When to Neuter your kitten

paddypaws101

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=SxIcwNsQUJ0

Mods, could we make this a Sticky???

chez22

It really is an excellent video from Cats Protection, I have already posted it on our rescue page. The Blue Cross and RSPCA have also implemented early neutering schemes

ian103

We've just had our kittens neutered, they were 13 weeks.

The advice seems to be unclear/vague, we spoke to 2 branches of cpl and 2 vets.

With Dylan as soon as his bits were visable seemed to be the view - he was done last Thursday and was buzzing when we got him back in the evening - no adverse effects.

The cpl and vets seemed to recommend early neuturing for Scruff (1kg or more) and they said 'she'll get over it quickly' as shes so young. She has,we both feel very mean as she's tiny and is now sporting a shaved patch.

We just didn't fancy the risk of a litter of kittens.

Fire_Fox

You did the right thing Ian103: apart from the financial aspect and trying to get rehome the kittens, early litters also mean the queen may not develop to her adult size and is higher risk for the birth killing her.

NewKittenHelp

Mine's going in next week for her spay. She'll be six months ish. I'd have liked to have done it sooner but the rescue wouldn't perform it until this age and nor would our vet.

Saturnalia

Our boy & girl were done at 5 months, I'm sure the vet said 20 weeks was the general guideline and they have to be of a healthy size & weight and good condition generally to go under the anaesthetic.

I wanted it done as soon as possible, the kittens were accidents themselves (mum was an adopted stray, vet thought she was still too young & underweight to come into season but oops, she did!). Didn't want to go through that again and in the case of the boy, didn't want anyone's female cat ending up pregnant either.

valk_scot

Our cats (all male atm ) are indoor cats so I'm giving our current kitten the full six months before I get him neutered. When we had a brother-sister pair I did get them both done at five months, just to be extra safe!

charlotte99

Just had my cats done, they were 5 and a half months. Vet said it should be 6 months but they were big enough.

kjmtidea

My boys were done at 6 months, that was the earliest the vets would do them. My female kitten is going to the vets tomorrow at 19 weeks old to be weighed so they can decide whether she is big enough to be neutered. Fingers crossed she is!

I think it is so important to get them done, my dog has been neutered too. All of my animals have been rescued from one unwanted place or another so I definitely don't want to be adding to that situation.

scrabbles_2

I have never been the one responsible for neutering as I've only ever taken rescue kitties before and they have always been 'done'. But if I ever took a kitten on I'd be down the vet's at first opportunity! When looking through the online free-ads recently I became quite depressed at how many kittens there were on: over just the few weeks I was looking the same kittens went from £30 each to £10 each to free (and maybe then onto 'dumped somewhere', who knows ) The number of apparently sane people who believe such rubbish as 'all cats should be allowed a litter', 'mine's a male so I don't have to worry' or, worst of all, 'we can make a bit of cash selling the kittens' is both astonishing and heartbreaking.

Fridaycat

When I got my Bengal twins, Spot the boy was done at 4.5 months as I didn't want any unfortunate accidents, though I waited until 6 months before getting Lula spayed as she was indoors most of the time other than very supervised trips in the garden.