Neutering kittens at 7 months old - will that be a problem?

[laurich]

Hi,

I have two male kittens that are 4 months old each (they are not littermates, I adopted them separately so they could have company). They are not neutered yet. Their vet told me that they recommend neutering at 6 months of age, so I've recently started looking for appointments. Their current vet can perform their surgeries at the beginning of October at full price. There is another vet that will take a voucher from our local shelter and do it for free, but the earliest appointment is mid-November. I am struggling with money so this second option sounds very appealing but I worry I might start seeing behavioral problems if I don't neuter them as soon as possible. I worry they might start fighting with each other, spraying and even running away if this doesn't get done soon.

Have you had kittens get neutered as late as 7 months (or older) and if so, did you start seeing behavioral changes due to testosterone? Should I go to the earliest vet and pay for the whole surgery?

 

[maggie101]

I would go ahead with surgery before things get worse mentally and physically then have to take them to the vet.so it might cost more to wait. Less stressful on you because of that and cleaning up messes on the floor. At that age,they are teenagers so it will be hard if their not fixed

 

[Ash's_Devoted_Owner]

Cats actually reach sexual maturity at four months of age. When my cat was four months, he was rather aggressive, and I saw that almost instantly go away after he was neutered. Now, he attacks when he is stressed, scared, or being bothered. He did not ever spray, but we never had any other cats. Typically, cats are neutered at six months of age because this is when they go into their first heat. I recommend getting the surgery done right away, but, if financial stress gets to you, I have heard wonderful things about cat hormones like Feliway.

 

[Elphaba09]

I have to agree with maggie101 . It is better to get them neutered sooner than later. I completely understand the money issue. Maybe get one neutered before the other? Have you looked around to other places? The clinic I took all but the last six of our cats (and the ferals) to closed down a couple of years ago, so I went looking. There ended up being a place 40 minutes away that was much cheaper than anywhere I had previously looked. ($40 for neutering and $70 for spaying. That includes pain medication.) Maybe if you expand your search area, you might find something more affordable?

I had my 19-year-old Simon neutered when we got him. He was 10 at the time! But that was completely different. (Before he was neutered, he would pee out the window when an animal walked by. He never was aggressive with the other cats, nor did he mark everywhere.)

 

[ArtNJ]

I believe there are countries where the average age of neutering is after 7 months. In the US, there has been a trend to do it earlier and earlier, and that is probably better as everyone is telling you. However, I don't think 7 months is particularly unusual or likely to cause problems, and there are still vets in the US (mostly older ones) that recommend even later. What Age Should You Spay or Neuter Your Cat? | PetMD

So if there is no good way to get it done earlier, I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it.