age to neuter kitten

We have three kittens, all about 14 weeks of age. They are getting into their wacky cat stage, proving who is the alpha kitty. Is this an ok to spay and neuter? My vet said 6 months, but I don't know if I can wait that long. The male wild thing is driving me nuts.

Originally Posted by rirunyan

We have three kittens, all about 14 weeks of age. They are getting into their wacky cat stage, proving who is the alpha kitty. Is this an ok to spay and neuter? My vet said 6 months, but I don't know if I can wait that long. The male wild thing is driving me nuts.

Click to expand...

Wow!! Three little kittens, it's no wonder they're making you crazy!!! But that has more to do with the kitten stage than the spay/neuter issue - altering won't take the play out of a kitten that young. Some vets will spay as young as four months, but there will be others along shortly who are more knowledgeable about it than I - I haven't had a kitten in ten years or so, all mine are old curmudgeons!


Congratulations on your litter, and Welcome to TCS!!!!

i have always done my kittens at six months... it was my understanding that before this age they need those hormones to grow properly. such is certainly the case with dogs, my young male dog is 11 months old and scheduled to be neutered at 16 months... testosterone affects bone growth and breeds prone to joint problems can use all the help they can get. i cant imagine that the growth of kittens isnt equally benefited by the hormones that nature has provided them. and since cats dont mature sexually until after six months, the behavioral effects should be minimal at such a young age. my guys were crazy creatures until they were a year and half, and i noticed no change in their behavior after neutering as compaired to before.

i am curious to see what others will post as i have not been able to find much info at all about this in realtion to cats, only to dogs.

Originally Posted by rirunyan

We have three kittens, all about 14 weeks of age. They are getting into their wacky cat stage, proving who is the alpha kitty. Is this an ok to spay and neuter? My vet said 6 months, but I don't know if I can wait that long. The male wild thing is driving me nuts.

Click to expand...

I don' t think you could possibly wait that long. You have 2 males and a female, right? Well, it will be too late if you wait until 6 month, because more then likely, the female would get pregnant. They can get pregnant at 4 months.
If you had 3 males, or 3 females, it would have been fine to wait. But since you have 2 males and a female, it's not a good idea at all. If your vet won't do it, call around and find a vet that does neuter and spay earlier than 6 months.

Originally Posted by RicaLynn

Wow!! Three little kittens, it's no wonder they're making you crazy!!! But that has more to do with the kitten stage than the spay/neuter issue - altering won't take the play out of a kitten that young. Some vets will spay as young as four months, but there will be others along shortly who are more knowledgeable about it than I - I haven't had a kitten in ten years or so, all mine are old curmudgeons!


Congratulations on your litter, and Welcome to TCS!!!!

Click to expand...

They can do it much earlier than 4 months now. But regular vets for whatever reason want to wait until 6 months, even though in a shelter, they alter kittens very early.

Originally Posted by elizwithcat

I don' t think you could possibly wait that long. You have 2 males and a female, right? Well, it will be too late if you wait until 6 month, because more then likely, the female would get pregnant. They can get pregnant at 4 months.

Click to expand...

i had a male and a female and was still advised by my vet to wait until six months, which i did. nobody got pregnant. im not trying to argue with you, elizwithcat, so much as i am wondering why my vet would tell me that six months is fine if it is not... this was also the policy of my previous vet. she told me that cats almost always reach sexual maturity after six months.

Originally Posted by Avocado

i had a male and a female and was still advised by my vet to wait until six months, which i did. nobody got pregnant. im not trying to argue with you, elizwithcat, so much as i am wondering why my vet would tell me that six months is fine if it is not... this was also the policy of my previous vet. she told me that cats almost always reach sexual maturity after six months.

Click to expand...

Your cat didn't get pregnant, but there are people posting her with cats that got pregnant before being spayed, so, I think it might be to risky to wait until 6 months.
My vet also told me to wait until 6 months, but I had 2 males, so I didn't care. Female cats reach sexual maturity between 6-10 months. Thus, they should be spayed earlier before going into heat.
I have no idea why most vets want to wait until 6 months. I know some breeders sell their kittens already spayed and neutered and they do it before 6 months. Also, many shelters and rescues would spay and neuter the kittens much younger than 6 months.
"The female cat reaches sexual maturity within 6 to 10 months; most veterinarians suggest spaying the female at 5 months, before her first heat period".
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache...maturity&hl=en

Originally Posted by elizwithcat

They can do it much earlier than 4 months now. But regular vets for whatever reason want to wait until 6 months, even though in a shelter, they alter kittens very early.

Click to expand...

Thanks eliz, I had read on the other forums that some vets were doing juvenile s/n - but I've always gotten the impression that it was for ferals and some very fortunate shelters to guarantee the altering of their adoptables, that those vets are still the exception and not the rule.
I know these ideas change very slowly, and many vets still follow the six-month guideline on personal pets of responsible owners. If I were in a position to adopt another animal, I would seek out a vet who would do the early s/n, just to avoid all the puberty problems!! (lived with a couple gals in heat - was NOT fun.)

rirunyan - I just re-read your post, and if you're concerned that the male is displaying mounting behavior, then by all means take him in for a checkup, and ask your vet if he will consider neutering earlier. My first comment was with the idea that you were concerned over "normal kitten play" behavior.

Originally Posted by RicaLynn

Thanks eliz, I had read on the other forums that some vets were doing juvenile s/n - but I've always gotten the impression that it was for ferals and some very fortunate shelters to guarantee the altering of their adoptables, that those vets are still the exception and not the rule.
I know these ideas change very slowly, and many vets still follow the six-month guideline on personal pets of responsible owners. If I were in a position to adopt another animal, I would seek out a vet who would do the early s/n, just to avoid all the puberty problems!!

(lived with a couple gals in heat - was NOT fun.)

rirunyan - I just re-read your post, and if you're concerned that the male is displaying mounting behavior, then by all means take him in for a checkup, and ask your vet if he will consider neutering earlier. My first comment was with the idea that you were concerned over "normal kitten play" behavior.

Click to expand...

I know some breeders that would sell their kittens already spayed and neutered, and those kittens are younger than 6 months, so I imagine there are vets that would do it. Also, obviously those pedigreed kittens aren't ferals or rescues.
I did both of mine at 6 months, but with two males, I wasn't worried about anybody getting pregnant. If I had a male and a female, I might have been more concerned about waiting till 6 months.
Cats are early bloomers..

My regular vet won't do it until 6 months, so I found a low cost clinic that will do it at 8 weeks/2lbs.

I have 5 kittens, 10 weeks old getting done this week.

Originally Posted by missymotus

My regular vet won't do it until 6 months, so I found a low cost clinic that will do it at 8 weeks/2lbs.

I have 5 kittens, 10 weeks old getting done this week.

Click to expand...

Isn't it weird? Most vets appear not to want to do it till 6 months for whatever reason.

well, could it possibly be that they want to wait until six months because of the reasons that i stated in my first post? to quote myself:

"it was my understanding that before this age they need those hormones to grow properly. such is certainly the case with dogs, my young male dog is 11 months old and scheduled to be neutered at 16 months... testosterone affects bone growth and breeds prone to joint problems can use all the help they can get. i cant imagine that the growth of kittens isnt equally benefited by the hormones that nature has provided them."

ElizwithCat,
That website you posted earlier was amazing!! Thank you!!!

Sarah

Originally Posted by Avocado

well, could it possibly be that they want to wait until six months because of the reasons that i stated in my first post? to quote myself:

"it was my understanding that before this age they need those hormones to grow properly. such is certainly the case with dogs, my young male dog is 11 months old and scheduled to be neutered at 16 months... testosterone affects bone growth and breeds prone to joint problems can use all the help they can get. i cant imagine that the growth of kittens isnt equally benefited by the hormones that nature has provided them."

Click to expand...

The neutering studies showed there really aren't any bad affects from early pediatric spay and neuter.
"The results of this study so far indicate that the differences between cats neutered at 7 weeks and 7 months are insignificant. The differences observed between animals in Groups 1 and 2 and the animals in Group 3, while in some cases statistically significant, are not differences which appear to affect the health of the animal in a negative way. While the final results will depend on the analysis of long-term follow-up, the indications are that early neutering is not detrimental to the overall health of the animal. From the perspective of shelters and particularly in respect to the problem of surplus puppies and kittens these results are encouraging. If all the animals adopted from shelters, including puppies and kittens, are neutered prior to adoption, there should be a corresponding decrease in the numbers of animals euthanized each year in this country. Preliminary results from Alachua County, near the University of Florida at Gainesville, would seem to support this theory."
http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/repo...ly-neuter.html
The study determined that there was no difference between kittens neutered at 7 weeks and 7 months. THere were difference between those and kittens neutered at 12 months, but the differences didn't affect health of the animals in a negative way.
Since there was no differences between kittens spayed and neutered at 7 weeks and 7 months, it makes no sense as to why vets want to wait until 6 months.
Also, if you wait until 12 months to neuter the male cats, they might start spraying, and that might not stop even after neuter. You got to neuter them before they start spraying. 6 months is a fine age to neuter. But again, I would be worrying if I had a male and a female to wait that long, because cats are early bloomers.

interesting stuff, elizwithcat, thank you for responding. this subject is of some interest to me since i will be brining home another young kitten later on this afternoon! i find it interesting that the portion of the article that you posted mentions early neuter for puppies, presumably and understandably for reasons of population control, as there is evidence that early neuter can adversely affect the growth of dogs... though i can see how, in the eyes of those involved in rescue and animal control, the benefit of manditory early neutering outweighs these concerns.

i will be taking my new kitten to my own vet within the next couple of says and i will make sure to ask her exactly why she recomends six months.

My vet said that he doesn't like to see kittens s/n before 6 months, and in particular before 4 months of age because he feels that too much of their immunity is then spent healing from the surgery and this leaves them open to other infections such as upper respiratory etc. I adopted a baby snowshoe 2 months ago who weighed only 16 oz and was already neutered. He was maybe 6 weeks old (the vet even questioned this because of his size). 5 days after I took little Clooney home, he started weezing and sounded congested. I took him to the vet three times in his short 5 days with me. The vet found URI as well as coccidia. His hematocrit was only 12. They gave the lil guy a transfusion and I still lost him . I was so devasted. He was my little baby. I cried for 4 days and ended up adopting the three I have now.