Gideon's Big Day

On September 24th, we made the decision to bring Gideon to the spay/neuter clinic hosted by Denver county to have him altered at exactly 6 months old. Of course, we already knew long in advance that we'd have him neutered, but the clock felt like it was ticking over us constantly. The breeder we got Gideon from, like many breeders, felt that it would be best to wait until he was 8-9 months old before altering him so that he could reach his full size potential before taking away his natural testosterone.

However, many cat experts and veterinarians (ours included) don't feel like this is necessarily the case and more harm can be done in waiting, the most frightening of them for me being that male cats tend to attract stray cats and start having peeing wars to mark territory and make themselves known. Once marking behaviors starts, it's extremely difficult to stop and more likely to come up in the long run once they "get the idea" in their minds. I've read horror stories of male cats starting this behavior as early as 5 months.  I wanted to comply with the breeder and perhaps find a happy medium of times when we could have it done, but around 5.5 months, we found evidence of a pee spot on a dog bed by the door with a rather feline odor.  Now, it's possible a dog could have peed on it and made him think it was suitable, and it wasn't a "spray" type of pee. But just the same, we agreed that 6 months would have to be our happy medium.

The Denver Dumb Friends League offers a free spay/neuter clinic for cats, regardless of income level. For us, this was especially helpful, as I'd rather donate the cost of what the vet was charging ($200) to animal welfare for what is realistically a very simple procedure. Another huge bonus was that it takes place on weekends; to take Gideon to our vet during the hours specified would be quite a juggling act for my husband and I and would likely cause him longer, all-day discomfort rather than just a few hours.

The whole process was an early-morning excursion and not one I'm sure Gideon would like to repeat, but at least it's done. Gideon did well in his recovery, and I fondly got to see that my cat is a happy drunk. We were warned that cats tend to be defensive, frightened, and grumpy when coming out of their anesthetics, but Gideon was a bit of the opposite. He waltzed out of his carrier like he owned the place (which, as a cat, he thinks he does), greeted each of the dogs with a head rub, and seemed to be in a great mood the rest of the day like he was just happy to be out of there.

I am a little sorry we didn't feel that we could wait as long as the breeder wanted, and will feel bad if the act stunts his growth any, but 6 months is a bit longer than most adopted cats get to have and is at least the onset of puberty. He doesn't seem any the wiser in the longrun and, I can say, maintains his perfectly litterbox habits with less cat-calling at doors!

My handsome guy at 6 months

Gideon Does Not Like to be Left

Last week we had to go out of town for a few days for a wedding in NH, which was subsequently the first time both my husband and I left for an extended period since adding Gideon to the family. For what we thought would be for the best, we elected to have a pet sitter come visit our home three times a day to walk our two greyhounds, and also pay a bit of attention to the cat.  To be honest, it was only two full days we were gone, and two half days.

Apparently for Gideon, this was quite a bit. While he did do well enough (we have a nestcam, so could check in on everyone whenever we wanted) and seemed to enjoy getting pets from the sitter, he's been extra clingy and regressive since we've returned, only now starting to get back to his old self!

It's hard to say how much of the problem was him not getting played with in his "per usual" fashion and also him just missing us and our routine.  We do dedicate a few 15 minute play sessions to him every day to give him a predictable outlet for his energy, and when we play, we tend to get him winded and panting. The sitter did try to play with him, but not near the same intensity as what he's used to. When we got back, he's been playing like he's not been played with in years, going totally bananas for toys (the cat chaser mouse toy is his current favorite). This has been nice in a way, as I can get him bounding around, up and down furniture and breathing hard with very little effort on my part. Usually I have to coax him a good bit and try a few different toys to get his motor running.

He's also been a bit mischievous, I think doing anything he can think of to get my attention and not really content to just sit still despite playing hard. He's gone back to doing things like deliberately chewing wires or stealing socks.  However, this has been dwindling since we've been getting back on schedule and is hopefully short-lived to just the first day or two after we return!

It's hard to say what Gideon would prefer; all the experts say having a cat sitter come visit your home daily is ideal (it's also less expensive), but I wonder if we'd be getting the same treatment from him (or perhaps worse) if he'd been boarded? For sake of ease though, I think we'll just keep the status quo for when we go away next month for about the same length of time, armed with wand toys for when we return!