6 months for spaying

[PiperIsTerrysChoclateOrange]

I want to let my kitten out, but not until she is spayed and all vacs are up to date.

The vet said he doesn't recommen it till 6 months.

Is this normal

Id ring round other vets - most will do at 16-18 weeks if she is healthy and correct weight

Is she really big enough to be out? kittens are snack size prey.

Our vet refused to do ours at 5 months, I used another practice at 5.5m.

I thought it was by weight. Don't they have to be a certain size?

Yes, it's a general after all. Some charities neuter at 8 weeks but it means the new owners cant forget to do it and generate more cats.

I wouldnt imagine they'd advocate letting them out at 8 weeks.

Kittens risk assessments go like this.

"is this a dangerous thing to do that may lead to death or serious injury? AWESOME. lets do this".

Here's the current (and fairly authoritative) ICC guidance on neutering, Piper. You'll see that it discusses timing of neutering and, in fact, links to a Cat Group Policy Statement on the topic. Of course every vet is entitled to their own considered view on the matter.

Letting a very young animal out after neutering - at four months, say - is another matter, with different considerations.

Our girls are 14 weeks. At the moment I can't see me wanting to ever let them out. They are such babies!

Give it a month and they could easily be hormonal and noisy teenagers, Wolfie. (Seniorboy's litter brother sired a litter, unexpectedly, at 5 months just shortly before he was due to be neutered.)

My most recent kitten was done at 4 months - there seems to be a movement towards earlier spaying & certainly she was fine. It was February/March though so she didn't go out for ages afterwards.

Thing here from cats protection about doing it at 4 months & you can put in your post code to find a local vet

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

I now have a very feisty male kitten who is about 14½ weeks; he is booked in for neutering in 4 weeks but I can't keep him in, he trails the others straight out of the flap.

I do have a pretty secure backyard, & atm he's not going any further (they don't go far either), but I find myself wishing it would start raining regularly to discourage excursions

Sorry - that should have been Oneago's litter brother and not Seniorboy's.

Ours was trying to mount his sister at 16 weeks.

It's not that I want to let her out by herself. I have 6 foot fencing out my garden, however lots of tom cats come into the garden and I don't want her to get pregnant.

I ideally want her to be a house cat, but she loves it outside as long as it's not cold wet or windy.

I'm confused now as its say my vets does the op from 4 months

It is very difficult when they really want to go out!

Given your tom cat situation, you should def get her done asap after 4 months. Did you look at that cats protection page? is there a vet local to you that will do it early?

oh it does? you need to go back & query that then. Maybe it's just one individual vet who's resistant. (My vet is one of a chaine of about a dozen & officially they all do it at 4 months but the one I saw today said blithely "oh, you can leave it a couple of months!"

In fact I might even go back & try to reschedule mine a bit sooner! (although it's tricky as I'm on holiday for a week in 2 weeks)

Our boys were done at about 4.5m but it was when they had reached 2kg.

They are now six months old and going out briefly under supervision (enclosed garden but one did knock on the neighbour's patio doors before spooking and sprinting back home). I don't feel happy about letting them out on their own iyswim although of course ultimately that's the aim.

oh mine is over 2kg already, I'd forgotten about the weight thing.

did the neighbour react to the patio door knocking, MrsH?

Bless him, he came sprinting round to our house to warn us that the cat had got out

I said "what, the one with his face in the Felix?" because he'd run in while NDN was on his way, and I'd shut him and his brother inside again.

She is 12 weeks and I have had her since 6 weeks. Currently 1.2 kg.

I am her slave and her majesty deserves what I can do for her to keep her safe and heathy.

I have already paid for her jabs, insurance, microchip and 6 months worth of flea and worming treatment.

I love my cat and she is my world.

Added a pic

A few weeks ago

oh she is beautiful, Piper

she is a little thing too, I can see that. You'll just have to be her shadow as well as her slave, until she's bit bigger!

Mine is a monster in comparison!