Neutering/spaying too early - Would this work the same in cats?

[unseeliechylde]

I think it's also worth putting the term "early" into context - I used to think 4 months was "early", but only recently have I realised that this age is not regarded as too early by most rescue organisations, and increasingly by many vets. I think it's difficult to make any sweeping statements about this - early neuter (depending on exactly how early) may well cause problems for some animals, but it looks to be too soon to say whether it causes a problem for most early neuters, or if it is only for a small but nevertheless important minority.
Surely it's also difficult to eliminate confounding factors? If an animal has been neutered early and shows some problems, you can point to a correlation, but its hard to prove that the animal wouldn't have had any such problems if neutered later. It may be that some animals are more likely to have problems with early neutering than others, for whatever reasons. And how do you balance this with the health risks of early pregnancy and the dangers of a very young animal miscarrying or having pregnancy / birth complications? As responsible and well informed owners, we have the luxury of knowing our pets will be prevented from becoming pregnant until old enough to have been fully vaccinated and neutered, but for shelters and feral rescues its not really that simple.

[Millys Mum]

Thanks for the links susanne and desley. What makes them different is they are written by vets and quote alot of studies and the original link is written by a behaviourist who is against early neutering of his own finding.
Does a dog really care if he squats or cocks his leg when he goes to the toilet, the most important thing is there will be less puppies running about.

I also think that encouraging people to not support the rescues that early neuter a real middle finger, some of the large charities he has listed are helping thousands of animals a year, why should they suffer because they take a responsible stance with their puppies.
Its almost a propaganda piece

[Desley (booktigger)]

this one mentions the behaviour side

http://www.alleycat.org/pdf/early.pdf

This one mentions bone as well as uretha, and even says that there is less chance of issues with early neuter.

http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/Pages/Early_Age_Altering_Web.pdf

[Dawn (DiddyDawn)]

The research that has been done shows that problems can arise in dogs/bitches and I for one know it does because of Kara.  The fact they've been doing it in America for the last 20 years doesn't prove they don't have issues with it, America has a huge problem with over population and that is probably why they do it, and a lot of vets declaw but it doesn't mean it's right either.  Sean is American as I've already said, he has issues with it.  It's pretty obvious some rescues and vets will go along with getting them done early to avoid pregnantcy but it doesn't alter the fact there are the down sides in doing this and once done, cannot be rectified and that animal could have problems for life.  If you can find the link on the Urethra business, I would be interested in seeing that.

 Out of interest, my neighbours dog was neutered at 6 months, and was incontinent most of her life, isn't that a normal age to get a female dog done?

This could have been down to something else, but I didn't even realise Kara suffered from it until Sean had a look, he then noticed she wasn't developed properly.  I had Zak done at 6 months and he dribbled for months on end, he did have problems after his op though so could have been down to the vet.

[Desley (booktigger)]

The rescues near me might not follow up every case, but they did keep one of the first cats that was neutered early, and he never had any issues. IT has been done for over 20 years in the US, so there can't be too  many issues with it, and there have been studies to show that the size of the uretha is no different in cats that have been neutered early than cats that weren't, and the same study showed benefits to it - i did post it recently actually. The main reason it isn't done that often over here is lack of training for the vets, it is hard to find vets that will do it. My vet is happy to do them at 4 months old, to make sure people dont' let them out and get pregnant.  Out of interest, my neighbours dog was neutered at 6 months, and was incontinent most of her life, isn't that a normal age to get a female dog done?

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

I don't know about the hormone side of things but I did ask my Vet some time ago about early neutering of kittens as it was something I know they do alot of in America and wanted to know the pros and cons.  She advised that the topic had come at the Annual British Veterinary Congress and that it was thought that surgery at that early age could cause damage to the growth of hips etc as these areas are still extremely fragile in a young kitten and that, in her opinion, the cons outweighed the pros at the moment in this country.

The British small animal veterinary association supports early spay/neuter. As does cats protection, blue cross and many other groups

http://www.fabcats.org/cat_group/index.html

http://www.fabcats.org/cat_group/policy_statements/neut.html

Maybe not at 6 weeks (and I don't know anything about dogs), but what research has been carried out, indicates there are no adverse effects of doing it considerably younger than 6 months

http://www.ivis.org/advances/Concannon/olson/IVIS.pdf#search=%22Early%20spay-neuter%3A%20clinical%20considerations.%22

[Dawn (DiddyDawn)]

It has also been observed that spaying can significantly increase the risk of urinary incontinence in bitches. Early neutering also increases risk of urethral sphincter incontinence in males (A. Aaron et al., Vet Rec. 139:542-6, 1996.)

That study is 12 years old, there are much more recent studies that conclude theres no problem.

My shepherd princess suffers from urinary incontinence and is underdeveloped, this isn't in my head and can be confirmed by my vet who has put this problem down to being spayed too early.

[Millys Mum]

The only decent thing that the rspca do and they get slated for that too.

It has also been observed that spaying can significantly increase the risk of urinary incontinence in bitches. Early neutering also increases risk of urethral sphincter incontinence in males (A. Aaron et al., Vet Rec. 139:542-6, 1996.)

That study is 12 years old, there are much more recent studies that conclude theres no problem.

Far too many people are self absorbed and cant spare 5 minutes to think to get the dog done at the right time until its too late and the just one litter scenario is happening all over again.
If early neutering cuts all the odd litters out im all for it.

[Dawn (DiddyDawn)]

though I guess the potential problems might be less with the less invasive op for males.

The other vet I use said with the males, if they are done too young, the Urethra hasn't had chance to develop to it's full size making it too narrow, again causing issues at a later date.

[unseeliechylde]

I can see how this could be an important, and actually quite a complicated issue - especially with feral or rescue cats where there isn't detailed info on their age. Our Riley was done at what we think was 6 months, but he was a stray for somewhere between the first 2-3 months of his life, so we can't be certain, though I guess the potential problems might be less with the less invasive op for males. Again, with Skye we just don't know for sure - we think she was 5 1/2 - 6 months, but she was quite malnourished, so it was hard to tell. The vet seemed to think she would be fine, and that her teeth suggested she was old enough. Interesingly, she had a mild case of rickets (much better now, but still there - she's a bit pigeon-toed) already, so if she was too young, which I really hope not, hip problems would be hard to recognise in her. Though in her case she was got better with her legs and hips, not worse, thankfully.
I have heard of people getting their girls done at four months before, and though I haven't heard of any specific problems (which might be because people are not aware of the possible correlation, or what to look for), I would be reluctant to do it that early, just in terms of the traumatic experience at that young an age, with or woithout possible hormone problems.
What sort of range of symptoms does it cause? I can imagine it being confusing, as peeing outside a tray could be taken as stress rather than incontinence.

[Dawn (DiddyDawn)]

I know in a household where there are unspayed females and intact males, this can cause a problem but with Becky I had Sean give her an Oestrogen jab which would have prevented her being caught anyway.   I think if there's any doubt as to the effects on cats/dogs at a later date, common sense would tell you to hang fire.  Kara in my eyes tells me spaying too young is wrong, I have had numerous problems with her and didn't even realise she was incontinant, all I knew was that she was constantly washing herself down below and there was an issue going on with her.  Sean is American and he will do kittens at a young age if I ask him to, but he doesn't agree with it and it's only because I do rescue and deal with ferals that he will go along with it.  Up to date, I have only ever had one done younger, she was 4/5 months old, a feral and had an anal prolapse.  So as not to cause her to have another anaesthetic in a month or two's time, I had her spayed at the same time and even then, I wasn't comfortable with it.  It's interesting the comments you made about the joints as well Lesley, Kara's back end is deformed and has numerous problems with her joints, this could be down to her breed but could also be another problem related to her being spayed too young 

I  imagine its the same as with humans, what would happen if you had, for instance your ovaries removed before puberty?? 

I would agree Dawn, it would be like giving your daughter a hysterectomy before she had time to develop, why should animals be any different 

[Dawn F]

I  imagine its the same as with humans, what would happen if you had, for instance your ovaries removed before puberty?? 

[LesleyW]

I don't know about the hormone side of things but I did ask my Vet some time ago about early neutering of kittens as it was something I know they do alot of in America and wanted to know the pros and cons.  She advised that the topic had come at the Annual British Veterinary Congress and that it was thought that surgery at that early age could cause damage to the growth of hips etc as these areas are still extremely fragile in a young kitten and that, in her opinion, the cons outweighed the pros at the moment in this country.

I think research has been carried out in America with regard to the amount of medical problems that have arisen as a result in early neutered kittens and later neutered kittens and it was found that more early neutered cats do suffer with pelvic and other problems in later life than other cats.  I may be wrong, but this is what my Vet told me.

[Dawn (DiddyDawn)]

There are 3 rescue near me that will neuter at 8 weeks before the animals are rehomed - one have done it for over 14 years with no issues.

I honestly can't believe that every cat they have had done, they have followed up on potential problems with them over the last 14 years 

kittens do fine with a hernia op at 8 weeks.

These people aren't saying about the anaesthetic so a hernia op wouldn't come into it, they are basically saying removing the hormones too young can cause problems at a later date.  Until they have done enough research to say otherwise, I would still advise waiting until they are 6 months and you know you are doing everything you can in the cats best interest.  I would also ask why so many vets won't do them any younger than 6 months, they must have their reasons    When spaying/neutering feral colonies, this is completely different as they can't be kept separate and accidents will happens but in the case of pets, it has to be better for the animals concerned. 

[Dawn (DiddyDawn)]

I would have to agree 100% with their findings, my shepherd was spayed at 5 months, she suffers from incontinance and is underdeveloped in her vaginal area.  She was spayed before we got her and Sean has put all her problems down to this.  It's easy to say non have had problems, I only found out about Kara's last year due to her going in to be knocked out.  If she hadn't have had to go in, I would have been totally oblivious to what was going on with her 

[unseeliechylde]

This is a new one on me - is 8 weeks too young? Is there enough evidence that there's a higher risk of hormone problems with "early" spays (and is the incidence higher the sooner its done?) - what is the incidence of hormone problems when the neuter isn't especially early? I've heard of hormone problems in intact and late-spays too, so is the correlation really straightforward?
Interesting subject !

[sheryl]

Our Coonie Roxy had homone problems and the vets in the Uk could not work out what was wong with her and why she kept plucking her fur out and had other problems, we had loads of tests done and never got to the cause of the problem. We moved to Germany and took her to the vets and he diagnosed the problem in 5 minutes, he said she had been spayed too young and had a hormone problem - she had to have a quarter of an ovarid tablet every week and she was fine.

[Desley (booktigger)]

There are 3 rescue near me that will neuter at 8 weeks before the animals are rehomed - one have done it for over 14 years with no issues. I personally think it is a good thing, I have been doing follow ups, and 3 so far haven't had them done yet, one cos they haven't got round to it, one cos they thought it would be nice for her to have kittens, and one cos they moved and lost the paperwork. Hopefully I have got through to all of them, and I will be ringing these up again this week, but if they had all been done before leaving us, there would be no worries - and anaesthetic wise, kittens do fine with a hernia op at 8 weeks.

[Dawn (DiddyDawn)]

I was sent this article earlier and it makes interesting reading as regards to problems that can occur in dogs when they are spayed/neutered too early    I would say the same could also apply to cats, they have hormones exactly the same so why would they be so different?

http://www.doglistener.co.uk/neutering/rspca.shtml