Birman kitten

mars

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I just got this new birman female kitten. She's about 2 months old.
Could someone tell me at what age should I take her to be spayed and take her vaccines?

Also, I heard that when introducing a kitten to her new home I should keep her in one room only for a while. How long should this while be? I really don't like to keep her litter box in the living room for a long time :-)
 

crazy-cat-lover

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You can take her in to get spayed and vaccinated now, kittens can be done at a very young age. I would keep her in the room for about a week, just to let her get used to her surroundings!

By the way, welcome to The Cat Site!
 
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mars

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Now? Isn't that too early?

I just found this in a birman related page:
"Neutering:
Birmans don't mature until they are almost 3 years old! Part of a cat's personality is directly related to their sexual designation. We want the personality well established before we alter that sexuality. If there is no sexual behavior that is causing you inconvenience, hold off on neutering/spaying. We recommend that at 10-12 months."

What do you think of it?
 

angelzoo

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Mars: Here, we are more concerned about over animal population then the "perfect personality" of a pet, be it for breeding or show purposes.

Males should be neutered no later then 5 months, and females no later then 6.

This cat should have been taken in for vacinations the first day you got her. UNLESS you recived her from a place that had already taken care of this (for this one time) and you have the old medical records.

If your cat has never recieved shots, set up a vet appointment, tell them it's a new cat that is 2 months old and has never had shots and they will know exactly what to do, distemper, rabies, probably strongid (dewormer) etc.
You can also get your cat microchipped at this time for idenfitication purposes. Run test on her to make sure she doesn't have have FIV for Feluk. It will basically be a trip for a full general health assesment of the cat.

As far as your statement reguarding sexual maturity around 10-12 months, I personally wont believe that unless a GOOD, REPUTABLE breeder comes in here and shows me this, until then, I say your cat could easily mate by 5 months, if not sometimes sooner!
Now I'm a little curious about that whole "personality thing".
 

hissy

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Hi Mars-

You really only need to confine a new kitten to one room for 24 hrs unless you have other resident pets, then it takes a longer time to acclimate them together. She is good to be spayed at 5 months old and if you continue to play with her and socialize her and just love her, her personality will only get more loving after the surgery.

I do not know breeds so I am unaware of the fact that you pulled up on the Internet about spaying at such a late time in your kitten's life. Your question would be better served in the Breeders Forum maybe? Among the more knowledgeable folk?
 

sandie

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Maine Coons are big cats, and if you are going to alter them, they usually have you do it when they are 7 months old. It just has to do with the size of them. I have never heard of any breed that waiting until they are a year is a benefit. If you wait that long to get him neutered, you may have a stubborn male on your hands. Once they hit sexual maturity, the tend to be less affectionate, they try to sneak out, they can start to spray, and they aren't as sweet.
As for kitten vaccines, the usual schedule would be 8 weeks, 12 weeks, and 16 weeks. It would probably be a good idea to take him to the vet for a check up. It's a good time to have them check your new kitten, go over the vaccines, and talk to them about neutering him when it's time.
 
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mars

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Thanks for the answers.

The employee of the place where I got my cat said she's been vaccinated but couldn't give me any medical records and couldn't tell me which vaccines she have taken. Next week I go back there to talk to the owner of the place to see if I can get the records or at least be told which shots she took. In case I don't get them, does anyone have any suggestion as to what should I do? I don't think there's a way a vet can know which shots the cat took just by examining it, right?

Microchip? This is Romania. There's no such thing here. But I don't blame you for suggesting it. I myself just moved from Japan to Romania and I am still not used to the uncivilized state of this country. The other day I asked in a romanian forum where I can find a SPCA or pet shelter. The answer was "what kind of civilized country you come from?" and now I am the laughing stock of the forum LOL :-)
You should see the number of stray animals on this place. The dogs are everywhere! Sometimes its dangerous to walk the streets. Some of the american soldiers posted in Constanta for the Iraq war were bitten by stray dogs in the streets.

As for the personality of my cat, well, she's a sweet. A few hours after coming home she was already purring on my lap. I would like her to continue friendly like this so I guess I'll be taking her to be fixed soon. But I will do more homework checking the birmans pages first just in case.
 

binkyhoo

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Mars you seem well educated enough about spaying. I would like to welcome you to the cat site. I bet you have alot to teach us about cats and pets in Romainia. I Love birmans! Cute cute kittens! Maybe a picture or a story soon?
 

zanniesmom

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I too, have a Birman kitten. He was neutered by his breeder at 3 1/2 months, before I bought him. There is no reason to wait any longer than five or six months. Birmans can be very subtle about going into heat and you want to spay her before she does. Becky
 

gurlpower

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My Venus got spayed when she was 4 months old... i picked up her the day after.... after 2 weeks, i had to remove the strings.. and i got really scared, and was extra careful
(using a mini scissor with rounds edges) so that i would not hurt her... :flash: :flash:
:flash:
:flash:
:flash:

Daisy
was spayed when she was about 6 months old...

Cheers!
 
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mars

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Thanks for the answer, people.

In less than 24 hours I opened the door of the living room and let her explore the rest of the apartment and she's doing well. She is still a little hesitant to enter the kitchen and bathroom but the only place she enters without hesitation is, of course, the only place where I want to keep off limits to her: the bedroom - I am alergic to cats so I want to keep my bedroom as free from allergens as possible. Though sleeping with the cat on the sofa is not helping much
Fortunately she got used to my sneezing

Are there many people like me, allergic cat lovers, here?

I have another question. I once had another cat that used to rub his face on me all the time. He was extremely shy and wouldn't let me pick him up but everytime I put my hands close to him he would rub his face and lick them for a long time. Even when I was trying to reproach him. I would point my finger to his nose and say "You're in big trouble buster!" and he would just rub his face on my finger :tounge2: But my new cat doesn't do that. At least not as much. She's friendly, let me pick her up, sleeps on my lap, come to me when I call her, but no face rubs. Is this normal? Is it because she's female? Is it just her personality or because she's still a little kitten?


Binkyhoo,
I just moved to Romania 5 months ago coming from Japan so I still have a lot to learn here. As I mentioned earlier, the biggest animal problems that I've seen here are the stray dogs. They are everywhere and roam the streets in packs. Quite dangerous. My wife was bitten twice and had to go through all those anti-rabbies injections. As I understood, the government tried to create a kind of animal shelter but dog lover citizens would just go there, pretend to adopt the dogs and simply release them in the streets again. And when the government proposed to catch the dogs and euthanase them Brigitte Bardot (the french actress and animal protector) came to Romania to fight for the dogs rights. It seems the government gave up on doing anything about it.

I tried to put a pic on my last post but it didn't work. Maybe I'm doing something wrong... Its just 28K. Let's try again.
 

ddestes

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Too cute!! My little boy rubs his nose on mine, he's the first kitty I've had that is that affectionate! He loves being kissed on and purrs up a storm, and will snuggle into the side of your neck. He's 9 months old and was neutered at 4 months. He's a European Burmese cream colored and is 10 pounds already!
 
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