Does spaying a female cat change their personality?

[Ryuukokoro]

Okay I know this is kinda sexist (in a cat way XD ) but growing up we never owned female cats because my dad is convinced female cats are all moody and argumentative with other cats and just a general pain in the butt. I'm well aware he's making generalities, but whether it's true or not, I just don't have much experience with female cats.

Now I've taken in this stray, and she is a really adorable thing. She's playful and runs around the apartment. Loves to jump in my lap and be petted. Gets along great with Kohaku. Actually she's more affectionate with me than Kohaku, who likes being petted but will never jump in my lap of his own choice lol.

So I know I should get her fixed. Especially since I don't want to deal with her being in heat or possibly escaping out of the apartment and getting pregnant (as unlikely as that seems). But I've heard that after a female is spayed, there can be mood changes, and I really don't want her to lose her playfulness or affectionate nature.

So those of you who own female cats, have you ever noticed a personality change after they have been spayed? Do they get more moody? Less agreeable with other cats? Less affectionate/playful?

I've googled to see what I can find and most places assure that the personality of the female will never change, but the pages I've found are all from vets websites or spay/neuter clinic websites, so I don't think the opinion is unbiased. So I wanted to ask cat owners so I can get first hand experience. Thanks for the advice!!

[Ravvana]

My family is the opposite way XD My mom is convinced that male cats have more health problems than females, so we've had four female cats in my lifetime. We have two currently.

We've gotten all of our cats spayed before they came home with us from the humane society. Two of the cats (Annie/Cocoa) are very quiet/reserved/shy by nature, not looking for a lot of human loving. Two (Murphy/Dinky) are total goofball/lap-kitties who love to run all over the place and sleep on your head/neck/stomach/pillow/anywhere. All were spayed. So I think it's more of a personality and temperament thing than a being spayed thing If that helps.

[bewilderness]

I have two males and two females...and the females are moodier than the males.  My older one was already spayed when I got her but I did have the younger one spayed (boy, and am I glad I did!).  I haven't noticed any change in her personality at all, she's still very playful and affectionate.

[Ravvana]

Ooh! Ooh! Grammar Nazi is ready for action!

"Does spaying a female cat change their personality?"

One female cat -> "her personality"
Or you could ask the more general "Does spaying female cats change their persoanlity?"

Mission accomplished! XD *ducks out*

[Mutt]

At present I have two males and a female, all have been neutered/spayed and all my cats have been up to date.  I've had a total of 7 cats over my lifetime, 3 females and 4 males. From my experience I'd say the males are more moody! One of our past male cats was the most friendly cat I'd ever met but the other three all were/are quite moody, two hated all over cats and one hates all male cats only but gets along with our female cat.

Of the 3 female cats, one was a Burmese, one a Siamese and the other just a plain Domestic Short hair- a shelter rescued cat. All were spayed, all some of the most friendly cats I've ever met. My current cat Kiara, I remember no change in her at all after she was spayed (she was spayed as a kitten), she's very playful (even at 10 years of age), gets on well with our other cats (in her 10 years she's lived with a female cat and three male cats) and of my three cats she is the favorite amongst the household (except Dad who has an unhealthy obsession with his cat Sparkie).

I'm surprised most people think females are more moody, though I understand my mothers old cats (the Burmese and Siamese) were of generally friendly breeds.

[Lectral]

Generally, fixing a cat tends to make them more affectionate in the long run, more agreeable with other cats, as they aren't fighting for territory or mates, they may be a touch less active, but that depends on the individual and age, anyways.  Most of my female cats have been spayed when we got them, but not all, and they have all varied in activity level, but all were quite friendly, and not incredibly moody.

I've had male and female cats all my life, and each one was very different.  The males we had did tend to have more health problems, but that had more to do with the breed in one case, and the other was something that can happen to males when they are neutered at a very early age.

The females, we had more trouble with, behavior-wise, when they were unspayed, than the ones that were fixed.

Remember also that spaying will significantly lower her risk for certain types of cancer, in addition to the not getting pregnant or wandering.  I have two females and one male right now, all fixed, and they get along quite well.

[Ryuukokoro]

Thank you all for your experiences! I feel more assured.

Ooh! Ooh! Grammar Nazi is ready for action!

"Does spaying a female cat change their personality?"

One female cat -> "her personality"
Or you could ask the more general "Does spaying female cats change their persoanlity?"

Mission accomplished! XD *ducks out*

I have a bachelor's degree in writing and don't need my thread corrected, you goof.

[Dunkel.Prinzessin204]

I have only had spaying affect one of my female cats and she was a special circumstance. She went into heat right before she was spayed. It really just made her more moody. My other females retained the same disposition after being spayed.

[hiyoko]

I think my girls are still the same, though calmer.lol

My girls are almost ten and trust me when I say they are annoyingly affectionate.lol Calie loves to cuddle with me and cries when I try and remove her from me. She's gotten better with dogs (she was attacked my a dog before we took her in). Muffy is still sweet, loves attention, likes to go outside and "talk" to us.lol

[indigowulf]

I have 4 cats living with me at this time, all fixed. 3 are male, 1 female. None but the youngest male was fixed early on, so I have a good view of how these 4 were before and after.

In general, they all mellowed out a bit. They all got a bit sweeter after time, very subtle but its there. They also all stay closer to home when they go outside, fight less, and are much more healthy.

I just came in from the living room where my female was sitting in my lap harassing my hand. She gets real pushy when she wants attention, she's not above knocking a plate of food off my lap to make room for herself lol.

[Tribe]

I must say as far as spaying goes ive never seen anything change really, i think mood changes come with age. The older they get the more likelly they are to become reserved or moody per say. However i must confess i notice mood changes in my female cat after every heat cycle she has. I havnt got her fixed just because i havnt had reason to, she dosnt go outside, shes not allowed outside and she has no desire to go outside (i found that out by getting all her front claws dug into my back and all her back into my chest shes just not outside friendly). However i must say also shes quite annoying when she goes into heat, shes loud and rubs everything making it hard to sleep at times really.

[Tribe]

Just so you know though also theres places that will help finacally with spaying usually. And if you dont try that also when a female is in a heat cycle sometimes a vet will charge more. I thank jesus for my vets hes and older man to i dont go for him to much more then general help because truthfully i wouldnt want him doing something major just in fear that his age may hender his help. But hes fixed so many animals in his time that i have no doubts with that. Hes fixed all my animals ive had since i was young (my mother used him and so does the rest of his family) It cost me $35 to fix any cat and $45 for any dog (gender age size ect does not make it more or less). His shots are i think like $25 for dogs or cats and thats a full vaccination (everything needed & rabies). His meds for animals are always cheapo the only thing is getting an appt with him is hard as hes only in the office two days a week for a few hours.

[Math]

I will admit to being sexist towards animals (but towards females... I have no idea why, but I just prefer females) which did determine which kitten I got out of my riding instructor's cat's litter (roughly 1 and a half years ago). I did choose the kitten with the most unique colouring and markings, and I prayed that it was a female which it turned out that my instructor was correct with the gender.

We took her (and one of her brothers) home with us and she was certainly the shyer of the two, you could get him to purr easily but with Cielo, it took me weeks and weeks just to hear a purr from her. We scheduled an appointment with the vet for when they were around 7 months old, and when they got home... I saw a side of Cielo that I had never seen. In all her grogginess and pain, she managed to jump over a bench (we blocked everything off so they didn't hurt themselves) and walk up the stairs and climb onto my bed.

It may have just been that she had gotten to trust me more and that the timing just fit, but I would have to say that it made Cielo more affectionate. And people do say that it takes females more time to trust you, but if the stray is anything like Cielo, all the time gaining her trust would be well worth it.

So, in my experience, I would say that spaying takes away nothing from the personality or attitude, if anything, it adds to it.