FirstMed Consulting Blog

It is true that because of our close companionship with our pets, we sometimes view them as children. They are dependent on us for care, food, warmth etc. We play the part of a carer (parent substitute) and they play the part of a dependent. There is nothing wrong with this most of the time.

However, the darker side is that we may try to play out our urges and drives through our pets. Most of those who are most vociferously opposed to the neutering of male cats are men. According to vets and animal shelter workers, men will take their cats for vaccinations, dental operations and other minor procedures but when it comes to getting a tom cat neutered the man is rarely to be seen. The neutering of cats - males and females - is a socially responsible thing to do. In a world where millions of healthy unwanted cats and kittens are destroyed annually through lack of available homes, it is irresponsible to allow a pet cat to breed. Neutering tomcats increases their life expectancy. Neutered male cats live longer, period. They are at less risk of infections which are spread from tomcat to tomcat through fighting over the right to mate with available females. Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV or FAIDS) is incurable and unvaccinable.

Why is it then that men are less likely to have their male pets neutered than are women? Perhaps their reluctance is fuelled by feelings of sympathy and empathy and the feeling that he could be next. Some men try to argue that women have the urge to emasculate males and the neutering of male dogs and cats is an indication of what women would like to do to men i.e. keep them docile and at home.

However, the actuality seems to be that men view their male pets as personifications of their own egos and libidos - macho and indiscriminate in who they mate with and with no regard for any offspring which might result. The man who lets his tomcat roam and breed uncontrolled is using his cat as a phallic symbol - “look how manly my cat is … just like his owner!”. To neuter his cat would mean it is no longer the manifestation of its owner’s libido and ego. It would no longer be macho. It would be a eunuch. The cat serves as an extension of themselves and to castrate it would psychologically castrate the owner.

Those men who refuse to neuter their tomcats are afraid that it is an adverse reflection of their own sexual potency. They may be insecure or feel that they are sexually inadequate. Their cat becomes a symbol of their own sexuality. The macho, battered tomcat with a trail of pregnant females in his wake is a reflection of what his owner would like to be. Except that society won’t let the owner act this way so he lives out his urges vicariously through letting his pet act out the owner’s urges.