Too young to neuter?

I took Jack in for a check-up today. He got his vaccinations and physical. The vet said he is due back in about 3-4 weeks for boosters. He said if I wanted I could have Jack neutered at that time too. He will be about 16 weeks old. I was concerned about him being too young (I had Asher neutered when he was 6 months old) but the vet said he's not. He said it's typical and pretty much general practice to have them neutered between 8-16 weeks of age. He said they do very well and are not any less healthy and don't have any additional health issues if they are neutered at 16 weeks or 6 months. My vet has lots of kitties of his own and says he does his at this age.

Do you think he's too young? Anyone here have their kitty neutered at this age? I think I'll do a little research before I make the decision. Just thought I would get some input from you all on the boards!

Thanks!

Well I know rescue cats who come already neutered are done that young all the time.

It used to be said that they would have more urinary blockages but I have not heard that in 20 yrs.

And, you won't have those pesky manly-cat behaviors, like spraying and caterwauling!

All of our boys and one of our girls were all done at 8 weeks.
As long as they are healthy, and at or above 2 pounds, they are not too young

My boys will be done at 16 weeks

Our local shelter routinely has the young kittens they get in neutered before adopting them out. If I remember right, as young as eight weeks was the number that was mentioned.

The cat rescue I volunteer with has them done at 10-12 weeks or at about 2 pounds, male or female.

Rule here is 2lbs. So whether they are 8 weeks or a little older they get done before being adopted out. I personally have had most of mine done at 8-12 weeks. I don't see any reason to wait longer then that when risks of the females going into heat can happen at 4 months and males can begin spraying and everything.

My mom feels very strongly about this. She thinks he's WAY too young to be neutered. Her male cat was done at 9 mos and she thinks that was too young even. Asher was done at 6 months, but he was only 5 months old when we found him.

Re: urinary blockages. The vet said studies have been done and males don't have an increased risk of urinary blockages when they are neutered at 8-16 as opposed to 6 months or older.

I'm leaning toward getting it done when he goes back for boosters. That way it will be done.

16 weeks is not too young, but I wouldn't want to have the surgery on the same day as the vaccines. That's too much of a stress on the immune system. Personally, I would wait until 3-4 weeks after the last kitten vaccine - that's when my vet likes to do spay/neuter.

4-6 months is usually good. I know shelters do them early. Earlier than I would do any of my cats. I think a kitten 8 weeks has still a very delicate system and cant see how their little bodies can handle the anesthesia, Its hard on their kidneys. This is my opinion and the opinion of vets I have worked for.

Both of my cats (2 females) and both of my mother's cats (a male and a female) were all done at ~8 weeks of age as long as they weighed 2 lbs. The male cat is 11 yrs and has only had 1 UTI ever, very healthy otherwise!

We did it this early because the animal shelter won't let any animal leave without being fixed.

Charlie was neutered at about 12-14 weeks old - a few weeks before we got him. He was fine. Only thing is early neutering tends to not let the males get the wider heads like an entire cat would.

Michigan State University Vet School did a study comparing the long term health issues of spay/neutering cats at 8 weeks and 6 moths old. The result? Absolutely no difference.

I am having sort of an opposite problem.  I have two kittens, one male, one female, and I'm keeping both of them.  My vet said they won't do neutering before 6 months, but I'm very worried about waiting that long.  What if the female goes into heat early?  

My 7-year-old cat was adopted from the shelter and they gave me a certificate for $90 off the spay surgery, but I had to wait until she was six months old.  Well, she went into heat before that!  We lived in a second floor apartment with virtually no chance of her escaping, so we thought we'd just wait it out, but then she started peeing in my lap and that was it, she had to get spayed ASAP.  They used the $90 certificate anyway, though, under the logic that the shelter didn't actually know how old she was and she could have been 6 months old.  She was 3-4 months when we adopted her, so they were just guessing.  

I would absolutely bring that up with your vet. I've had cats go into heat at 4 months, so you're definitely right to be concerned. So discuss this with your vet, tell him/her that you're afraid she'll get pregnant by her brother, ask if they'll reconsider under the circumstances, threaten to go to another vet if they won't at least spay the female earlier (probably won't hurt to wait to neuter the boy).

I heard a cat goes in heat at the age of 6 months so I think you could neutered a cat at the age of 7 months ?

dejolane

dejolane said:

I heard a cat goes in heat at the age of 6 months so I think you could neutered a cat at the age of 7 months ?


dejolane

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If they go into heat at 6 months, 7 months is a bit late, don't you think? :tongue2: It's best to spay before first heat.

It depends on the cat. Some may not go into heat until 8 or 9 months old, but this is rare. Some go into heat as young as 14 weeks, but this is also rare. 5-6 months is most common, but it's best to be prepared in case you get one of the rare ones!

socksy said:

My vet said they won't do neutering before 6 months

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Change vets, at least for the speutering. Especially with opposite sexes I'd want it done sooner rather than later.

missymotus said:

Change vets, at least for the speutering. Especially with opposite sexes I'd want it done sooner rather than later.

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I was thinking of calling around and seeing which vets in the area will do it younger.  We'll see.  Kubla (female) is one month older than Bestimus (male), and my regular vet said that they'd be willing to bend the rules and spay Kubla at 5 months given the situation.  That would put Besti at 4 months old... That should be early enough, but I'd rather just spay Kubla before she even gets a chance to go into heat.  

The six-month thing is really old school thinking. :nod: My vet prefers to speuter at 4 months - or whenever their first baby teeth fall out, as that's the indication they're maturing.

But desexing is done at an early age in TNR colonies all the time. It's been studied in cats and found to be safe for their health and development. Most vets just don't have experience spaying or neutering really small cats. When early age speutering, the timeline is defined by weight, not age, and the minimum is 2 pounds or 1kg.