My adopted male cat doesn't spray. How do I know if he's neutered?

I think I see testicles in the picture, but I would need to palpate Oscar to be sure if he's neutered or not. I'd make him an appointment with a vet to determine the answer to your question. Until then, keep him away from your female in heat to be safe. Best of luck.

From the attached picture it appears to be a neutered male - likely one that was neutered at a young age as I do not see the presence of a well developed scrotum. If you want, you can post another picture - including some of the tail all of the anus and everything below the anus. If you look at the part below the anus (this is either a vulva or a penis in a sheath) - you may be able to tell better yourself. Thank you for using pet coach!

Male cats that are neutered after they reach sexual maturity are more likely to continue to exhibit behaviors that were caused by testosterone even after they are neutered. These behaviors can include urine marking and humping types of behaviors. That is one of the reasons that we recommend neutering before sexual maturity. If the shelter neutered him before you adopted him, then I would not doubt that he is neutered, but you certainly can have your veterinarian examine him just to be on the safe side. Cats that have testosterone in their system will have physical characteristics that your veterinarian will be able to determine on exam. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

You need to go back to the vet who did the neuter and ask for the surgery report which should say whether only one testicle was removed or both. You can also have your cat tested (blood test) for hormonal activity which will then show whether he has a hormone-producing testicle left. If that is the case, I would go back to the original vet and ask him to remove the retained testicle. If he only removed one testicle he should have informed you and also told you that your tom was not neutered. Retained testicles can become cancerous as well.

Oh, goodness - how stressful for you! To answer your question, no - the testicles are physically removed during the neuter procedure, so they will never come back. If the deceased cat truly does have testicles in his scrotum (and not just swelling or other injuries in this area), then he's definitely not yours.

Unfortunately it is extremely difficult if not impossible to train a male cat to ignore the natural instincts, such as urine marking, which make them difficult to keep indoor. Male cat urine has an extremely strong odor, and is quite unpleasant, and it's their natural tendency to "mark" areas that they consider to be theirs, which in your case will likely be all around the inside of your house. He will also be very interested in leaving your house to roam in search of females, and to fight other males that he considers to be a threat. Clearly, these are dangerous behaviors. While you may be concerned about the safety of neutering, since it requires general anesthesia, I can tell you that it is a well-understood procedure that is nearly painless, and takes no more than 5 minutes if performed by a trained veterinarian. Once DoReMi is neutered, he will no longer have the "urges" that drive the behaviors listed above, and will be quite content. I strongly advise you to have him neutered, and soon, as he's getting very close to starting to become sexually mature.

Neutering the cat with one testicle descended should be no problem if you let the vet know ahead of time so the vet can plan extra time to find and extract the undescended testicle. It is usually not a big problem, however sometimes the veterinarian has to open the abdomen to remove the testicle if it is not located anywhere near the inguinal ring. Just removing the descended testicle and leaving the other one behind would not be acceptable practice.