To spay or not to spay

First off i have NO INTEREST in breeding my cat, ever, and i am very confident that i can keep that from happening.. She is an indoor cat,and only has access to the outdoors when leashed... I am very much a dog person, and upon researching with dogs, it seems spaying and neutering especially large breeds can have negative outcomes that i am not willing to risk especially when done before the animal is fully mature.. So i have made the choice that my next dog who i am planning on getting soon will remain intact along with any other future dogs..

I am wondering if, for cats, there are any long term health effects cause by spaying and neutering/early spay and neuter.. At what time is a cat considered fully mature? Perhaps i will wait until than to fix her...

If you are unaware, here are some links about the long term health effects of early spay and neuter in dogs

http://mercola.fileburst.com/PDF/He...rPUfGjI4CSMpjI+SLDwEYGJlv6SgFT7nNMbFs3LgMXRM=

http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/three-reasons-to-reconsider-spayneuter/

http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/spay-neuter-and-joint-disease/

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0055937

Adjecyca said:

 
She is an indoor cat,and only has access to the outdoors when leashed... I am very much a dog person..............

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Hi Adjecycya !

The leashing part is what I want to highlight with you.........just to make sure that you're actively supervising her at every moment that she's on the leash......some people unwittingly leave cats unattended on a tether.....too often, with very tragic results. So, I'm presuming nothing and simply putting the yellow flag up !

White Shadow said:

 
Hi Adjecycya !

The leashing part is what I want to highlight with you.........just to make sure that you're actively supervising her at every moment that she's on the leash......some people unwittingly leave cats unattended on a tether.....too often, with very tragic results. So, I'm presuming nothing and simply putting the yellow flag up !

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Oh yeah she is never allowed out without me right there, we have Coyotes in the woods behind my house i would never take that chance  

Yes, there are health risks. Pyometra, Mammary Cancer, cystic ovaries, endometriosis...not to mention, lots of discomfort from chronic heat cycles. Unlike dogs, cats do not just go through two or three heats a year. Once a cat enters heat cycles, it is a continuous thing. And, as much as you may try to keep her in, a cat in heat will do ANYTHING to get out to mate.

The longer a cat is allowed to remain intact, the higher their chances are for developing severe health complications that require immediate surgery.

I encourage you to search this site about mammary cancer and Pyometra

I want to add that there are no health benefits to allow a cat (male or female) to remain intact.

You wouldn't even recommend waiting until the cat is mature, everything has hormones for a reason?

I'd like to add a couple of things I've learned from personal experience. First, cats mature very young - they can have their first litter before they're even a year old. Hubby had a kitten when we met. We took her to the vet to be spayed, only to learn that she was already pregnant at about seven months old. So, waiting for your cat to mature may not be as far away as you anticipate/hope.

We once had a male kitten, along with his sister and mother (mentioned above). The females were fine; the male had runny pooh and wouldn't go inside the box. It was nasty! The vet couldn't find anything wrong with him, but after he was neutered, the problem went away. I have no idea how or why, but it was a huge relief!

I would recommend you have your cat spayed/neutered as early as possible. I personally think it would be to his/her benefit, whether s/he's an indoor cat or not.

Best regards

PHarber-Murphy

Well just because an animal can reproduce doesn't mean they are fully mature,dogs can get knocked up at 6 months and usually aren't mature until 2 years,  my vet recomended waiting until around 11 months so i think it's strange you recommend spaying so early 

We actually had someone else on the forums whose cat was only 8 months old when they developed pyometra (it isn't always something that festers for years in unaltered adults) - http://www.thecatsite.com/t/282280/blood-need-advice-asap

I would definitely recommend having her spayed, but when is up to you. Some people speuter cats when they're 8 weeks old/at least 2lbs, and some still prefer to wait till 8 months. 11 months is pretty mature, reproductively IMO. If she does go into heat before getting spayed, keep her inside for that time. I would say to forgo the walks when in heat just to minimize the chances of a speedy and sneaky tom pouncing when you turn your head. They'll smell her from far and wide!

It's hard to compare cats to large dogs. Of course, there isn't a huge body of information for early speutering for cats either, but what little there is has noted no major impacts on cats from what I've seen. It tends to be easier to perform surgery on younger animals because there's less in the way/less to cut through, there's less blood flow in their reproductive organs at that time (less likely to have major bleeding or complications of that nature), and they tend to bounce back from surgery more quickly. Both of our cats came from rescue/shelter, so our little girl was spayed at 8 weeks and our guy was neutered when he arrived at the shelter around 6 months. The female is just over 1, the male is 10 years old, and anecdotally with other cat owners I know (especially with older cats who were altered young) we've had no issues.

Perhaps i should have worded the title better, rather than to spay or not to spay, it should have been, the best age to spay. But yeah when she is in heat i will deff not be taking her on walks

Adjecyca said:

 
Well just because an animal can reproduce doesn't mean they are fully mature,dogs can get knocked up at 6 months and usually aren't mature until 2 years,  my vet recomended waiting until around 11 months so i think it's strange you recommend spaying so early 

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I agree that six or seven months isn't what I'd call "mature" - the animal is still a kitten/puppy at that age. But we are talking here specifically about when to spay/neuter your pet. If the animal can get pregnant at six or seven months, then they are sexually mature. The whole point of spaying/neutering is to control unplanned breeding. I apologize if I caused any confusion.

I  just read this thread and saw the possible health risks of late spaying.  Ruby is a shelter cat I adopted last November.  Her age is not known, but at that time, the shelter guesstimated 3 years and my vet more like 2.  Either way she was not spayed until last October when she arrived at the shelter.  Should I expect her to have female issues in her future? Anything to watch out for?

Rubysmama, since she has been spayed, no need to worry about Pyometra, Cystic Ovaries or Endometriosis. As for Mammary cancer, her odds are higher than a cat that was spayed at a younger age and lower than a cat that was never spayed. I wouldn't fret too much about it, though. Make sure to get her to her yearly check-ups and, if you notice any knots or lumps on her abdomen have her seen by the vet.

CatPack said:

Rubysmama, since she has been spayed, no need to worry about Pyometra, Cystic Ovaries or Endometriosis. As for Mammary cancer, her odds are higher than a cat that was spayed at a younger age and lower than a cat that was never spayed. I wouldn't fret too much about it, though. Make sure to get her to her yearly check-ups and, if you notice any knots or lumps on her abdomen have her seen by the vet.

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Thanks for the reply CatPack.   I do plan to get her yearly check-ups and will certainly have any lumps or knots checked out.

I've had both cats and dogs spayed at all different ages, and I've done a lot of reading about the risks and benefits of spay/neuter at various ages. Personally, I have seen a real difference, both physically and behaviorally, in dogs who were spayed young vs. after reaching adulthood. I've decided to wait until at least a year of age, maybe two depending on breed, before spaying or neutering my future dogs.

In cats there doesn't seem to be as much of a difference (though I've read that males neutered at a very young age may be more prone to urinary blockages - I have no experience there, myself). I really prefer to let them reach sexual maturity before spay/neuter though, so I now choose to wait until a female has had her first heat, or a male starts getting a jowly look to his face and a tomcat smell to his urine, before getting them done. I don't think there's any real benefit to waiting longer than that, however. Female cats go into heat much more often than dogs, which means the risk of pyometra increases faster. Male cats, of course, are likely to spray everywhere if they remain intact, and I've heard that it's more likely if they are frustrated by being kept indoors and not allowed to mate or to stake out a large territory.

That's my choice based on the studies I've read and the animals I have personally known, and on my ability to keep them from reproducing. I understand why some shelters and breeders do it at an early age, but I will not buy/adopt those animals myself.