Question about hormones??(long)

[tkc1038]

Okay back history, Female cat went into heat(unexpectedly, she is young), all males in the house , ferrets, rats, neutered cats, neutered dog, Chinnys(here is where my quetion lies) have been extra agitated this week. My two male chinnys that have been together for about a year have been getting into little tifs here and there this week normally they cuddle and have no problems. Well two days ago I saw that Gala had some bite marks on his tail. Well the other cage that houses my bonded pair was VERY close to the boys cage so I thought that Sumo the male in the bonded cage got ahold of Gala's tail. Well this morning Gala has some MAJOR shallow bite wounds on his back, so I seperated him and Jose the male he is housed with right away.
Now my question , Could the female cat in heat insighted this fight or should I assume it is Gala's and Jose's fight, and the extra phermones(sp) in the house had nothing to do with it????
I am going to get cat spayed as soon as she is out of heat and will keep the boys seperated forever if I have to, makes me sad because I bought a FN because I thought it was Sumo doing it. Now Jose has a whole level to himself and I have to go get out of storage the old cage, which I hated.

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

I don't think you will ever know for sure if the cat had something to do with the fight.

 

[alli713]

Personally, I kind of doubt that a cat going in to heat would cause other species to act differently.

Because, normally animals are made to react to the pheromones of their own species. Imagine the havoc that would occur in the wild if all the species reacted to other species going into heat.

 

[threewingedfury]

I personally don't know.

I had a chinchilla breeder tell me once that when she was going through her menstrual cycle that if she went into the chin room, that a male would kill the females he was with. She said it happened quite a few times, and finally she figured it out and she would stop going in the room during those times. I guess she got her kids to feed the animals those few days, I don't know. I'm not sure if it's true, but I thought it was really odd and off the wall.

 

[tkc1038]

I know, it sounds strange, but EVERY male in my house has been acting like lunatics, even though most of them are neutered. Even my neutered cat is mounting her and trying to "wrestle" . My ferrets have bugged her and they are ALL neutered. So in my reasoning it is the extra pheremones, estrogen in the house that created a attmosphere for a fight. I am still going to keep them seperated, I WONT take the chance that I will be able to save Gala "next time", I was just looking for someone else opinion.
She seems to be coming out of heat so I will see if things quiet down around here, literally and hormonaly.
I too had a problem with an Iguana around the time of my period, she would attack me and bite and generally make my life miserable till I was finished. She would then go to my husband at the time and kiss up to him, I disliked that Iguana!

 

[MelodyR]

I used to have horses and a female friend of mine who owned a breeding stallion could not get near him when she had her period -- he would go absolutely insane if she tried to work with him. It doesn't make sense, I know, but there must be "something" -- a common denominator of some sort (estrogen?) that makes the males go crazy, regardless of species.

I now have parrots and it is suggested that you not get opposite sexes in the same species (cockatoos, macaws, etc) unless you plan to breed or the males will be on overload -- even if you have, say, a Moluccan cockatoo and a Citron cockatoo. I don't know, but I have followed that -- all my cockatoos are girls.

I have all boys - chins, guinea pigs, and all girls - rats, mice, and hamsters. I don't see any cross-effect here, but maybe a mouse doesn't give off that much estrogen - lol. I think the smaller rodents are only in season for a few hours at a time.

 

[tkc1038]

Well now matter what I wont be able to trust Gala and Jose together again. I know some chinnys always do better alone, and since I have decided I have enough animals right now I will just have to get cuddle buddies.