Good age to spay a cat?

Hi Everyone,

We recently got a new kitten. I was wondering what is a good age to have a cat spayed? I got my other female spayed when she was about 5 months (due to financial reasons at the time), but I do not want to wait that long... or is good to wait till they are older? She is appox. 6 weeks now, the people we got her from said she was 6 weeks (still to young, I know, but people around here do not spay and neuter cats and throw out the kittens as soon as they can eat solid food) when we got her last week, but I feel she was closer to 5. I was thinking maybe doing it at 8 weeks, but she seems so small. I remember when I got my other female spayed, she was so out of it, I thought she was going to die! But looking back I think the vet released her to me a little to early.

Anyways, what age did you guys spay your kittens? Experiences?

They can be spayed when they are 2 pounds which is usually around 8 weeks.  I waited a bit to get my little girl done, she was about 4 months old.

Discuss it with your vet to see what his/her policy is.  Many vets will do pediatric spays/neuters when the kitten is at least 2 lbs (approx. 2 mos).  Personally, I prefer them to be about 3 mos old before spaying/neutering as they're a bit bigger and have started their kitten shots.  Also, if your kitty is at all sick, wait on the kitten shots and spay/neuter until kitty is completely well.

Thanks, my vet wants to do it at 8 weeks. I just feel conflicted. I feel like she is so tiny and small... I guess I have a lot of thinking to do!

MeowKittyMeow said:

 
Thanks, my vet wants to do it at 8 weeks. I just feel conflicted. I feel like she is so tiny and small... I guess I have a lot of thinking to do!

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As @Denice said, 2lbs is very normal now, so about 8 weeks.  It's medically safe, but you can wait if you wish.

I know my vet says 5 pounds or 4 Mont hs. Which ever comes first.

Personally, I'd wait until she is a bit older.  There's nothing really WRONG with doing it that early with an experienced vet, but as long as you're committed to getting it done before sexual maturity then there's nothing wrong with waiting a little bit.  If I remember correctly the low cost clinic where my cat was spayed they required your pet to be two pounds or 5 months to be fixed, whichever came first.

Just make sure you get it done before the males come calling!  I took my kitten in right at 5 months, and she hadn't shown any signs of being in heat.  Came to pick her up the next day and they had the "IN HEAT" box checked on her discharge papers! 

Minimum age is 8 weeks, minimum size is 2 lbs. with our mobile vet specialist.  If you are doing it that young, pre-op and post-op instructions should differ from older cats.  The little ones need to be fed closer to surgery and sooner after surgery than bigger ones because if their blood sugar drops too low, they can crash quickly and be gone before anyone notices.  The shelters do them young because people want tiny kittens, so it's their best chance to get homes ASAP, and as you said, people who are NOT shelters and NOT doing any worming or vaccination just throw the poor little things out the door at 6 weeks, and our kittens who are 9 weeks (having had a week to recover from surgery) look big compared to those, but they are better off.   If I;m fostering a litter, I do first shot 2 weeks before spay/neuter so they will be somewhat protected.  Also, I personally use the mobile spay/neuter clinic and avoid animal hospitals.  The one I use is very strict and asks people to reschedule if their cat shows any signs of illness on check in, and an animal hospital by its nature will have sick animals there, even if they dont share a room with your kitten.  Why risk it?

If you are keeping your kitten and not looking for another home for her, by all means wait a little longer, like to age 3 or 4 months but no later as they CAN go into heat at five months and you will not enjoy that.  You might check around and see if there are any mobile spay/neuter services in your area too, as that might be a better option.  If there are, get references, check their reputation etc. and then make your choices.   Remember, YOU are in charge of your pet's health and YOU make the decisions, not your vet.  Your vet should be your partner, not your boss.

Yikes I better get mine in.  She is about 4 months now.

I had one go into heat right at 16 weeks (3 days before her scheduled spay). . .a breeder who used to post here says she had one who came into heat at 14 weeks.

Anyway, I think the ideal age is 12-14 weeks for females. I just feel like 8-10 weeks is sooo young and they're sooo tiny and I just prefer not to unless it's necessary---like a shelter situation or if you want them fixed before re-homing, etc. But for your own pet waiting a little longer for her to get a little bigger won't hurt. I'd at least try to get the vet to wait until 10 weeks if he really thinks waiting until 12 weeks is too long.

My vet said Grace was still too small for his preference at 4.5 lbs.  He told me to call when she had put on about another pound, *or* a couple of weeks before she would turn six months old, whichever was sooner.  Hers was done a week before her presumed six month birthday (she was a feral kitten so we don't really know).  Fortunately she had not gone into heat prior to the surgery, and didn't show any signs that it was about to happen.

My other two girls came from the humane society and were supposedly 10 weeks old and already spayed, healed, and re-haired. ;-)   I say supposedly because they were more the size of 8 week olds...I think the people that owned their mom and turned in her kittens lied to get the kittens out of their hair a couple weeks early.

Anyway, the upshot of all this is that I think it depends on the vet's personal preference, but definitely should be before the first heat.

Thanks, after talking it over with my husband we think we are going to go ahead and do it at 12 weeks.