When should a cat be spayed?

[newmumwithquestions]

Went to see 2 lovely 9 week old kittens today. Plan to adopt them (from cats protection). They said they’ll spay them in the next few days then I can take them.

When I’ve adopted before i’ve waited until they were 6/7 months to spay and just kept them inside until then. However this was many years ago so maybe things have changed.
I can see the blue cross recommend spaying at 4 months.

I get that no one wants cats getting out accidentally and getting pregnant but does 9 weeks sound very early to spay?

If the vet says it’s ok then yes, they won’t want to lose a kitten on the table. It is done sooner now.

It’s a while ago now, but my vet said do it the second the cat shows interest in getting outside. Our kitten was 12 weeks when I got her and she was spayed, vaccinated and chipped as soon as we could get an appointment

This was 9 years ago.

Four months. We (Celia Hammonds) in fact recommend from 3 to 4 months for a female and 4 months for a male. And we do our own rescue kittens longer still - they just need to weigh at least 1kg.

younger still, not longer.

Battersea do it at 9 weeks now - my last two kittens came already neutered.
When I adopted two from them 8 years ago it was a case of bring them back st 6 months to be done.

The charity I foster for neuters them at nine weeks. They must weigh a minimum of 800 grams.
Research shows that kittens spayed or neutered before 12 weeks of age have fewer complications from surgery than those over 12 weeks.
They also recover more quickly from the procedure.
Last but not least, the animal charity can ensure that 100% of animals leaving to new homes have been neutered. People don't always bring back the kittens for neutering once they have been adopted.

Looks like I’m out of date then (not surprisingly as my last cat lived until about 15).

Research shows that kittens spayed or neutered before 12 weeks of age have fewer complications from surgery than those over 12 weeks.
that’s good to hear :-)

My 3 were done yesterday at 4 months as recommended by my vet 🙂 they haven’t been outside yet just in case.

Oh gosh. My vet said 6 months...so kitten is booked in next month. Have I left it too late?

Oh gosh. My vet said 6 months...so kitten is booked in next month. Have I left it too late? confused

If your 3 are all girls or all boys, and you haven't let them out of the house yet, then it's not too late....

Oops - mixed the posts up
@FMFL - as long as you haven't let your kitten out yet and you don't have any other un-neutered cats, then you're not too late

Well one of the kittens was only 800g and they still went ahead and spayed which I’m not 100% about seeing the 1 kg limit mentioned above.
But they’re at home now, seem happy and already causing kitten havoc!

@LizB62A phew! Yes she’s an only kitten and hasn’t been outside yet... that’s a whole other worry! Thanks

They can be done at whatever age the vet is comfortable with. I'm happy to do at 800g, but then we do spey rats that are even smaller... so 800g doesn't seem that small to me!

Two of my little buggers have had to go back to be restitched 😔 so they are now in separate dog crates until they are healed.

Poor things keep crying as they are normally snuggled up together 💕

Pictures?

It's not so much the risk of a kitten dying on the operating table that I worry about, as the long-term effects of not reaching anything like sexual maturity. I'm not a vet, but aren't there behavioural differences in animals that are neutered very early? Urological problems? Orthopaedic concerns?

To me, this seems like a policy that is more about reducing the number of unwanted kittens in the future, rather than doing the best thing for individual cats. It's a very laudable aim, but I wonder if there are better ways of achieving it...such as asking potential owners to pay a £50 deposit, redeemable when the cat is neutered at six months, for example.

That is certainly true in dogs - we are recommending they are neutered later and later as time goes on. Especially for large breeds. But the research doesn't support this in cats - there appears to be no evidence of issues with early neutering.