Who should get fixed first?

cocoa cream · Jul 23, 2008

Okay, I know that there are alot of threads on neutering and spaying, but I just have to ask my own question about my situation!

I have three kittens, siblings, that are around 3 months old now. (We're not sure, but estimate their birthdate to be about April 15th.) I have read alot about castration and know that kittens can be fertile as early as 4-5 months, so I want to get this done soon! But I can't afford to do all three kittens at once. Two are female, and one is male.

My question is, would it be best to have my male neutered first, then get the females done a little later? This seems most logical to me, but I don't have much experience, so I thought I'd get some feedback from people who do! They are indoor only right now, so I'm not worried about them mating with any other cats, just each other! What would you do?

aswient · Jul 23, 2008

As long as they are definitely indoor cats, then the first to be neutered should be the male, without a doubt.

graciecat · Jul 23, 2008

If I were in your shoes I'd have the male done first also.
But, keep in mind that a neutered male can still impregnante a female for up to a month AFTER he's neutered.
So, if your girls would happen to go into heat within that 30 days you'd to keep them seperated.

mews2much · Jul 23, 2008

I would do the Male first also.

goldenkitty45 · Jul 23, 2008

Would be easier if 2 males and 1 female but:

Males take up to 2 months to be "clean" and not get a female pregnant. So if you get him done first, you still risk him getting his sisters pregnant.

Can you get 2 done at one time? If so, I'd take the 2 girls in first or at least 1 girl and 1 boy.

If you really can only afford one at a time, get him done first and keep him separated from his sisters till they are done (up to 2 months). Are you trying to do one kitten a month?

whiteforest · Jul 23, 2008

Personally, I would do the male first and I would do it right away for a couple of reasons. It will be less expensive to do the male so you would be able to afford to do one or both of the females sooner that way. Getting the male done before any hormones kick in will prevent him starting to spray. Also, if you can't afford to do both females at once, you still have an intact male together with a fertile female. And, as someone else already said, if you notice any sign of heat in the females before they are spayed be sure to separate them from the male right away.

kittkatt · Jul 23, 2008

Originally Posted by aswient

As long as they are definitely indoor cats, then the first to be neutered should be the male, without a doubt.

I agree.

I'm facing the same problem myself right now. We have 4 kittens - 3 females & 1 male, and we can't afford to have them all speutered at once, either. I figure it's best to have the male done first..

~KK~

cgeiser · Jul 23, 2008

I don't know if you've looked into it or not. But in my area if you are low income the shelters will give you a voucher and you only pay 10 bucks for spay/neuter service at the vet of your choice. I've heard of similar programs elsewhere as well. It's probably worth asking around about, then you could probably get all your kitties done around the same time!

laureen227 · Jul 23, 2008

Originally Posted by aswient

As long as they are definitely indoor cats, then the first to be neutered should be the male, without a doubt.

i agree - at least that way, he won't develop the behavior of an intact adult male.

kat89447 · Jul 23, 2008

You might also check around and see if a vet will give you a "litter" price. We have a wonderful vet near us that did all our shots at a lower price because I had 3, then spayed mine and gave me vouchers for the other ones new mommies and daddys to get them fixed at the lower price.
I understand your dilema though and think if you can only do one then yes the male would be the first, but keep this in mind as well. Females spayed BEFORE their first heat will be at less risk for numerous types of cancer. It also lowers their risk for other diseases as well. Good luck.

dn-wake · Jul 24, 2008

Cats would impregnate their own siblings?

wendyr · Jul 24, 2008

When a cat is in heat, she will mate with anything. Even her brother. And the brother will happily comply. The husband and I always joke that it is good that we brought our kittens in off the street (ferals) and got them fixed because otherwise we would be dealing with lots of little inbred kittens right about now.

I would probably get your male done first. We got our girl done first because she went into heat. We got lucky though as neither of our males reached sexual maturity before we got them done so we didn't have to deal with intact male behaviour after the fact. Because, sometimes if they learn what to do with their male bits then they will continue with their intact male behaviour even after they get them taken care of!

Our vet also agreed to do a discount for us. Partially because we had ferals who we were rescuing but also because of a litter rate. Good luck!

graciecat · Jul 24, 2008

Originally Posted by dN-WaKE

Cats would impregnate their own siblings?

As someone else said, it doesn't matter to a cat if they mate with their, Mother, Father, Sister, Brother.

My Gracie and her sister Lizzie (RB)

are the product of MUCH inbredding.
We didn't know that for sure when we got them...we did however know it was possible.
Sometimes the inbredding can cause no problems as is the case with their Mother and Brother other times it can cause minor problems and in some cases major health problems.

Gracie has some major problems while Lizzie's problems seemed minor.
No Vet would spay either of them because they both have breathing issues.
Lizzie later developed ovarian cancer and we had to have her put to sleep a year ago last month.

Even though we lost Lizzie and Gracie has some problems...as we like to say...Gracie just isn't all there in the mental department...I'm so happy that we took them.
Lizzie could be a witch at times but we still loved her and Gracie, well she's just the sweetest little orange thing on four legs

cocoa cream · Jul 24, 2008

Thanks all for your comments so far. I have asked my vet about costs, and there is no discount for them being from the same litter. I have looked into vouchers, but there is only one shelter that gives them out, one day a month for just a few hours, in another town... as you can guess, there is a long wait and it is first come, first served. Plus, I will not be able to go to this month's voucher day because I'll be at a wedding. I don't mind paying full price, but I just wanted to space it out for the sake of my budget.

We will be seeing the vet on Aug. 4th for their next boosters, so I was planning to ask him about it then. But reading some of your comments makes me nervous. Maybe I should go ahead and set up an appointment now?

sakura · Jul 24, 2008

Originally Posted by Cocoa Cream

Thanks all for your comments so far. I have asked my vet about costs, and there is no discount for them being from the same litter. I have looked into vouchers, but there is only one shelter that gives them out, one day a month for just a few hours, in another town... as you can guess, there is a long wait and it is first come, first served. Plus, I will not be able to go to this month's voucher day because I'll be at a wedding. I don't mind paying full price, but I just wanted to space it out for the sake of my budget.

We will be seeing the vet on Aug. 4th for their next boosters, so I was planning to ask him about it then. But reading some of your comments makes me nervous. Maybe I should go ahead and set up an appointment now?

It's a good idea to get the male done as soon as possible because he won't be sterile right away. I would even go so far as to keep him in a separate room for a while. Is that an option? I can totally understand wanting to space them out for $ purposes. When I had Chloe spayed, I contacted the humane society and I qualified for their clinic because I was a student but their priority is the cats in the shelter so I would have had to wait. I tried calling our local spay/neuter group and it would have been a while with them too. I ended up paying more to have my vet do it, but I didn't mind. I didn't have her spayed until she was 5 1/2 months old, but I only had one other cat (a spayed female) and they are both indoor-only. (Not that being indoor-only is a reason to wait as cats get out, but obviously it helps).

nekochan · Jul 24, 2008

I have a male and female kitten who are a few weeks apart in age.
I ended up having the male neutered first because the female is a Maine Coon from a breeder and the breeder's recommendation was to spay between 7-9 months of age. My vet recommended not neutering until 6 months old. Unfortunately the Maine Coon went into heat early... I got lucky though because the male did not reach sexual maturity before he was neutered; he never showed interest in the female at all or any other sign. He was neutered at 6 months old and the female was spayed at about 7 1/2 months old. It worked out well except that the female went through at least one heat before spaying.

cocoa cream · Jul 24, 2008

Nekochan, thanks for that encouraging word. Everyone kind of has me freaked out that any day now my kitties are going to start trying to make babies!

But they are not even 4 months old yet, so I guess I shouldn't panick. Neither of the girls have shown any signs of going into heat yet, but I just want to avoid any unnecessary stress. I think what I'm going to do is call around to other local vets and see if their prices are any lower than my vet (I think he may be a little high for the area.) Mine offers laser surgery, though, which none of the others do. I don't think I'd do laser for the boy anyway because neutering is pretty non-invasive anyway. But I may consider it for the girls if we can afford it.

canaws · Jul 26, 2008

I don't know which one should be neutered first, but make sure to look into low cost spay/neuter places. I spent almost $200 to get my cat spayed and I could have just spent $35 at my local. Check with the city and the local animal shelter.

whiteforest · Jul 26, 2008

Originally Posted by Cocoa Cream

Mine offers laser surgery, though, which none of the others do. I don't think I'd do laser for the boy anyway because neutering is pretty non-invasive anyway. But I may consider it for the girls if we can afford it.

According to my vet, there is really no conclusive studies that prove laser surgery causes any less pain or stress for the animal than a normal scalpel surgery does. He doesn't offer laser surgery because, in his opinion, it's too costly for the patient's owners for the outcome to be relatively the same. Just something for you to look into/consider.

cocoa cream · Jul 27, 2008

Whiteforest, Thanks for that tidbit. I've been wondering about that, actually. I probably can't afford it, either!

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