Neutering at five months

[JackSpratt]

Thanks Susanne. My partner is a bit concerned Little Man might be too passive if done that early, but I've reassured him it's mostly due to temperament.

He actually snook out the cat flap the other day and went nose to nose with the next door neighbours MASSIVE black and white tom.....he didn't turn on his heels and run, just looked at him a bit unsure and then backed away slowly. It was almost comical! (He wasn't in any danger, Smudge is a softie.)

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Jaffa and Mosi were both done at 5 months and they are both big boys.  Also dominant boys.

[JackSpratt]

I figured it might be but wanted other peoples opinions on the matter. Sir will be booked in the first week of December for his op then.

[Rosella moggy]

Our last vet said he thought our Gandolf RIP must have been neutered late i.e. aged over two years to be as aggressive as he was to other cats.  He eventually calmed down aged about 15 years.  He was a menace but we loved him dearly.  He came to us from RSPCA aged about 3 years.

Freddie on the other hand came to us recently neutered aged 5 apparently.  Apart from the copious piddling that continues, he isn't much of a dominant male so tend to agree with MM, much will depend on the cat's nature

[JackSpratt]

Not sure to be honest, MM. Astryd was such a good girl too, she just sat for the first two attempts and squeaked a little on the third when it finally went in. I was nearly crying when I left because I felt so guilty putting her through it, but the only other time a chip had been rejected was Jacks first attempt; I found it on the floor where he'd been lying down and had to take him back to get it done again.

[Millys Mum]

Thats awful it took 3 attempts, were they new at it? 

[JackSpratt]

Thanks for the reassurance guys. Obviously, Little Man is not allowed out unsupervised until after his "op" - unless he does what he did earlier. (ie: make a break for it.) Then it's a panicked sprint down the garden shaking biscuit boxes to get him back in....

I'm going to get him chipped while he's having the op. Figured it would be easier, when Astryd was chipped it took three attempts for some reason. The chip just kept popping back out!

[Millys Mum]

George was a late neuter and he had no aggression or dominance in him what so ever, Dexter was late and was the meanest alpha cat on the beat, and beat it he did  its taken a year post neutering for him to start behaving better.
I think it depends entirely on the cat and not how early they were done

[Debsymiller (Rufus' mum)]

Early neutering has been proven to be safe and in no way detrimental to the cat. The earlier the better! CP advocate castration from 12 weeks now and as a branchw e do them at 16 weeks and all is well!

[Bazsmum]

An unneutered cat has all them extra hormones to keep him on there toes, when the snip has been done these ebb away.....I think its more a character thing! 

[JackSpratt]

Cool, didn't want to give the Little Man a disadvantage. I was asking because there was a distinct difference between Jack and Tobys behaviour; Jack was neutered at around two (ex boyfriend did the whole "it's cruel" thing until I decided to just get it done without telling him) and Tobes was done at six month. Jack was definitely more territorial than Toby, and I could never decide if it was partly to do with that or not.

[Liz]

Aztec and Maya were done at 4 months before we got them and both are grwoing like normal kittens and it hasn't had any effect on their newly found kitten hooliganism - boy are Jet and Turbo in for a shock next month when their bits go then just got to slot them all in for ID Chips and injections taking 10 in december might be a bit tricky my car only holds at cat boxes and crushers at one time

[JackSpratt]

Will neutering a cat at five months make him less inclined to defend his territory or make him smaller? I'm a little paranoid about this due to the ginger visitor we get; I don't want Darwin to get pushed around because we got him neutered too early for his tom instincts to kick in properly!