Cat rape!

[David_Janet]

Our poor 2 year old cat has just been "raped" by a couple of old black toms, even though we had her sterilised at around one year old.

We thought that would put an end to her feline attractiveness but apparently not?! This is the first time we've had any trouble like this, but we've only recently moved to a residential area with other cats around.

Anyone out there able to enlighten us on whether this is normal or not. Do female cats still continue to have "seasons" after sterilisation? We're pretty upset at the moment as she's so stressed she won't let us anywhere near her which is completely unlike her usual affectionate character.

Very grateful for any comments/suggestions.

Janet and David

[Alexis]

I'm absolutely appalled.  Poor, poor cat.

We had our Lucy 'done' when she was about six months old.  The vet still has the scars apparently!  We have had none of 'that' trouble and there is an abundance of cats here.

I'm afraid I can't help you as I don't know a lot about it.  I wonder if she was properly done?  There must have been something very attractive about her for TWO to attack her.

Those two black cats had better look out.....

I hope that she gets back to normal very quickly.

[Cal50]

Maybe as you've only recently moved there she hasn't yet had chance to ' mark ' her territory. The Toms may think its theirs?.It may be better if she only goes out with you there with her for a week or two to build confidence again . Our dog is very cat friendly but scares 'foreign' cats away maybe you could have such a dog ?

[Teamedup]

You said sterilised, but what was done. Some surgery is far more radical than others and some, as far as I can remember being told, is rather like a woman having her tubes tied and the hormones remain.

Tom cats would fight with a strange cat and not do this. There was obviously some hormonal attraction somewhere and that is how it goes, with feline coupling. The male smells the female and gets on with it. Rape implies malice and I don't believe that, it is just nature at work.

[David_Janet]

Thanks for the replies. Her operation was supposed to have removed the ovaries and uterus but I have since discovered that sometimes a tiny part of ovarian tissue can be left behind and the only solution is for the cat to undergo another operation.

Anyway, she's sleeping it off at the moment and we're going to keep her in for a while.

Incidentally, my use of " " for the word rape was meant to inject a small element of humour into my message. I do realise that cats will be cats!

Janet

[Judie]

We once had a cat, when we were in the UK, that needed sterilising twice and would still call occasionally!!

The vet's explanation was along the lines of one of the previous posts, that a small amount of ovarian tissue had been left behind. We still had to pay, though, never mind the poor cat having to endure two operations.

Judie

[Penny29]

Be warned! Our sterilised cat gave birth to 5 kittens last year!

We thought she was acting strangely (just like a cat in season) months beforehand, but careful checking with the Animal Refuge, vet's records etc confirmed that she had defnitely been "done", so we didn't worry. Even when she started to put on weight we still thought the impossible was not possible! But, it was!

So, six week after the kittens appeared we took her to our new vet and he performed a complete hysterectomy (inc ovaries).