I live in the uk and my vet told me to bring them in at 6 months. I think I will ring them and ask if they can be done sooner. I have a brother and sister and they are 4 months old now. I was wondering if they might mate if I dont get them done soon?
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When should a kitten be "fixed"?
- Thread starter feral65
- Start Date
I think in the UK, pediatric spay/neuter hasn't really caught on yet. If I had to choose one to get fixed first, it would be the female...see if he would be willing to spay her earlier than 6 months.
Katie
i think 7 weeks is way too young. it affects the way they grow. i know shelters do it and they have a good reason for doing it that young, but if you are just a person with a kitten and you have a choice i wouldnt have it done before 5 months if you can wait that long. i was going to wait until 5-6 months to have my youngest kitty done. he is a little over 4 months and i just had him neutered yesterday. i did it a little ahead of schedule because he keeps darting out the door whenever it opens and im hoping this will curb that behavior. its not safe.
Affects the way they grow how? Do they get too big or stay too little? Have you experienced this personally with your own cats? I have spayed and neutered SO MANY cats that I have either kept or adopted out that I don't believe it affects their growth negatively for one second. I don't think it would be very easy to tell if it affects their growth at all bc cats can be so very different. You can't really predict how big or small they will become when they grow up.
I have mosterous cats named Willoughby, one was neutered at 8 weeks and the other neutered at 2+ years when I found them. I also have a female named Noira who was spayed at 9 months who is just a teeny tiny little girl and then there is Pwne who was spayed as a kitten and is HUGE. By huge or big I mean size and big boned, they are not overweight.
It's not like they become deformed or are drastically different in size if you speuter too young, is it really a big deal if they get a little bigger or stay a little smaller? What about the risk of cancer greatly increasing when you wait until after the first heat cycle or until after maturity in males? I would worry about that mroe then them growing a little big or staying a little small.
jen, i didnt say you should wait until after the first heat cycle or after maturity. i would not suggest that. it affects the way their bones grow, they grow faster and wing up growin longer than they would have so your cat would be slightly bigger than it would have been. no, its not a gross deformity but since it does affect them i would rather wait if possible, until they are between 5-6 months which is right BEFORE they mature sexually. and no, i didnt say its a "big" deal, i just stated my own preference
is a really big deal to wait until they are 5 months rather than do it at 7 weeks?? (if you are just a normal person with no real reason to do it early??)
if thats true, waiting that long is still better than 7 weeks. although i have always read they normally dont go into heat until six months or later.
I personally would rather do it younger, but I also know that I am responsible enough to not let the cat outside to get prego
As long as youa re too then wait until 5 months. that is the bottom line, just do it before maturity, 7 weeks or 5 months. the only problem with waiting until 5 months is that they may be an early bird.
I guess that I have taken about 50 cats to be spayed or neutered in the past 3 years or so. Of those, of all the ones I am stil in contact with including my own, i only really have seen maybe 5 that became extremely huge long lanky cats after being done early. All I can say is that I don't see any sort of pattern and there is no way of knowing if the cat would have become a long lanky cat anyways. Unless you have a controolled breeing environment and you know what your cats produce and size and weight and everything. But i have seen litters of all sizes and shapes that were all speutered at the same time.
I don't know, it is an interesting subject none-the-less
I guess that I have taken about 50 cats to be spayed or neutered in the past 3 years or so. Of those, of all the ones I am stil in contact with including my own, i only really have seen maybe 5 that became extremely huge long lanky cats after being done early. All I can say is that I don't see any sort of pattern and there is no way of knowing if the cat would have become a long lanky cat anyways. Unless you have a controolled breeing environment and you know what your cats produce and size and weight and everything. But i have seen litters of all sizes and shapes that were all speutered at the same time.
I don't know, it is an interesting subject none-the-less
Let's please not focus on when a cat goes into heat...I know plenty of situations where the kitten showed no signs of heat and managed to get out and become pregnant.
Our rescue doesn't spay/neuter until 8/9 weeks and prefers to wait until 10/12 weeks when possible. We find that when we wait a little longer, they don't get sick as often. My personal upper limit is 4 months.
Katie
The shelter I work for does it at 8 weeks. If you can do it that young, then I would reccomend it. People always put it off because of this or that. Then one day, the cat is knocked up. Now it's too late, unless you are willing to pay for an abortion as well.
All of my cats were fixed at 2 months. Frito even weighed less than 2 pounds for his neuter.
All of them are normal fat happy cats.
However if for some reason I found a cat/kitten on the road. I would probably get it done at 3 months. That would be a personal preference age. However, it's not that big a deal.
As long as they are neutered/spayed, that's the most important fact.
The problem is that people don't seem to quite understand is that the general public can not be trusted to spay/neuter their animals in time. This is why shelters have to make it a policy that no animal leaves the shelter intact.
All of my cats were fixed at 2 months. Frito even weighed less than 2 pounds for his neuter.
All of them are normal fat happy cats.
However if for some reason I found a cat/kitten on the road. I would probably get it done at 3 months. That would be a personal preference age. However, it's not that big a deal.
As long as they are neutered/spayed, that's the most important fact.
The problem is that people don't seem to quite understand is that the general public can not be trusted to spay/neuter their animals in time. This is why shelters have to make it a policy that no animal leaves the shelter intact.
Actually this isn't true. Early spay/neuter has been around for over 20 years now and they have done a lot of research about the differences between early speuters, later speuters and unfixed cats. It's a common enough practice for the medical community to study it now.
The only difference in size that has been noticed is the fullness of their heads, and that is primarily in males. A never fixed male will have that full tom-cat head. A later neutered male's head will be much smaller, and in some cases (not all cases) an early neutered male's head will be slightly smaller than a later neutered male's head. It's not really the size of the bone structure, but the fullness in the cheeks.
Some of the largest cats in my house were neutered at 8 weeks old and haven't even noticed the head size difference. Some of my later neutered males are quite smaller.
None of the vets in my area will do it before 6 months. I don't know why; I've asked and the answer is that is the practice!! I don't mind waiting as I won't be letting Harry out unsupervised anyway in the meantime. It worries me sometimes that this country seems to be very behind when it comes to animal welfare..........
I totally agree, especially on this subject. I think every cat owner should ensure their cat is done. I cant bear the thought of all the poor kittens being born to a life of abuse, or being drowned!
Unfortunately, some of the people who get cats just dont really care, at all. If only there was some sort of 'vetting' process( pun not intended!), some test people would have to go through before they are allowed a pet. We have to pass a driving test to prove we are responsible drivers, we should have to prove that we are responsible pet owners as well.
Unfortunately, some of the people who get cats just dont really care, at all. If only there was some sort of 'vetting' process( pun not intended!), some test people would have to go through before they are allowed a pet. We have to pass a driving test to prove we are responsible drivers, we should have to prove that we are responsible pet owners as well.
