Toms

[Worried74]

I have had cats for about 18 years, started with 2 girls and at the minute I have 5 of varying ages but only 1 tom. He came to us as a rescue just over 2 years ago. He is always getting hurt, it's rare a week goes by without him gaining another injury. I have never experienced this before, he is the only tom we have owned (don't tell the others but he's my favourite) and I am finding this trend rather alarming. Is it a boy thing, it certainly puts my off boys as I am convinced he will use up his nine lives very soon.

Hi,
Is he neutered? I would recommend you do so for many reasons. Tom cats can produce multiple kittens and life on the streets is grim for cats. If he is intact, he will fight. Injuring himself and his opponents. You need to arrange to have him neutered. Asap.

He is neutered, I am not an idiot. I am an experienced cat owner (all be it with girl cats, hence the post). He also came from the RSPCA and they don't let them go unneutered (he was 2 when we got him). I am after advice not blind judgement.

Er, you used the word Tom. That's why I assumed he was intact. No need to be aggressive.

To be fair I refer to my boys as Tom cats (or doctored Toms where precision is required). To me a Tom cat is just a male cat.

OP - I think you may just have a clumsy careless cat - my male cats don't generally get into too much trouble. (Except Karl this week)

I am sorry if you feel I was aggressive, but you seemed rather sanctimonious and as you say assumptive. All my cats are neutered, chipped, vaccinated and loved. I research everything I do and make sure I do it properly. Perhaps I have used the wrong term but the dictionary states a tom cat is a male domestic cat.

I have 2 males and only one has had an injury requiring treatment and only on 1 occasion. They are 3 years old. Maybe you have stronger territorial cats in your neighbourhood

Thank you grumpyoldpersonwithcats, he is injured on a practically daily basis and not having a boy before I just wondered. We do however have a collection of entire males in the area who think our garden is the place to be! Poor thing ends up in the vets every month or so and with current situation it concerns me. Last time it was a pulled tail injury, no idea how it happened.

Yes dementedpixie, I think you are right but the only way to overcome this would be to keep him in and I don't think he would cope well

My male cat is a big softy with us, but he is also a fighter with certain neighbourhood cats - not all though? Is there a time of day it is happening? There was some research suggesting cats have set routes and patches they patrol outside, and kit clashes with another cats they can fight (though some will deliberately alter their timings to avoid conflict.)
We know when our cat's biggest enemy tends to be around
so we keep him shut in around then (girl cat can go out). It has reduced cuts and scratches and scabs a lot! Now they just puff up and yowl at one another through the window. For some reason they just hate each other! He still goes out at other times, and he'll sometimes scrap a bit with other cats but it's more like play fighting, no yowling or bristling.
I would try and see if there is any pattern and then try to break the pattern.

As he is a rescue, he may well have been neutered pretty late so developed entire male behaviours which I'm afraid may never wear off completely - we noticed this with horses too, colts who were cut late tend to be more aggressive and showy compared to those done at 6 months.

As Grumpy said, he may also just be more clumsy than others (voice of experience, my Boycat is almost dispraxic by cat standards and falls off things regularly for example).

I also found out that some insurance companies charge more for male cats as their statistics show they are more likely to be injured.

That's genius Whathappenedtothelego, I am off to keep watch, I am going to ruin his street cred though and that's pretty low already given he's called Pumpkin as we got him at Halloween 😁

Allergictoironing, that makes sense. He wasn't neutered until he was adopted by us. He is so gentle at home, grooms the others, deferential to our old lady cat of 18, although she would probably take him down still. He's also not very bright but for some reason I love him.

He sounds wonderful. Hope you manage to narrow things down and he doesn't have to challenge his foe(s) too much longer.

I've had a mixture of female and male cats, all neutered. I think I've noticed that the males are more prone to scrapping, including my latest male rescue. Having said that he has calmed down since being neutered about a year ago and is more of a home boy now. One of my females, also neutered, thinks she's the cats meow and is a real fighter. She will not tolerate any intruders. They are dealt with swiftly, and ecause she so efficient at this, she doesn't suffer too many battle injuries 🤞

Can we see your little warrior?

Here's my boy - any excuse!

This is him, chatting with the tortoise!

Love his little back paws. Wonder if they're comparing notes about you OP?

I do hope not @Want2beme, there has been a distinct lack of duck treats since lockdown and my furry overlord is much miffed 😁