What age to spay/neuter?

Hi. I'm just wanting to know what is the best age to spay and neuter your kitten. I have both a male and a female. They will be five months the end of January. My vet doesn't want to do it until then. I'm worried,I guess,that they may go into heat/mature quicker than that. I don't want my female to have a heat period and I don't want the male to mature and possibly start spraying. We don't know their exact age since they were dumped on our farm,but they are about 3 1/2 to 4 months old right now.
What are your opinions?
Thanks in advance

Originally Posted by smokiethecat

Hi. I'm just wanting to know what is the best age to spay and neuter your kitten.

I have both a male and a female. They will be five months the end of January. My vet doesn't want to do it until then. I'm worried,I guess,that they may go into heat/mature quicker than that. I don't want my female to have a heat period and I don't want the male to mature and possibly start spraying. We don't know their exact age since they were dumped on our farm,but they are about 3 1/2 to 4 months old right now.
What are your opinions?
Thanks in advance

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Kittens can be spayed as young as 8 weeks (2 months). I know there are many vets who will not perform the surgery until 6 months. If your vet is willing to operate at 5 months, that should be fine.

It really does depend on the vet. Mine won't do them till they are 6 months old. But other vets will do them as soon as the cat weighs a certain weight. Call your vet and find out his policy on early spay and neuter.

We recommend between 5 and 1/2 to 6 months old. MOST cats won't go into heat before that, but Cubby did at a little over 4 months..

When you have one of each, its better to do the male first (IMO) as its less surgery. I prefer to do them between 6-8 months and hold off on the male if possible. But in your case, do the male first - also separate him from the female for a month - the males can still get a cat pregnant in that time. If you cannot be there to supervise them together, keep them separate.

Some vets would do both now - maybe check around.

I would have to disagree completely with GoldenKitty45 on this one. I've had many cats speutered and my experience is that females absolutely should be done no later than their 5 month birthday. Kittens under 5 months old recover from surgery like it's the easiest thing in the world but older kittens and cats really don't feel well for a couple of days. Plus a lot of females experience a heat cycle before 6 months old and that leads to an increased risk of mammary cancer later in life.

From the cat's perspective, there aren't really any disadvantages to delaying a neuter until 6-7 months, but there also is no reason at all to put it off. I would look around for a vet who will fix them now. They're really at the perfect age.

Incidentally, I read the other day about a vet who spayed two 10-day-old kittens on an Indian reservation and both kittens did just fine! I'm not advocating doing surgery when they're quite that young as a matter of routine, but it goes to show that waiting till 6 months when they could easily be pregnant by then is just silly.

It will probably be fine to wait until 5 months, but hopefully they are not just small for their age, and actually older than that! Garfield was neutered very young, and he is just fine. I wish more vets would speuter younger...I'll bet it would eliminate some unwanted litters.

They are lucky to have a responsible owner. If you see any signs of interest, I would call the vet and get them in sooner. And I don't know why you would want to do the male first, then try to keep them apart for a month. Sounds like a lot of bother to me. Just get it done!

Toulouse was neutered at about 4 1/2 months, recovered quicky and is just fine. I think their friendly personality is more stable if you spay/neuter them early - in addition to all the health benefits.

By the way, has anyone else seen the "Spay and Neuter your pets, and your weird friends too!" bumper sticker?

I agree with Semiferal, and even more so after my recent experience.
I was planning on having Sienna spayed this week as she will be five months old on the 21 and we generally spay around that time. However, she went into heat around December 9, so needless to say she was spayed on the 14. She was approximately 4 1/2 months old when she went into heat. Personally, I wouldn't wait until they are 6-8 months of age...especially in the female's case.

Originally Posted by Beckiboo

And I don't know why you would want to do the male first, then try to keep them apart for a month. Sounds like a lot of bother to me. Just get it done!

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It's silly to spend your energy separating them and it's a bother for the cats too! There's no need to deprive them of each other's company, which they doubtless enjoy. Just get 'em snipped and it's a done deal. They will not benefit at all from delaying the procedure so as they say, there's no time like the present!

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

separate him from the female for a month - the males can still get a cat pregnant in that time.

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I think that would be a reason why you SHOULD try to do it earlier then 5 or 6 months. Just because you have both sexes and he CAN get her preg for about a month after the neuter, why take the chance?

Originally Posted by Beckiboo

And I don't know why you would want to do the male first, then try to keep them apart for a month. Sounds like a lot of bother to me. Just get it done!

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I agree. Do the female first if you cannot do them both at the same time.

Originally Posted by Kaleetha

Toulouse was neutered at about 4 1/2 months, recovered quicky and is just fine. I think their friendly personality is more stable if you spay/neuter them early - in addition to all the health benefits.

By the way, has anyone else seen the "Spay and Neuter your pets, and your weird friends too!" bumper sticker?

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I have to get one of those!

EEEKKK! I am getting nervous now. As soon as Christmas is over I will be calling the vet. I am going to just say that I think it needs done now and if he doesn't want to do it still, I will tell him I"ll look elsewhere. On the male,Smokie, you can definately see the "boys" now. I would get them done both at once. I want them to be put in the cage together at the vets to help reassure each other before and after the surgery. My vet would have me drop them off in the morning before work and pick them up that night on my way home.He doesn't do overnighters unless they aren't doing well. Why would a vet even feel it was advantageous to wait till their 5-6 months rather than 3-4 months......and not have to worry about heats/maturity?
The other reason I am worrying is, I don't know their exact age...so yes,what if they were small for their age and are actually older????He guessed 10-12 weeks a while back(November) so they could be even older than I'm thinking.
Are there any indicators to help gauge age? He was going on size alone.
Thanks!!!!

Also, I wanted to bring this up.The kittens have each had two shots.when I go to get them spayed/neutered do they need anymore?I plan to have the vet give them their rabies shot,but how many shots do kittens need anyway?
And....after a spay(since its been a while since I've got a cat spayed)do they have to go back for the stitches to be removed or are they the disolving kind?Thanks bunches!!!!

Originally Posted by smokiethecat

Also, I wanted to bring this up.The kittens have each had two shots.when I go to get them spayed/neutered do they need anymore?I plan to have the vet give them their rabies shot,but how many shots do kittens need anyway?
And....after a spay(since its been a while since I've got a cat spayed)do they have to go back for the stitches to be removed or are they the disolving kind?Thanks bunches!!!!

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Some vets still use stitches that need to be removed, depends on the vet.

Only thing I know of is that when they get all their adult teeth in they are at least 6 months old. Hope yours don't have all theirs yet. If you can't tell the difference, usually baby teeth are not only thinner and smaller and more pointed, but they curve slightly. The adult teeth (and it is the fangs I am mostly referring to because those are the easiest to tell) are a lot thicker and sometimes more rounded at the tip and do not curve.

ok I'm mad now My male was running around smelling my females rear end and then I noticed when she was laying on her side,he came up behind her and bit her on the neck like males do when they are breeding a female.then they seperated and went off on their own.....do you think it means anything???I called the vet and asked if they are open Monday.He said no,so I said,ok I will be there bright and early Tuesday morning and it worked for him.....so they are going to get fixed on Tuesday! They haven't done anymore "displaying" since,should I worry or were they just messing around? He's more dominant than her,so maybe it was just a dominance thing? ugh.

Well,update. No more acting like they are "interested" in each other.Whew.Maybe it was just a one time action and didn't mean anything. Anyway,I'm relieved that they are getting fixed on Tuesday....but also a little nervous. I hope everything goes well. I'm more nervous for the female than the male. Sometimes I swear,I just shouldn't read these posts!!!I'm worried ANYTHING might cause them to stop using their litterbox. Hopefully spaying/neutering won't change their purrfect record. If I'm dropping them off at 8am, I'm assuming they shouldn't have anything to eat after 10pm the night before? Its been so long since I"ve had to fix a cat. Does spaying ever cause a female cat to get UTI's?
I got them a cat tree(73") for Christmas even though it didn't come in time.It should come anyday now. Hopefully by the time it gets here and I get my hubby to set it up, they will have recovered from their surgeries!
I had 15 people at our house tonight for Christmas and the cats did pretty good. I originally put them in the basement,but four of the little kids couldn't stay out of the basement(toyroom down there)so I let the cats run free. The gray one,Smokie did fine...but the black girl,Bagel, hid out. she's a little shyer and hides. Thankfully everything has calmed down now!