Cats, neutering and behavior

Question
I have two cats, the female is about 8 months old and the male a bit over 6 months old. She went into heat for the first time and we thought they never did the deed since he just climbs on her and stands on tiptoes and bites the daylights out of the back of her neck. He bites her over and over in the same spot so hard that she sounds like a woman being murdered. She hasn't gone into heat the second time but HE acts like HE is in heat, making that noise, climbing on her and biting her neck. So we decided to get him neutered which took place this morning. When we got him back home, the woman said to put him in the bathtub and when he can jump out of it, we could let him out of the bathroom. The entire time he was in there, the female cat sat outside the door and cried. I just let him out about 7 hours after the surgery and he's just sitting in one spot and not doing anything wrong. But the female cat is going nuts on him! She has her ears slicked back and crawling on the floor, hissing at him and looks like she's trying to attack him. I don't understand the behavior she's doing. She won't stop when I talk to her strictly and I finally had to put her in a room with the door shut to keep her off of him while he's healing. She sits at the door and cries now. I am confused and unsure as to what to do about this. Is it normal? Is there anything I can do to stop it or will it stop on its own? Please help me out. We love our cats dearly, both of them. I feel guilty enough causing him that pain but I know it was for the best in the long run. Now this. Can you help me? Thank you for listening and any assistance you can offer.

Laura

Answer
Laura,

Put him in the bathtub? No! His straining to try to jump out and the stress of being in there can do more harm than good. He already is confused about what happened to him. Make things as normal as possible and give him lots of love to reassure him.

The only caution you need to take is don't let him outside (if you do) so he can't get dirt in the incision. Otherwise just let him be as usual normal. He will probably sleep at first. He will be as good as new in 3-4 days. And don't feed him until late tonight or tomorrow because the anesthetic residue in his body will make him sick. I learned the hard way. They told me not to feed my cat after surgery but he hadn't eaten the night before and was so hungry. I thought he knows his body so I let him eat. I've never had a bigger mess in my life! He was vomiting everywhere!

As for the other cats behavior....that is perfectly normal and typical. Cats go by smell and not by sight in recognizing other cats (with humans, they go by voice...not by sight). Your neutered cat brought home MANY different smells from the vet: anesthetic, medicinal smells, and smells of other cats...all clinging to his fur. The female cat thinks he's another cat! She is protecting her territory from this 'intruder'. Things will settle down in a couple of days when the smells are gone from him.

A trick that I've heard a lot of people use in that situation (though I have never tried it) is to put a drop of vanilla on each cats forehead so they smell the same.

The same thing will probably happen when you get the female spayed.

Hope this helped. And that is great that you are being a responsible and caring pet owner!

Tabbi