Kitten Question

Zephyr is my 12 week old kitten and it appears his testicles havnt dropped yet. is it true i can get him neuterd as soon as they drop? also i noticed this morning he had an erection? can he get one of those without them having dropped yet? because maybe they have and i just cant tell. but they still look flat to me. lol any answers would be helpful!! thank you

ZeusMom...kittens can be neutered as early at 8 weeks of age. You will need to consult your local vets whether they perform pediatric neutering. The rescue I volunteer with spays/neuters at 12 weeks of age.

Katie

Private clinics will perform neutering/spaying as young as 8 weeks old. But, if you're planning to have your kitty neutered at the Humane Society, they will ask you to wait till he's 12 weeks old. It happened to me when I got Montgomery.

Yes, generally vets will wait until a male kitten's testicles have descended before performing a neutering, because otherwise a much more invasive and expensive procedure would have to be used. The testicles of most males will descend by 8-12 weeks of age. In the rare cases that the testicles never descend, problems with the physical development of the hip/groin area are usually involved - and this would have been made apparent in an irregular alignment of the back legs.

The testicular sac can develop ahead of the testicles descending, which makes visual confirmation difficult. In such a case, you would have to manually palpate the testicular sac:

Hold the kitten belly-up in your lap (scruff lightly if needed) and gently examine the sac with your fingertips. Do you feel something like 2 little peas?

A vet of course can readily determine if you kitten is OK for neutering, and 12 weeks is a good age to get tested for FIV/FeLV and the 1st round of vaccinations, so a vet visit at this point would be a good idea.

thanks for the help
he has had his first set of shots and tested for FIV already (negative) and is due for his second shots soon so i will have the vet let me know if hes ready to be neuterd then! thanks again!

Good for you for already taking care of the testing and 1st round of vaccinations - 2nd round of vaccinations is a great time for neutering as well. I like to get male kittens neutered by 12-15 weeks of age, before they develop an urge to spray.

Even if his testes haven't dropped, he can still be neutered. The surgery is a lot more invasive (like a spay), though.

Our Humane Society will do them younger than 12 weeks, though. Bella's brother was nieutered, and he was 9 weeks. They probably all had their surgeries at 8ish weeks, and spent a week recuperating before they were allowed to go up for adoption.