Are sexual hormones realated with animal's instints?

[CollinsArg]

Thing is, I have a male cat which is very wild, sometimes when I'm walking on a room it would came towards me to attact me as a pray, sometimes it hurts me...I told a friend about it and she told me that if I castrate my cat it wouldn't behave that way again. So, as I know that this behavior is in the cat's instints, could it be related with the hormones that are produced by the sexual organs? in which way?

 

[jerromyjon]

I have a male cat which is very wild

I have several male cats, all vying for the "alpha" position, which is a hormone driven instinct to intimidate rivals. When you eliminate the hormones which drives this behavior the cat will most likely cease except if it has become a learned routine, which you'd have to avoid the trigger for some time before the behavior is forgotten.

 

[Fervent Freyja]

You can't handle one excited alpha male? Seriously, my Husband is worse than that. Imagine that cat almost double your size attacking you in some form or another when you walk in the room- you don't just shoo him away either... It is not unheard of for male mammals to be sexually attracted to female humans, that could be it.

Yes, it is related to his male hormones. That is what makes him, him. Castrate him and you will destroy his self-esteem for life, he will not be able to be a male or female in that case. There are so many more thoughts that you should take the time out of your day to process before you have him castrated.

 

[jim mcnamara]

It is called testosterone mediated behavior. Neutering males limits that aggressive behavior. It also has other effects. Large, powerful animals like male horses are often "gelded" simply because they can be extremely difficult to deal with, even dangerous otherwise. An extreme example of this is "must" in male elephants, which is a response to increasing male hormone levels during mating season. Generally these guys are completely cut off and left by themselves, well away from everybody and especially other elephants. Larger, older male elephants in must may have to be further restrained.

So yes. Mammals (including humans) are best perceived, in the context of your question, as a bag of chemicals, controlled by hormones, neurotransmitters, and pheromones.

--- There is really more to it, but this is one way to model the root causes of mammalian behavior.

 

[Drakkith]

That is what makes him, him. Castrate him and you will destroy his self-esteem for life,

It's okay. They have therapy for these things. Just ask @phinds.

An extreme example of this is "must" in male elephants, which is a response to increasing male hormone levels during mating season. Generally these guys are completely cut off and left by themselves, well away from everybody and especially other elephants. Larger, older male elephants in must may have to be further restrained.

So... how do you "restrain" a 10 ton beast in a hormone-induced rage?

 

[jerromyjon]

Castrate him and you will destroy his self-esteem for life

It isn't much different from just dominating them physically. The only problem with that is you have to maintain the relationship and it is possible you could lose, and then your self esteem would be devastated. I have a male cat about a year old that I call "dog" because he follows me around constantly and lays at my feet and attacks my ankles trying to bite forcefully. I just scoop him up like a baby and restrain him lovingly and we are both happy again.

 

[jim mcnamara]

So... how do you "restrain" a 10 ton beast in a hormone-induced rage?

The ones that I have seen were at the National Zoo in Washington DC. There is a separate animal reserve, kind of a park. There they had a separate enclosure with massive fences. I am told that in places where elephants help with heavy lifting, they employ ankle chains to restrain elephants in must. Apparently raging bull elephants can and do severely injure other elephants, obviously people and houses are at huge risk too. Collateral damage...?