What's the youngest a cat can be spayed?

[sunama]

Im sorry but i do not agree with them being speyed very young, my boys were 7 months and i don't think they were fully developed by then.( where testosterone is concerned)

What does testosterone have to do with anything? I'm not being offiensive, I genuinely want to know, as this might be a valid reason.

My Bengal breeder explained it to me like this:

if we neuter him in his 12th week, then we can put him to sleep, give him the injections, the microchip (which is quite painful) and the neutering all in one hit, while he is asleep. Further more, when he comes back at 3 months, he will recover quicker from his operation.

Also, if he is neutered at a younger age, he wont notice anything different. If however, you wait till he gets used to have having his testicles, he will definitely know something is amiss. Its similar to if I were to have my testicles removed when I was 1 year old, VS when I was 18 yrs old - at 1 year old, I wouldnt know any different, while at 18yrs old, I would definitely know something is missing and wouldnt be happy as I know exactly what has happened...against my will, I might add. Furthermore, the healing time will be longer.

I dont believe the testosterone argument holds, as from what I know, the cat wont need this hormone, unless he is being bred to be territorial or to fight other cats.

Over to you Tinamary.

[Tinamary]

Im sorry but i do not agree with them being speyed very young, my boys were 7 months and i don't think they were fully developed by then.( where testosterone is concerned)
I had my females done at about 8 months, cats are photo-estrus so they only come into season usually when the nights get lighter in the spring.  This means that a kitten born in summer will not ususally come into season until around March the next year.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

The trouble with waiting until 6 months for girls is that some will have gone into heat by then.  Those who have male and female kittens, could well find themselves with kittens having kittens if they always wait until 6 months.  I would definitely speak to your actual vet, JS, and make sure you're not just getting the standard line.  After all, what's the difference between 5 and a half months and 6 months?  Only a couple of weeks and some cats will be bigger and further developed at 5 months than others at 6 months.  I would expect a vet to at least judge each cat on an individual basis and not just come out with the same old line of having to be 6 months.

[sunama]

But Milly, wont they have the cat's age already on record? Usually when you sign up to vets, they get the animal's full details.

Personally, I think 6 months for a girl is about right, as it is a more invasive procedure. However, in saying that, successful spaying is done in the USA, for girls and boys.

For boys, 3 months is a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned. It makes no sense to wait any longer, unless there really is a specific reason.

[Millys Mum]

Did you speak to vet or receptionist JS?

You can just say shes 6 months when shes 5, weights vary at 6 months old anyway so its down to this magic no6 again 

[sheryl]

Our vets will do boys younger than girls so when Raffiki and Mellika started to get a bit too lovey we had Raffiki "done" at 5 months and waited until Mellika was 6 months old.

[JackSpratt]

Just wanted to update. The vet won't spay Small Fry until she's six months - not entirely sure why but there you go!

[Desley (booktigger)]

They do recover a lot quicker according to the rescues near me who do that. I Wish it were more common over here

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

By most accounts, they recover a lot quicker when they're little.  Like Desley says, it has been done in the US and research that has been done indicate no adverse health problems.

The reason I say I'm surprised they are reluctant to do females at 4 months over here is because it's better health wise to do them before their first heat, and if you wait much longer than 4 months you risk the cat going into heat before spaying.  And where people have male and female kittens together, there's the obvious additional risk of pregnancy in addition to mammary cancer.

[Kally]

well i dont know if there is any evidence of the increase risk in cancer as i was just simply told it by my old tutor who used to be veterinary nurse and now thinking bout it i was told off by my vets for gett riff done at4-5 months cause he wasnt a big kitten and he was getting randy i didnt want him inpregnating his sister it was only wen i brought her in to be done that i got told off the receptionist saying IF SHES AS SMALL AS THE OTHER WE WONT SPAY HER! but this was 3 yrs ago

[JackSpratt]

So I'd not be a terrible person pushing for Astryd to be spayed earlier? I wouldn't want there to be any health ramifications due to me wanting the knowledge that did she manage to bolt through our legs, she was at least spayed.

[Desley (booktigger)]

Females are trickier, but it has been done for over 20 years in the US, and the rescue near me have been doing it for nearly 15, so it can't be that much harder.
I have never heard a cancer argument for early neutering, and to be honest, I Cant see how it can happen - spaying before their first season reduces their risk of mammary cancer by 200 times, and uterine, ovarian and testicular cancers physically can't happen once spayed, although mammary cancer can still occur, but very rare in a cat not allowed to have multiple unbred seasons. 

[Millys Mum]

Its more fiddly to spay a queen whos kept having accidental litters, early neuter is the only way to try and influence the excess cat situation. The sooner more vets support this the better.
The amount being pts through lack of space is appalling, if all the one litters of accidents never happened it would help alot.

[sunama]

I would have thought more vets would be willing to spay a 4 month old female given that it's possible cats can go into heat at about that age. 

Dont forget though, that spaying a female is a lot more fiddly than neutering a male. Some vets might be reluctant to operate on a smaller/younger cat, when they could wait 2 months to do the same operation on an older/larger cat.

[sunama]

I'm sure there are a lot of vets who will neuter younger cats.
Obviously my 2 were done by 2 different vets. Both, initially had reservations, but when pushed, they did it and after it was done, they were OK with it all.

Also my own local vet, was surprised to see that my 2 were neutered. I explained to him that in the USA neutering at an early age was quite normal. He totally agreed. I didnt ask him, but I'm pretty sure that he would've neutered my cats at 3 months of age, if I required it.

If you want to, you can leave it till 5-6 months, but if for some reason you really want the neutering done early, I'm pretty sure that a vet can be persuaded, but obviously you will have to talk to them.

For what its worth, I wouldnt push for early neutering: 5-6 months is fine. The only reason why I went for early neutering is so that it could be done while still at the breeder and should anything go wrong, it would happen before the cat arrived at my house. The breeder would be the best person to solve any issues with a problematic neutering. Both my cats recovered from their neutering within 24hrs or so.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

I would have thought more vets would be willing to spay a 4 month old female given that it's possible cats can go into heat at about that age. 

[Millys Mum]

No, also anti early neuter people say it causes UT problems but i believe that to be down the increase of 100% dry fed cats with nasty cheap biscuits.

JS, phone all the vets you can get too and actually speak to someone above a receptionist, they are pre-programmed to say 6 months.

[sunama]

Is there any evidence to support the cancer argument?

[Kally]

the only problem is theres questions of whether getting them done early increases the risk of cancer i only knew this after he was done

[sunama]

my salem was done at 13 weeks by rspca they insisted on it

I'm glad that some of the larger, more recognised (animal) organisations are adapting the early neutering approach.

[Kally]

my salem was done at 13 weeks by rspca they insisted on it

[JackSpratt]

Was hoping I could get Astryd spayed at four months. She's very curious about the outside world and although we aren't actively encouraging her (By this I mean we actually grab her as she makes a break for it between our legs at the door!) if she got out and wasn't spayed I'd be terrified that she'd get pregnant.

She hasn't shown any signs of coming into season yet though.

[Desley (booktigger)]

Sorry, Cats Protection, and if you read my post, there are people in the UK who do neuter at 8 weeks.

[sunama]

CP's guidelines are 4 months.

What is CP?

[sunama]

I bought my 2 male cats from different breeders. Both breeders had them neutered before I brought them home, by 2 different vets.

They were both neutered at 12 weeks. No problems.

Some vets dont like to neuter them at a young age (ie. less than 5 months old), because they are not used to doing it and perhaps are not confident on working on such a small animal, but once they have done it the first time, they probably wont have any problems.

There is no law that states that a kitten has to be of a certain age, but generally 12 weeks of age is about as early as gets in the UK.

As Susanne stated, in the USA they have no problems doing it at a very young age, with no adverse reaction. Perhaps in the USA, biology and physics operate diffently to that of the UK.

[Zenith (Liz)]

I'll look into that thanks

[Desley (booktigger)]

CP's guidelines are 4 months, my vet is happy to follow that, but the rescues vet do it at 5. the rescue Mabel is coming from have all theirs done at 8 weeks before rehoming (they use the RSPCA Clinic), and there is another rescue I know that has them done at that age, so you might be best off ringing round vets to see what they will do. Early neutering has been done for over 20 years in the US, so there mustn't be too many side effects to it.

[Zenith (Liz)]

I need to look into this, my two are 4 months old but there's no way I want there to be the possibility of any funny business, especially as they are brother and sister!

[Kirst]

My vet said between 5 and 6 months for the kitbits.......................

[Millys Mum]

I think you would struggle to find a vet to do under 12 weeks, my lot were done at 17 and have no ill effects from it. Im all for early neuter especially for girls

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Some vets will spay a cat much younger than that (I believe it goes by weight more than age - 2lbs or thereabouts).  In parts of the US, it's commonplace to spay them at 2-3 months and it doesn't seem to cause any long term problems.  Not many vets over here will do it that young though, although some do (I remember phoning rspca about some kittens before I got Jaffa and being told they were being neutered before rehoming)

[blackcat]

some are spayed quite a bit younger, but it is not recommended unless there are medical reasons for doing it.

[JackSpratt]

Just wanting to double check. It is five months, isn't it?