OK cat people.....

Cat is a nine month old neutered cat who has mainly hung around the top floor flat or the court yard. The only access to the courtyard in and out is by a cat flat on the ground level or by a random human letting him through the door.

On Sunday night cat disappeared and we spent all of Monday daytime looking for him. He was not in the courtyard or anywhere where he usually hangs out. Late afternoon we spotted him on a fence in a garden outside the back of the flats. He has been out all night, looked cold scared and hungry. He is a bit crap at being outside in the wild.

Clambering through bushes we finally managed to get hold of him and he had a mega hissy fit, with claws flying everywhere.

We got him back to the flat and he calmed down, ate loads and chilled for the rest of the night.

Since then cat has been going out of the cat flap (and seemingly forgetting how to get back in), he has been sulky and defiant and generally not wanting to be in the flat.

Now cats are creatures of habit and hate a change of routine so it is a little worrying.

Can anyone suggest what might be causing this change in behaviour as the cat's human is very worried.

I am meeting cat's human this evening and would like to put her mind at rest.

Cheers

PS A theory I had was that the op to have him neutered had not been a success as he tends to still shag stuff. I looked after a female cat for a while and it ended up pregnant despite Battersea's assurance that it had been done.

Has another cat moved into the area at all as most cats dont like change. He could be just maturing as well he is at the right age. The other possiblities is that someone else is feeding him or letting him out or not letting him get back in With the other neutered males can still do it. All my males and neutered and they will still try it on with a un speyed female.

Most likely there is a new territorial challenge that he wants to be outside to deal with, or keep an eye on if he doesn't feel he can deal with it. As Maise Moo says he is getting more mature now which can make him feel more assertive, leading to being more territorial and keener to explore.

Even if he is neutered there can be much more movement of entire cats as spring approaches which can upset the neutered cats too.

Cats will mount and scuff other cats, as for mating, as a dominance gesture but if he had a retained testicle he could have been castrated without the retained one having been found and removed, effectively leaving him as an entire cat?

However that would still make him infertile as the retained testicle would be kept too warm for viable sperm, being inside the body. Does he appear to still have testicles? Can you feel any?

Could the female cat have already been pregnant or to have got mated by another cat, or was it very shortly after his castration?

Or do you mean you have a supposedly neutered female who got pregnant, rather than that this cat was the father?

With females it is not easy to tell if they have be spayed, unless they come into season when you can generally assume they haven't been

Agreed. Kitty is just eager to go be all gangsta in his 'hood, methinks. Maybe he was in some kind of diplomatic dispute with another kitty when you caught him so he redirected his frustration at you.

I hope he isn't an Egyptain Mau then

oh snap !