Altering age?

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We have 2 new kittens, they are siblings, a boy and a girl. Right now they are only 10 weeks old, but I am concerned for the future when they reach sexual maturity. I read they can breed as early as 3 months old, and our vet said she won't alter either of them until they're at least 6 months. We really don't want Luna having kittens of her own, ESPECIALLY since she will be so young if she does. We don't mind finding a new vet for them, we're thinking of changing vets anyways. What would be the youngest/best age to alter them to avoid a litter? I don't care if it's the male or the female first (if one could be altered earlier), we don't have any other unaltered cats to worry about.
 

Kieka

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Call around, most spay and neuter clinics will do as young as 8 weeks/2 pounds. Id personally do the male first and possibly wait for the female until your vet will do it. Only because I have had bad experiences with females at clinics. Clinics are fine, logically and statistically, but once burned twice shy.
 

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It depends on the circumstances. If money is tight, or you're worried there'll be another round of COVID-19 shutdowns, have her done first, because he won't get pregnant and probably won't start spraying until he's over 10 months old. If you're not worried about either of those things, it doesn't matter who goes first, but have at least one of them done in the next 4-6 weeks.

The younger vets are being taught early spay/neuter as a matter of course, so just keep calling around, I'm sure you'll find one who can do it.
 

lutece

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Many older vets believe that cats should be altered at 6-9 months. The "Fix By Five" campaign (endorsed by the AVMA) is trying to change that. Their web site has a lot of references you can give your veterinarian. Even if you plan to go to a different vet, if you talk to your vet about Fix By Five, you might make a difference to other cats' lives.
 

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I had all my kittens done at 12 weeks. They recover so quickly when young. Call around and find a vet who will do both the same day.
 
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Money and shutdown isn't really an issue, more so just worried about health than anything else. We're taking the boy to the vet tomorrow due to some problems he's having, so I'll show them the campaign you linked lutece, as well as ask if they would be willing to set up a neuter appointment while we're there.

They're both going to be indoor cats, so the only chance of pregnancy is from each other. She's really small, so I'll probably wait until she's a bit older to get her spayed. Thank you guys for the advice! <3
 

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Try keeping one in the room, separated for the meantime.
so the only chance of pregnancy is from each other. She's really small, so I'll probably wait until she's a bit older to get her spayed. Thank you guys for the advice! <3
 

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I don't think that's necessary at this age. If they get to 4-5 months old and not spayed/neutered yet, sure, but they'll be fine for now :).
I've seen..... Things, better safe than sorry.
 

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I've seen..... Things, better safe than sorry.
No, it's really not possible for a kitten to get pregnant at 10 weeks of age. Keeping them separate will only stress them out, especially if they are a closely bonded pair.

Mutation Mutation one advantage to getting them both fixed at the same time is that after going to the vet they will have a strong smell on them. Cats sometimes hiss and swat at each other if they have that odd smell. Usually the first cat to get fixed remembers the vet smell and attacks the second cat when you bring him/her home smelling like a bad memory.

I got the last lot of kittens I took in spayed/neutered on the same day and they didn't fight at all when they were brought home. That worked out better than having them done one at a time, then having to deal with them not recognising each other.
 

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No, it's really not possible for a kitten to get pregnant at 10 weeks of age. Keeping them separate will only stress them out, especially if they are a closely bonded pair.

Mutation Mutation one advantage to getting them both fixed at the same time is that after going to the vet they will have a strong smell on them. Cats sometimes hiss and swat at each other if they have that odd smell. Usually the first cat to get fixed remembers the vet smell and attacks the second cat when you bring him/her home smelling like a bad memory.

I got the last lot of kittens I took in spayed/neutered on the same day and they didn't fight at all when they were brought home. That worked out better than having them done one at a time, then having to deal with them not recognising each other.
OH I miss read. Sorry!
 

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I agree with Norachan Norachan and had my kittens done all together at 12 weeks. They came home and nursed their mom and played as though nothing happened.
 

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If you wish to wait some I'd get them both fixed at 16 weeks old, when they go for their 3rd set of shots. That way that can be done plus the micro-chip (if its not done already) all at once and no extra vet trips needed. They will be big enough that even the small girl should be fine. Kittens grow extremely quickly lol. By 16 weeks old most are 4 to 6lbs so more then safe to be fixed. My girl was 11 weeks old when she was spayed, but she was 2.8lbs. Which surprised me because she was quite small lol. Now she's 9.4lbs and not even 9 months old yet lol. So I think I would get both done at 16 weeks old, old enough to be more then big enough to get fixed but young enough it won't take a ton out of them. I find the older they get, the harder it is on them to be fixed. A 6 month old would take a few days to recover, a year old cat would take 3-5 days, while a 12 -16 week old kitten tends to recover within a day lol.
 
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Thanks for the advice, once again! We took the boy to the vet yesterday (due to some litter box trouble), luckily the girl didn't really care or notice anything was wrong/different. When we asked about neutering earlier they said they can do it a month earlier, at 5 months. The kittens mother was 4 or 5 months old iirc, so I'm really not seeing why they think it's smarter to wait when we have a boy and a girl. We can't keep them separated for 2-3 months, especially with how close they are. We really only wanted to keep the boy (we were originally fostering 4 total), but we couldn't separate him from his sister so we had to keep both. We will have to find a new vet or take them to a neuter/spay clinic.

If you wish to wait some I'd get them both fixed at 16 weeks old, when they go for their 3rd set of shots. That way that can be done plus the micro-chip (if its not done already) all at once and no extra vet trips needed.
We'll probably do this just to make it as easy as possible on them. He hated the carrier, and cried the whole time he was in it. On the way home I had to hold him on my chest cause he wouldn't go back in.
 
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