EAD, what age did you get your kittens desexed?

gonger · Dec 6, 2015

The Australian RSPCA apparently perform early age desexing on kittens and puppies. I'm going to try get my 11 week old kitten in to be spayed rather than wait until the traditional 6 months. But before I do, has anyone had their kittens desexed early or with the RSPCA? Was the kitten alright and did you change their feeding afterwards?

I'm breaking my promise not to keep posting, sorry :doh3:

denice · Dec 6, 2015

It's customary here for rescues to spay/neuter when a kitten is 8 weeks and at least 2 pounds. It's been done here for a while after advances with anesthetic. The kittens do fine. Of course there is always a slight risk with anesthetic and surgery but I don't think it's any higher for the very little ones. The only point that is different is right after surgery. They have to be watched a little more closely because they don't have the reserves of an older larger kitten. They can get into trouble with low blood sugar quicker than the larger kittens. By the time you take them home that will no longer be an issue.

That being said many vets will wait a bit for a kitten that is in their forever home already. The only reason for doing it so early is so they can go up for adoption.

gonger · Dec 6, 2015

Right I was curious about why shelter cats were desexed early but I was being told 6 months.

donutte · Dec 6, 2015

Denice said:
It's customary here for rescues to spay/neuter when a kitten is 8 weeks and at least 2 pounds. It's been done here for a while after advances with anesthetic. The kittens do fine. Of course there is always a slight risk with anesthetic and surgery but I don't think it's any higher for the very little ones. The only point that is different is right after surgery. They have to be watched a little more closely because they don't have the reserves of an older larger kitten. They can get into trouble with low blood sugar quicker than the larger kittens. By the time you take them home that will no longer be an issue.

That being said many vets will wait a bit for a kitten that is in their forever home already. The only reason for doing it so early is so they can go up for adoption.

We have the same thing here. I took my kittens that I adopted in July to a spay/neuter clinic that primarily does TNRs. They do pets for a fee (that is still less than most vets) to help increase their revenue since they're NFP. Took them in as soon as I was able to do so, which was when they were 13 weeks. No problems whatsoever. They use the 8 week old/2 lb rule also. My boys were both over 2lbs when they were 8 weeks so I knew it wouldn't be a problem.

And they had no problems. Oscar wasn't really feeling so good the next day and was rather clingy and in my lap a good part of the day (he's not a lap cat either so that was odd for him). That evening he was back to his normal self.

lykakitty · Dec 6, 2015

Most shelters around here spay and neuter at about 8 weeks, too, if they get the kittens that young, otherwise as soon as they've tested for and addressed any other health problems. I've never heard of any real problems with it. The only problem I've had with any of mine was Aria pulling a stitch a few days after her spay when she jumped halfway down the stairs before we could catch her, but it wasn't bad enough to even affect her healing too much. I think she did regret it after having an extra sore belly from it, though.

All of mine have been fixed before 6 months. Of my current cats Maya and Zoey were both spayed at 3 months and Aria at 4 months. It didn't slow Zoey or Aria down at all, though I don't know about Maya since she was all healed up by time I got her.

gonger · Dec 6, 2015

Thank you all for sharing your experiences. I'm going to call the RSPCA to confirm details and make a booking. Probably going to get all worked up worrying about her. Also expecting a lecture from my regular vet if I do get it done early.

kitty kisser · Dec 6, 2015

The vets in my small town like to wait till the kitten is 6 months old. It takes a few months to get in for a spay ,there are only 2 vets offices in my town. The cats are allowed to come home the next day without pain medication. I kept my cats on kitten food till they where 6 months then switched to all life stages formula. One of my cats is slightly over weight & the other is thin.

gonger · Dec 6, 2015

EAD must only be a relatively recent thing in my part of Australia. A friend of mine who lives 5-6 hours away got a EAD procedure.

That approach to feeding sounds pretty good. If she starts gaining weight from her kitten food,I'll switch her to an all stages food.

fyllis · Dec 6, 2015

I got both my boys done when they completed their vaccine series. Keeker was 19 weeks and weighed 6.20 pounds and Kricket was 19 weeks and weighed 6.10 pounds. Both did very well and recovered almost immediately. Keeker was a bit sluggish for about 4 hours, then suddenly perked up and went about his usual routine of chaos and destruction. Kricket took a little longer to recover. He slept intermittently for about 10 hours (ate, drank water, pooped and peed in between), then slowly came around. He was at my sister's house (Keeker was with me), so that might have had something to do with it, being on unfamiliar turf? But by the next morning, she told me he was climbing curtains and running through the house like his tail was on fire! LOL

I opted for the 4 month age (they were actually about 4 1/2 months) because my vet advised they both be fully vaccinated and dewormed since they would be staying overnight in an area with several other cats. It was a safety precaution. Also, I wanted it done before puberty had a chance to initiate! Once that sets in, it can be a little more difficult to curb the 'instincts' it perpetuates.

gonger · Dec 6, 2015

Pumps only just started her vaccines however if I wait until they're finished, she'll be an intact 5 month old living with an intact boy (my friend just got a boy kitten and they were discussing merging households).

Kat0121 · Dec 6, 2015

I picked 4 months because I'm pretty sure that that was the age when the shelter had Henry done (he's now almost 9 YO). Lilith and Sophie were spayed as adults after they were rescued from an abandoned house.

gonger · Dec 13, 2015

I just heard back from a subsidised vet. It's too early for my kitten to go in for her spay since she's under the advised weight (2kg which is about 4 pounds I think). The vet offered me intradermal sutures at an extra cost. Other than stopping Pumpkin pulling them out are Intradermal stutures better? I don't particularly mind the extra $50 if it's actually better than regular stutures.

Willowy · Dec 13, 2015

I like the disolvable stitches but I don't think I'd pay $50 extra

.

fyllis · Dec 13, 2015

Either way you go, you are still going to have to prevent your cat from licking the suture site. You will most likely have to have your cat wear a collar afterward for a few days. Or you can get an abdominal binder or some other type of wrap to cover the incision site. The cat must NOT lick the incision because there is a potential for introducing bacteriea resulting in a severe infection. You will need to check the site at least once a day.

The extra charge for the intradermal sutures 'could' be due to it being a little more intricate stitching process which takes a few minutes more, but I think that an additional $50 is a little greedy on your vet's behalf. Realistically, there are pros and cons to both types. Personally, I would opt for the regular sutures. You will have to go back to the vet in 10-14 days to have them removed (unless you are capable of doing it yourself - with the assistance of a second person), but there shouldn't be any charge for that. If your vet wants money to remove the sutures, I would personally consider finding a different vet who's not into the habit of nickle-and-diming his clients. But that is my opinion.

Did you happen to ask why your vet recommended the intradermal sutures? And did they explain the differences between the two as far as pros and cons?

gonger · Dec 13, 2015

She essentially just gave me a list of prices as well as saying it would extra for intradermal so "the stitches aren't as visible and the animal can't pull them". Though she did say both require removal and an Elizabethan collar anyway so I was confused about the difference. With the exception of the intradermal, $217 covers pain meds, iv, collar, 3 day check up and removal of stutures after 10 days.

EAD, what age did you get your kittens desexed?

At what age was your kitten desexed?

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

one year

other

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter

Professional cat sitter extraordinaire!

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter