Now I know this is going to sound a bit weird, but I've been wondering about pets reactions to transition. I have three large dogs and six cats, since starting T one of the cats inexplicably hates me. I have no idea, but it only seems to have happened since I started T. She won't let me near her now. On the other hand, one of the other cats who wasn't particularly bothered with me before now keeps pestering me for attention? Just wondering if anyone else's pets have had a weird reaction to them on T?

Some animals tend to favor one gender over the other. I've met a number of dogs who are shy around adult men, and my dog treats men and women differently-- she's very playful with guys, but more polite around ladies. I met her after I'd already been on T for a while, and she's always reacted to me like she reacts to other guys.

My hypothesis is that your cats may be sensing the changes in your appearance and/or smell from the T and started reacting to you as an adult man. That's just a guess, though.

Your scent will change because of T. Animals have much stronger noses, so they're probably confused and think you're a stranger that happens to look like you. So if your cat happens to like strangers better (I had one like that) that could explain it.

I haven't noticed any changes in my cats or dog.
I'm pretty sure I smell differently.

--Jay

I've had my dogs since I was 9 (the oldest) and 11 (the youngest). They never seemed to care about my smell much, my brother complains about it so I know it is different now. That said, I guess my dogs saw me go through female puberty, my brothers go through male, by now they're probably just going with the flow lol.

Oddly enough, my hamster became very hostile to me after a few months on T.

I'm guessing the dog's reactions are more higher level thinking. The hamster is thinking on a very basic level. Dogs sense of smell is so amazing that they could smell changes in us but also that other things smell the same and be assured we are the same people. At least that's what I surmise anyway. I don't think anybody has ever studied this.

--Jay

Quote from: Crow on July 22, 2013, 05:29:31 PM
Some animals tend to favor one gender over the other. I've met a number of dogs who are shy around adult men, and my dog treats men and women differently-- she's very playful with guys, but more polite around ladies. I met her after I'd already been on T for a while, and she's always reacted to me like she reacts to other guys.

My hypothesis is that your cats may be sensing the changes in your appearance and/or smell from the T and started reacting to you as an adult man. That's just a guess, though.

I always wondered how much truth there was to this. Not saying you're wrong or anything, just curious. I've always heard people saying that their pets prefer one gender, or like my mom says my cat is scared of males. But looking closer I realized it was just because the girls my cat have been around are much more quite than my big hulking brothers storming through the room. 
It's just anecdotal evidence but I still wonder.

Quote from: ForWantOf on July 23, 2013, 01:15:53 PM
I always wondered how much truth there was to this. Not saying you're wrong or anything, just curious. I've always heard people saying that their pets prefer one gender, or like my mom says my cat is scared of males. But looking closer I realized it was just because the girls my cat have been around are much more quite than my big hulking brothers storming through the room. 
It's just anecdotal evidence but I still wonder.

I don't know about cats, but with dogs, any male is seen as a competitor for the alpha's spot, so unless the dog already sees a human as its alpha, it can react quite badly. And since so many people let their dogs walk all over them....

I help people with behavior issues in their cats sometimes.

I've heard that cats prefer females. I think though it has more to do with attitude in approach. A LOT of guys approach a cat and expect that a cat will drop everything like a dog does and immediately come to them. They tend to come to them and pick them up or otherwise make them respond to them, where women are more likely to let the cat do its own thing. If guys approach a cat in a way where the cat makes the decisions about handling and so on, cats will like guys just fine. Every seen "My Cat from Hell" on Animal Planet. The guy is the most masculine stereotyped guy imaginable. He obviously has a way with cats.
http://jacksongalaxy.com/my-cat-from-hell/

BTW, there are women who hate cats and tend to handle cats the way some guys do. They get about the same response.

BTW, some guys change emotionally on T, that can be a reason actually. But certainly a shy cat, might react to changes in smell. I havent' noticed any changes in mine at all. But different cats have different, increased sensitivity.



--Jay

Quote from: Soren on July 23, 2013, 02:10:31 PM
I don't know about cats, but with dogs, any male is seen as a competitor for the alpha's spot, so unless the dog already sees a human as its alpha, it can react quite badly. And since so many people let their dogs walk all over them....

Do you know if that's based on scent or is it something else? In regard to how they could tell a male from a female.

Quote from: aleon515 on July 23, 2013, 02:17:06 PM
I help people with behavior issues in their cats sometimes.

I've heard that cats prefer females. I think though it has more to do with attitude in approach. A LOT of guys approach a cat and expect that a cat will drop everything like a dog does and immediately come to them. They tend to come to them and pick them up or otherwise make them respond to them, where women are more likely to let the cat do its own thing. If guys approach a cat in a way where the cat makes the decisions about handling and so on, cats will like guys just fine. Every seen "My Cat from Hell" on Animal Planet. The guy is the most masculine stereotyped guy imaginable. He obviously has a way with cats.
http://jacksongalaxy.com/my-cat-from-hell/

BTW, there are women who hate cats and tend to handle cats the way some guys do. They get about the same response.

BTW, some guys change emotionally on T, that can be a reason actually. But certainly a shy cat, might react to changes in smell. I havent' noticed any changes in mine at all. But different cats have different, increased sensitivity.



--Jay

Is that what you do for a living because that is one awesome job haha.

But yeah, I've actually known a lot of males and females who come to hate cats because they'll put zero effort in trying to build a relationship with a cat, they'll just pick it up against its will and do all of these things the cat isn't comfortable with. That must be some kind of common misconception that pet cats will adore you as quickly and easily as most pet dogs do.


Oh and based on what you said, if I ever get on T I'd be really curious to see how my cat reacts to me because he's very shy and skittish. For a long time, he'd be scared of you if you put on a hat, but then would be perfectly fine once you took it off.

Quote from: ForWantOf on July 23, 2013, 02:30:21 PM
Do you know if that's based on scent or is it something else? In regard to how they could tell a male from a female.

I know it's scent, and I know something changes based on hormone balance, but I'm not sure exactly what the smell is... I just know it's different.

>Is that what you do for a living because that is one awesome job haha.

(behavior problems in cats)

Well I'm retired. But I have done this a bit, it's more of a side thing. This is a really hard thing to make a living off and only a very tiny number of people really do it.


--Jay

When I started T, I lived with three cats. They didn't seem to notice. I had been particularly worried about my alpha male because he had been neutered well after arriving at full maturity. I had rescued him from the streets, and we were uber bonded. I didn't want to lose that, and I didn't.

When I was a kid, my family was looking around for a family horse, and we had to nix one because the owners told us it (can't remember its sex) didn't like men. My father walked right up to it and tried to stroke its face, and the horse wanted nothing to do with him. I wouldn't have, either. My father had no real idea how to approach a strange horse and was making sudden, jerky movements. So I don't know whether the anti-male attitude was real or imagined.

Having grown up in farm country and being around animals a great deal it is an accepted fact that some animals have a decided gender preference - I saw it MANY times.

The most pronounced was with a stallion I acquired in my later teens. I had raised, trained, and worked MANY horses, mostly fillies, mares, and geldings and was quite experienced with horses but the stallion turned out to be a handful (and then some!). As much as I worked with him, he was just totally obstinate and (I felt) un-trainable. It happened that I was going to be late to the barn one day and asked my Dad to see to the horses until I got there. When I arrived, my Dad was putting the stallion through his paces, all of the exercises I had been working on without success, and the stallion was performing perfectly and without hesitation! That's when I clued in to the gender issue. When I tried to take over the horse, he immediately became obstinate and uncooperative again. I had the girls from the next farm come down to work with him and he was equally dense but when I had a male horseman come in, the stallion was perfect! I sold the lunkhead to a male friend and he had no trouble with the stallion at all.   **SIGH**

(At the time I was 'pseudo-male' but on HRT.)

Gender response seem to be very common among dogs. I have had many over the years and nearly half of them show a preference for one gender over the other.

i havent noicted anything to my mum dogs or cats they seem the same to me. But my cat however he seems to love me more then ever and he really loves to stick his nose in my armpits  he never done anything like that before pre-t.

Dogs can definitely tell the difference between genders.  My grandparents had a rescue dog when my dad was growing up, and if a man raised his hands she would run away and cower in the corner, even just in conversation and posing no threat to her at all (obviously she perceived it differently), but she loved women.  Whether it would have changed if one of the women went onto T I don't know because there is no history of trans people in our family.  I've never noticed any of our other animals behaving differently towards men or women, the only people I've known any of our dogs to take a disliking to were the husband and wife who used to come and get scraps to feed their pigs.

I have a nervous cat that generally doesn't like people, but she was always ok with me. Since starting T she no longer likes me. Simply walking in the room is enough to make her bolt. My other cat doesn't care.

Apparently when my friend tried on her cosplay the other day, wig and all, her dog freaked the eff out. So I don't think it's just scent for all animals.

My dog's old as hell, and all her senses are going, so I don't think she'll react differently (she barely knows where she is half the time, poor thing). Plus, I've had her since I was 10 years old, so we've watched each other grow up. I don't think the physical changes will scare her at all. My mom's chihuahua, however, might start acting differently (she's not even 2 yet). We'll have to see, although she's surprisingly smart. I could see her making her peace with it. I don't think the cats will act differently, though. They're my babies and I don't think anything could make them leave me alone. ^^;

To be fair, as far as scent's concerned, I feel like I already have quite a masculine smell. When I was taking DHT-blockers last year, I smelled much more neutral, and as soon as I stopped them, I got my man smell back. So I'm not sure how much that's going to change, or how much stronger it's going to get.

It's not just smell. Some dogs react to people wearing backpacks, large bags, big hats, etc. They see this as part of the body in a way we would not. Making yourself bigger via a large parka-- well making yourself bigger makes you more threatening, so they sometimes react to this. It is definitely not all smell.

I'm guessing that some animals are reacting to change of body language.

--Jay

One of my cats was kinda freaked out by my vocal changes, as far as I can tell. He did something that impelled me to yell at him in frustration, and I startled the heck out of him in a way I never had before. My voice kind of boomed for the first time. The look on his face was priceless, but he got over it very quickly.