Neutering kittens

[MissTeBe]

I have just refined two male kittens from a rescue/rehoming charity

They are about 3 months old

At what age should they be neutered? Does it make a difference that they’re both male?

[MissTeBe]

*rehomed

[QuestionableMouse]

My vet wanted them to be over a certain weight. Iirc 3kg but if you ring your vet they should be able to tell you.

[SuburbanRhonda]

Agree - phone your vet.

[MissTeBe]

My vet says 7 months

Everything I’ve read on the j Turner says earlier is better, ideally 4 months

[viccat]

Ideally before they reach sexual maturity so around 4-5 months of age at the latest. Some vet's still have outdated views on this though and want to wait longer...

If they reach sexual maturity they can develop some behavioural issues and start urine marking as they are male. (For female kittens you want to neuter before their first season to avoid some health issues and prevent the frustration of being in season.)

[cricketmum84]

Usually between 4-5 months - although my new kitten was nowhere near big enough at 4 months so we ended up waiting until her weight had gone up a little before it could be done.

[serbska]

You should be able to have it done at 4 months if they are big and healthy enough. Its a super easy op for a male.

[Vinorosso74]

Yep 4 months is recommended. Our vet says they should be done by 5 months. Obviously if they are too small you may need to wait.

[cricketmum84]

@MissTeBe you are aware that you aren't allowed to use the word kitten without an accompanying pic of the wee bundles of fluff don't you??

[MissTeBe]

Smokey and Simba

[thecatneuterer]

4 months

[Vinorosso74]

Toe floofs! They are very cute.

[Vinorosso74]

As an aside I saw some of the Yorkshire Vet TV program this week (staying with my parents) and he seemed late neutering his own young cat who he'd acquired as a young kitten. My point being it wasn't sending out a very responsible message.

[cricketmum84]

😍 very cute!

[dementedpixie]

My 2 boys were done at 4 months. I had to use an alternative vet though as mine said 6 months

[WickedGirl]

Because mine are from a charity, I need to use the vet they’ve already paid for the neutering

[Whatsthisbear]

My vet said 6 months and a certain weight

[AveABanana]

We had boy/ girl sibling set. He was a right porker so was done on the dot of 4 months as was well over the lower weight but we had to wait until almost 6 months for her as she was only close to 2 kg even then - but not going out so safe from pregnancy.

[Cailleach1]

I have brother and sister cats. The vet told us 6 months. However, at around 4 to 4 and a half months, the boy got very frisky, physical and domineering with the girl cat. We were very nervous, as you can imagine with a male and female, and really pushed to get them done at around 5 months.

We were very glad we did as you could see the difference in his behaviour straight away. He had been sexually maturing. And all were safe from inbred kittens. Ours were/are strong, healthy and great eaters. Maybe this helped their (what we thought seemed premature) sexual development.

[Cailleach1]

Ave, I'm laughing at your porker. Describes my boy, too.

[hartof]

16 weeks was the youngest our vet would do and he went in at 17 weeks. Mum has a kitten about 2 weeks younger, took her to pets at home vet for scheduled neutering and they said kittens have to be at least 2kg.

[AveABanana]

And you've described the frisky incestuous humping very well too!
Would two boys fight instead?

[emelsie]

Yep did my 2 (brother and sister) both at 4 months .

[dementedpixie]

Cats protection have a kitten neutering database that I used to find a vet to do my boys at 4 months:

www.cats.org.uk/what-we-do/neutering/enr

[maZebraltov]

I think I read that feral cats are often neutered about 2m old. Boys, anyway "If we can see 'em we can snip 'em." One of my boys was humping his brother by 5m old. I lied to the vet about their age to get mine done quick after that (vet was saying 6m). Phone around to see what other vets say?