FIP. Wondering where it came from and if it could have been prevented?

[red top rescue]

There is a reason shelters worm, vaccinate and spay/neuter at 2 lbs. and that's because people want to adopt tiny kittens, and if ours are held until they are four to six months old, they won't be adopted because all the people wanting tiny kittens will be taking all the free kittens (signs by the side of the road) and ads on Craig's list.  Already we have a problem by the end of our southern "kitten season" because it is so very long.  Even the tiny kittens dont get adopted right away by mid-summer.  When we do adopt them out, we want to make sure they are as protected as they can be, and in our state, animals must be neutered or spayed before they can be adopted out by any humane society or rescue group, so that's why most of the Animal Control facilities work with the rescue groups in order to get the animals out.  It's also assurance that our babies WILL get their shots and be neutered/spayed and not reproduce, and this is the only way to make sure of that.

 

[donutte]

The spay/neuter clinics here (in the Chicago area) also spay/neuter/vaccinate as long as they are 2 lbs in weight and at least 8 weeks old. I got my boys fixed when they were 13 weeks old. I got them at 8 weeks but they had to wait another two weeks for their first distemper shot (Oliver had caught a virus, probably feline herpes, from his mom). In those two weeks I'd done my research and found a place to get them neutered, and the vaccinations were included in the price. Sold! The cost of having them neutered at my vet was astronomical so that just wasn't doable.

Anyway, they turned out just fine. And there was none of that spraying or any other adolescent kitten behavior (the hormonal kind).