reasonable