When to get your cat spayed or neutered

[hellocat]

I have recently heard that many people saying they are going to get their cats spayed or neutered before their cats become adult cats. Speaking of "adult", I mean they deserve to mate with other cats at least once. Normally, when will you get your cat spayed or neutered? I apologize if I offend cat lovers who hate spaying or neutering. 

 

[molly92]

Because of the rate of homelessness of cats everywhere, it's really helpful to neuter and spay before cats reach maturity so there's no chance of them ever getting pregnant. There is not going to be a shortage of cats any time in the future, meanwhile staggering numbers of feral and abandoned cats can be found everywhere, and those are the ones that have survived. It's a harsh world for a domesticated animal.

Health-wise, it's also really good for female cats who can develop ovary-related illnesses, and for males it means they don't get the urge to roam, mate, and fight, which is very dangerous to them.

As far as whether or not the cats would prefer this, going into heat and the mating process definitely does not appear pleasant for females, and I'd imagine there's a lot of frustration and discomfort for the males as well. Humans are very different! I don't think cats would miss it even if they could comprehend what they are missing, but even if they did, it'd still be worth neutering and spaying early for the health, safety, and well-being of cats everywhere.

There's a campaign for awareness about early spaying and neutering called "fix at four" that you can look up, which advocates spaying and neutering at 4 months. But it's actually very safe to spay and neuter even earlier than that, as long as the kitten is 2 lbs or more. Even though it's not a very rough surgery to begin with, earlier is actually easier on the cat because they are growing so much when they're little that they heal very quickly.

There used to be a belief that spaying after the first heat cycle or litter or something like that was better for the cat's health, but that's a complete myth that has since been widely disproved.

 

[whatsonemore]

I got my three kittens spayed and neutered when they were approximately 5 months old when I had a few days off to monitor them.  When you look at the statistics, it is heartbreaking how many cats there are that are feral and that around 70% in shelters are euthanized. 

 

[oldgloryrags88]

I would never do early spaying and neutering (8 weeks and younger) that is way too young and presume a bigger risk than say 6 months.

I spay at 6 months and neuter at 7 months. My vets will NOT spay or neuter until the animal is at least 4 months old.

 

[tabbytom]

My boy was neutered at 7 months. Supposed to be done on his 6th month but I was away so I pushed the date one month later. And also prior to that, when he was at the vet when he was like 4 months old, the vet says will neuter him at 6 months because the vet wants to make sure that both his testicles have fully decended.

 

[hellocat]

Thank you guys for your reply, maybe 6 months is the right time.

 

[tabbytom]

Thank you hellocat for your purraise!

 

[oldgloryrags88]

Thank you for giving me a purraise!

 

[louann jude]

I seen first hand why you really need to spay and neuter early. My Lil Bit was due to spayed but she got out before we could. I would not abort the kittens and she had the March 29th. Seeing my poor baby in labor I decided fast the kittens will never go through that. 

When her kittens were six weeks old she got out one Friday night and didn't come home til Monday morning. She went in for a spay on that Wednesday. Her whole demeanor and personality changed. She started having back and forth boughts of diaherra. She never was a real social cat but she began hissing and striking at me and the kids at odd times for no reason. As hard as it was I turned her over to a rescue who adopted her out. 

She ended back with we about a week or so ago with diarrhea so bad that it was oozing out without her knowing it. She has been at the vets for a week now trying to get the diarrhea under control. While there they ran tests to find out what is wrong and she tested positive for feline leukemia. One test showed positive the other negative. So for the next six months she will be in a room upstairs by herself because she can't be around other cats during this time while we wait to retest. 

All of this could have been avoided if she was spayed on time. I wouldn't have my baby Sweet Pea but I would have never known her to miss her. My Lil  Bit would be healthy. So they do not need one heat, one mating because just one could kill them. 

 

[catmom marcia]

 
I have recently heard that many people saying they are going to get their cats spayed or neutered before their cats become adult cats. Speaking of "adult", I mean they deserve to mate with other cats at least once. Normally, when will you get your cat spayed or neutered? I apologize if I offend cat lovers who hate spaying or neutering. 

I certainly do not agree with this "...they DESERVE to mate....".  This attitude is what contributes to the overpopulation of cats.  We spay and neuter at 3 pounds at my shelter.  A kitten does not leave the shelter upon adoption ntil it is fixed.  We spay or neuter upon adoption any animal we have (cat or dog or rabbit).

 

[oldgloryrags88]

Spaying and neutering before adoption was not invented 10 years ago when I got my 2 mutts from the shelter. I had them spayed after one heat cycle. They are indoors only and never got pregnant. They were spayed at 1 year.


Spaying and neutering rabbits? Why? That ruins the female. There is no overpopulation of rabbits. It ruins her structure. No need to spay.

 

[Willowy]

Spaying and neutering before adoption was not invented 10 years ago when I got my 2 mutts from the shelter. I had them spayed after one heat cycle. They are indoors only and never got pregnant. They were spayed at 1 year.


Spaying and neutering rabbits? Why? That ruins the female. There is no overpopulation of rabbits. It ruins her structure. No need to spay.

Spay/neuter before adoption was pretty popular 10 years ago, but not every shelter could afford to. Actually, the shelter here WAS altering before adoption 10 years ago but now they aren't :/. I think one of their funding options got cut off.

Female rabbits have about a 90% chance of fatal reproductive disease if not bred often or spayed. So if someone wants a pet rabbit (not meat/breeding) and they want her to live past age 5, it's kind of necessary.

Anyway, for cats I like spaying at 4 months for females and neutering at 6-8 months for males. I prefer the body structure of males who are neutered later, and I can't stand a female in heat. I've had several females go into heat at 4-5 months. Of course I'm a terrible procrastinator and the last 2 females I've taken in ended up going into heat before I could get them in . But that's my own fault :lol3:.

For dogs it's a little more complicated. Several studies have shown that it's not good to alter a dog before full physical maturity (which can be as early as 8 months for small dogs or as late as age 2 for very large dogs). Of course it's still better than a young pregnancy. . .so if someone can't keep their dog from getting pregnant they should spay her before first heat. But if they can keep her contained (and it's easier than with cats), it's probably best to let a female have one heat. With male dogs there's no reason to neuter except birth control (behavioral issues are training issues not hormonal), it should definitely be done after full maturity (if done at all) unless he's at high risk of causing a pregnancy.

Cats should not be allowed to "mate once". This means nothing to them; animals besides humans, apes, and dolphins do not have sex for pleasure. Sex is actually quite painful for female cats. If each female cat had only one litter, we would have a huge overpopulation.

 

[oldgloryrags88]

I'm going to have to disagree on the rabbit part a bit. My vet (she is a livestock vet too) will not spay rabbits at all because it has been proven to cause pelvis issues and poor structure. I've raised rabbits for 1 year. Been around them all my life. Rabbits do not have heat cycles/periods like dogs, humans, etc.

I am also against neutering sugar gliders, which is why when I had my 2 males they were never done. You can not spay a sugar glider due to the same reasons as rabbits shouldn't be. Plus sugar gliders have a very unique anatomy build, where their penis/vaginas are internal (if those are censored words someone please let me know). Plus they have a pouch because they're marsupials.


I also see no real reason to alter male dogs or usually male cats too. I am down for spaying cats and dogs though. Cats (like ferrets) can die without being bred.


I live in a rural area, so I've never heard of early spaying and neutering until about 2 years ago. Neither me nor my vets advocate it. :-/

 

[Willowy]

My vet (a rural small town livestock/pet vet) also won't spay rabbits at all. . .because they need special anesthetic :tongue2:. And he doesn't have that kind in stock. But I've had 2 spayed females (1 is gone now) and they didn't/don't have any structural problems or pelvic issues :dk:. I'm not sure how one would diagnose pelvic problems in a non-breeding rabbit though. I haven't seen that listed as a side effect in any of the studies. An 80% chance of uterine cancer and a high rate of other reproductive diseases has been proven though (all the way back in 1958!), so I guess I'd choose possible structure issues (whatever that means) over the cancer risk. We all choose our own risk tolerance.

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/resources/content/info-sheets/uterine.htm

 

[talkingpeanut]

I'm going to have to disagree on the rabbit part a bit. My vet (she is a livestock vet too) will not spay rabbits at all because it has been proven to cause pelvis issues and poor structure. I've raised rabbits for 1 year. Been around them all my life. Rabbits do not have heat cycles/periods like dogs, humans, etc.

I am also against neutering sugar gliders, which is why when I had my 2 males they were never done. You can not spay a sugar glider due to the same reasons as rabbits shouldn't be. Plus sugar gliders have a very unique anatomy build, where their penis/vaginas are internal (if those are censored words someone please let me know). Plus they have a pouch because they're marsupials.


I also see no real reason to alter male dogs or usually male cats too. I am down for spaying cats and dogs though. Cats (like ferrets) can die without being bred.


I live in a rural area, so I've never heard of early spaying and neutering until about 2 years ago. Neither me nor my vets advocate it. :-/

The reason to neuter cats is that their urine smells terrible and they are prone to wander and injured.  If you keep your males inside only, that's up to you.  For dogs, I would only worry if they are allowed outside unsupervised.  You wouldn't want to contribute to overpopulation.

 

[talkingpeanut]

Cats should not be allowed to "mate once". This means nothing to them; animals besides humans, apes, and dolphins do not have sex for pleasure. Sex is actually quite painful for female cats. If each female cat had only one litter, we would have a huge overpopulation.

Totally agreed.  Your cat has no emotional desire to mate.  Spaying and neutering before they hit sexual maturity is the way to go for their health and happiness, as we as yours.

 

[raina21]

I'm actually for early spay/neuter . One of my cats was neutered at 6 weeks (he was over 2lbs). The vet who neutered him was my uncle who has been practicing veterinary medicine for nearly 50 years (he treats livestock as well as pet animals like dogs and cats).

I believe it is better to spay/neuter while they are young, as they heal quickly and it is much less stress on their bodies (especially for male cats since neutering is much less invasive than spaying).

It is a complete myth that the cat will not develop properly if spayed or neutered early.

 

[oldgloryrags88]

Yeah all vets are 360 in character. I have never owned a spayed/neutered rabbit, mine are farm animals, not indoor pets. I have never had a problem in my herd, but if any get sick they're usually just shot and fed to the cats (I can not risk illness on the farm).

A woman that recently bought a rabbit kit from me told me that her previous rabbit had pelvis problems from being altered and winded up have to be euthanized by her vet. The sad part is that the bunny belonged to her 5 year old son. When they got the doe kit from me, they pledged to not spay her. Maybe it's genetic?

 

[Willowy]

They'd have to do some studies to determine total risk. Rabbits have only recently become housepets so not a lot of studies on spaying have been done. The uterine cancer risk was found early because a university kept a colony of rabbits to study rabbit diseases and that was found to be a major loss factor in older does. So is the risk of spay-related pelvic issues as high as 80%, less than that but still significant, or is it random and not related to spaying at all? No way to know unless/until the studies are done.

 

[profdanglais]

I prefer the body structure of males who are neutered later 
 

What is the difference in body structure?