What age to spay?

There is a s/n program in the area, they will do pediatric spays as long as the kitten weighs at least 2 pds.

The vet prefers to wait until closer to 6 months.

No risk of pregnancy here. Its an indoor kitty, and everyone else is altered.


I do agree with rescues doing pediatric s/n to assure the new owner wont breed the animal.. but in a situation like this, is it optimal to wait, or better to get it done earlier?

I personally waited until over a year, but most people will tell you to do it as fast as possible for many good reasons.

For animals being adopted out, I'd prefer they be spay/neutered before because you simply can't trust a lot of people to be responsible.

For any kitten I've had spay or neutered, I prefer them to at least be 3lbs, but that's 3lbs at ~3 months and not 3lbs at say 7months. If I feel for any reason that the kitten is developing a bit slow or small for their age, I'll wait.

Just found this kitten in the middle of the road the other night. She is beautiful, young and pregnant. This kitten is just 6 months old. She will be adopted out after her spay- which will be Oct. 4th

I like to spay at 14-16 weeks. I think they recover faster than if you do it when they're older. I think 8 weeks is too young (even if they weighed over 2 pounds), the youngest I'd ever spay a kitty is 12 weeks. Except they do need to be spayed before adoption, so if I HAD to adopt them out younger I guess I'd have to spay them younger.

Sooner the better, best done before the first heat cycle which can be at 4 months.

I do my kittens at 10-11 weeks before they are adopted at 12 weeks. The young ones recover so fast I hate seeing 5-6 months or older recovering from surgery

Originally Posted by missymotus

Sooner the better, best done before the first heat cycle which can be at 4 months.

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I usually like to get them sooner. But the last female kitten I spayed, Tanna, was done at nearly 8 months old - that's how long it took for her to have her first heat. She looked like a 4 month old (size wise) at 8 months, though. That's why I was so paranoid about her size and anesthesia.

I thought that was a bit odd. I've never really seen any take that long to have a heat.

Most vets here say between 4-6 months, however my vet waits until they are at least 4.5 pounds. My Pria is 6 months and was JUST able to be done last Tuesday. She's a tiny thing.

my vet likes to wait until about 6 months for spaying only Flash was 2 years old Sooty was neutered at about 5months old

I agree that for rescue organizations and the like, pediatric s/n is the right thing to do. However, I can also understand why you might prefer that your own vet do the surgery.

Others will disagree, but in my opinion, it's not wrong to wait a bit longer if the other cats are altered *and* you can guarantee that the newcomer can't get out of the house. (That last item, obviously, is important; it has never happened to me, but I've heard a lot of stories on this site about determined cats in heat escaping from the confines of home.)

You may also be able to talk your vet into doing it around four months. My vet prefers to wait until six months, but I know she has made exceptions.

I do mine as close to 8 or as soon after I get them that they can get me in.

I just did 7 -5 9weeks and 2 11weeks They were up that night wanting to rough house as normal! Had to crate to prevent that.

I dont mind getting her done thru a s/n clinic. They will do as young as 8 weeks as long as the kitten is at least 2 pds.

Dogs are generally reccommended to s/n closer to 6 months (some people suggest its better to wait until closer to a year or more for large breeds).

I might see about getting her into the s/n clinic and getting her done around 3-4 months then, so she can heal up better.

My current vet prefers them to be approximately 6 mos. old, but she'll do it anywhere from 4.5-6mos old if they're at a weight comparable to their age. Tumbles will have his surgery in about 3 weeks and he'll be a few weeks younger than the 6 month age. My previous vet will do them at 8 weeks and/or 3 lbs. However, they have to be healthy. Hannah didn't get spayed until she was about 9 mos old because she was so sick for the first 6 weeks we had her. We had to get an extension from the city (we adopted her from the pound and they required s/n within 30 days from adoption) so we wouldn't have to surrender her or have her spayed while she was still too sick. The cat only vet does them at 4 mos.