Neutering too Early

I just took my kittens to the vet, and ask about having them spayed and neutered. They told me the best age to have it done is 6 months. Then the girl in the office was telling me how our local spca has been doing it, when they were only 3 months, and they have had several male cats come into their office with terrible problems. She told me, that when they neuter them so young, the tube that runs from their bladder to the penis, is not fully developed, so as the cats got older, they had a lot of complications, and had to be operated on again. The poor little things.

Originally Posted by lunangel355

I just took my kittens to the vet, and ask about having them spayed and neutered. They told me the best age to have it done is 6 months. Then the girl in the office was telling me how our local spca has been doing it, when they were only 3 months, and they have had several male cats come into their office with terrible problems. She told me, that when they neuter them so young, the tube that runs from their bladder to the penis, is not fully developed, so as the cats got older, they had a lot of complications, and had to be operated on again. The poor little things.

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I have to say I think this is rare, I think it's a misleading statement by your office receptionist. Here is a good overall article on early spay and neuter by a very respected foundation: article on early s/n and written by a very well respected vet.

I never altered any males earlier than 20 weeks, but did do 2 at that age...no problems,and one is now in his teens.

Very interesting....hmm... that's a great article, too. I do know that Sasha was neutered at just uner 4 months, but he was a big boy and already outside every day. He had no repercussions in any way at all.....and now he's 12. Never sick a day in his life!

They have been practicing early spay/neuters for about 15 years now. It is regular practice at most responsible humane societies to spay/neuter before an animal is adopted. Since people want young cats/dogs, most are done when they hit 2 pounds or about 8 weeks old. If there were health risks to the procedure, they couldn't get away with it. And if shelters had to hold onto an animal until they were all 6 months old, the euthanasia rate within shelters would be phenomenal, as they wouldn't have space for the animals. I hold the opinion that even if there was some risk for the procedure (which there isn't), it's still worth speutering young to make room for more homeless pets.

4 of my cats and both dogs were neutered very young. All are full grown and have no problems. For all the animals that went thru our Humane Society in the last few years, there was only 1 that had a bladder tube problem and that was not caused by the neuter. I think your vet tech had some old information.

Here in the UK vets will only neuter under 6 months in extreme cases such as if the male starts to become aggresive.

My vet told me of one case such as this and said that she did one when the cat was just over 4 months old because he was becoming aggresive with the other cats in the house, but said that he also had to be over a certain weight before they would operate.

Personally I would not neuter a male kitten under 6 months of age just to be on the safe side. It CAN cause problems, and even if the problems are not so common these days as they used to be I would never want to take the chance. It happened to a cat that my family had a number of years ago when I was a kid, and we lost him at age 8 to UI problems caused by the early neutering. I am not convinced the shelters know for sure there is no problem. After all, the difficulties usually do not show up until the cat is older.....4 to 8 years of age. Many people are living else where by then, and in fact many cats adopted from shelters don't even live that long (especially if let outside in a city), so I am not convinced that the Humane Society would not get away with neutering young if it caused problems. I have lived, and adopted, in places where the shelter doesn't do the neutering so early, and yet you can adopt. You either pay a big fee that is refunded when you show proof of neutering, or else you get a free certificate to neuter the animal at a vet of your choosing, and they check up on you in a few months to see if you do it. You have to send them proof of neutering in X amount of time or else they come take the animal back. So it can be arranged, even with shelter kitties. (Actually I hope that there are not any problems being caused by early neutering, of course..........I would just not want to take the chance)

My hurricane twins were spayed at 8 weeks, that's when I got them from the humane society and my vet neutered Buzz just after his nuggets dropped. No problems thus far. I think it just depends on the vet that you go to. As far as our Humane Society is concerned, they will not adopt kittens out until they are 8 weeks old and speutered.

Just wanted to note it's not just the humane societies doing early s/n, it's many of the responsible breeders as well - making sure a pet kitten is already fixed prior to placement in a new home. I saw this change from the "no papers until proof of neutering" begin over 10 years ago. Check out the winn foundation article I gave, this is being studied pretty extensively and there are a number of studies published on the effects.

There is absolutely no evidence that early spay and neuter causes urinary tract problems. It is more likely, that when a cat does develop problems, it is assumed that, because he/she happened to be spayed or neutered early, it must be that. The incidence of UTI, blockage or kidney/bladder stones is no higher in cats that were spayed or neutered early than in cats that were spayed at 6 months or later. (Root MV, Johnston SD, Johnston GR, Olson PN. The effect of prepuberal and postpuberal gonadectomy on penile extrusion and urethral diameter in the domestic cat. Veterinary Radiology & Ultrasound Vol 37(5);363-366, 1996.)

I don't know about health problems, but I've always had this bad feeling about kittens being fixed at too early an age. The shelter where I volunteer has been known to fix kittens as little as 1.8 pounds....

Personally, I'd wait to have them fixed if there was no rush to do so. I doubt I'd wait 6 months to do it, though. Our last cat went into heat at 4 and half, and it was horrible living with her until we could rangle up the money to get her fixed a few months later. It's not something I would ever want to deal with again.

Our local Humane Society will adopt out kittens when they reach 2 pounds and they are spayed/neutered before they go to their new home.

My vet simply checks their weight, and in boys, to make sure she won't have to go looking for the parts. Incidentally, laser procedures are more reliable in early spay/neuter IN MY OPINION (I have been known to be wrong, but I think I'm right in this.)

Originally Posted by lunangel355

I just took my kittens to the vet, and ask about having them spayed and neutered. They told me the best age to have it done is 6 months. Then the girl in the office was telling me how our local spca has been doing it, when they were only 3 months, and they have had several male cats come into their office with terrible problems. She told me, that when they neuter them so young, the tube that runs from their bladder to the penis, is not fully developed, so as the cats got older, they had a lot of complications, and had to be operated on again. The poor little things.

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The long term studies of this very procedure, have provided clear evidence that the is NO correlation between early neutering (8weeks+) and the development of the urinary tract in male cats.

This has quickly become a simple myth used by veterinarians uncomfortable with performing the surgery this early [IMO].

Early S/N is a very good practice, one which is being quickly embraced by many veterinarians, and by most shelters. While the tradition of waiting until 6 months is still highly effective, there are still plenty of "accidents". Females and males alike frequently reach sexual maturity prior to the 6 month age marker. Early S/N is a safe method to ensure that these "accidents" are much more rare.

Spotz

I had to have a 5 year old male cat put down because of complications from neutering too early. He developed bladder problems. His bladder would swell and he could not release urine. It got to the point where he lost all bladder control. He was a declawed, completely indoor cat and you can imagine what that would do inside a house. I will not neuter a male cat before 6 months again. 

There is an Association here in Portugal that sterilizes street kittens with their eyes closed, with about 2 weeks. I do not think that's right. Can anyone tell me what are the problems that can come from sterilizing so soon?

That is very young, but I suppose it's better than killing them or letting them go unaltered.

No problems have been determined to be caused by early spay/neuter in cats (it's not good for large-breed dogs though). The main trouble with doing it at 2 weeks is that kittens under 2 pounds shouldn't have anesthesia. But if they're managing to do it with a reasonable survival rate, I guess they've figured something out. Perhaps they use inhalant anesthetic, which is extremely safe.

Janita1960 said:

There is an Association here in Portugal that sterilizes street kittens with their eyes closed, with about 2 weeks. I do not think that's right. Can anyone tell me what are the problems that can come from sterilizing so soon?

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The main danger spaying and neutering that young is the anesthesia and their low blood volume (they can't afford to loose much).

As others have said, there is no actual evidence to support that early spay and neuter IN CATS has an impact on their long term health (large breed dogs have proven problems related to joints. My assumption would be since the spay/neuter lets the long bones grow longer combined with the extreme human manipulation in selective breeding in large dogs impact on skeletal structure. The extended growth alters their joint alignment, weight distribution, etc which causes joint problems at the high stress points..... but that is just my two cents from what I've read).

I think a lot of times when someone attributes problems to it, they are more happenstance. I did have a cat spayed early who had major complications; but that was because the vet made a mess of it. She had a nasty scar and all sorts of digestive problems. That could have been because she was young and the vet was inexperienced, or in a large clinic with time pressures. We will never know but the vet denied responsibility and I couldn't prove anything without cutting her open. Which is why my next female had the top of the line surgery center with a cat only specialist performing the surgery. Her smooth heal and lack of complications was worth every penny.

My boy was neutered the moment he hit 2 pounds, as was my Mom's cat. No problems. My county requires all cats and dogs to be spayed/neutered before adoption so it is very common for them to spay/neuter young. I haven't heard of an epidemic of urinary problems in boys from the early spay and neuters happening here for the last 10 years.