Humans have gotten rather blunt about discussing problems like male impotence, infertility, and other reproduction issues, and pet owners sometimes assume that only humans experience sexual problems. That isn’t the case at all, and as all animal breeders know, you can put a healthy female in heat together with a healthy male, but you can’t assume they will mate.
Tomcats can experience impotence for various psychological reasons. For example, (don’t laugh!) a very young tom will try to mate with an older and aggressive female, who, however lecherous a female in heat may appear to be, won’t accept just any tomcat. And tomcats (never mind all the associations with that word) won’t mate with every female in heat.
