Vet won't neuter till 7 months old

[Plump82]

My vet wont neuter my boy cat till he's 7 months old. She said it's better for his bones. Our girl will be speyed at 6 months. I'm worried that the boy cat will start spraying every where. I'm guessing i cant insist hes done earlier?

Cat rescues neuter at 1kg. My vet would have done it at 4 months but of course the kittens were already done from rescue.

You can try challenging the vet with the guidelines but they don't have to do as you say, they practise as they are comfortable.

But I'd be v concerned with a 7 month boy cat, keeping them indoors that long and going nuts - or going out and potentially creating kittens or being more risky because he is following his hormones, developing adult behaviour rather than being neutered early.

I'd find a new vet.

I would really advise you to take the vet’s advice. Neutering them too early can cause complications in the future. Your female kitten is too small for the surgery, standard vet advice is seven months and 3kgs.

What irresponsible bollocks!!! Standard vet advice (Royal Veterinary College) is to neuter at 4 months. Most rescues neuter as long as the cat is at least 1kg.

OP, you really do need to find another vet.

It is irresponsible to get a boy and girl cat. Seriously!

I have a boy and girl, litter mates. My vet also said 6 months. At around 4 and a half months the boy was getting very aggressive and developing at a rapid pace. We think she would have been pregnant if we waited until 6 months. We were lucky as there was another vet at the practice and he neutered both of them for us at around/just before the 5 month mark.

Ours were teletubbies, though. Over that 2kg mark.

Oh, I see it is 1kg.

It isn't irresponsible to get a male and a female, so long as they are neutered at the correct time, which is four months! It's irresponsible of vets to follow very out of date guidelines.

I blame the vet too, not the OP

It's definitely not irresponsible to get mixed sex pairs of kittens!! What a load of rubbish! All of my cats are rescues and we had them all as kittens, rescue centre had actually suggested the first pair to me as a boy and girl mix because they rehomed them to me on the understanding that I take them to the vets the rescue used or my own vet and neuter at 4 months. It's been standard advise to neuter at 4 months for years now. Change vets OP, and then change back again after neutering. Lots of people do this when they neuter via the PDSA low income voucher scheme so the vets shouldn't have an issue with it.

We had our girl done younger and she's absolutely fine. CPL current advice is 4 months or younger. I'd definitely give them a call as they should know vets in the area that will do this. Did you rehome them from a charity? I ask as they might also have advice about where you can have them done?

We are in NZ and our rescue kittens were neutered at 15 weeks. The kitten charity we got them from does not rehome kittens until they're neutered.

I've called 5 vets this morning in areas I can get to and the earliest any of them said was 5 months. The cats will be 5 months on Christmas day! On the CPL link posted earlier there's one vet my old cat went to and I wasn't happy with the treatment they gave her so i won't be using that and the others are physically impossible for me to get to. Like hours on various busses. Ill look into them further though.

My seriously should have had a ? I was just responding to an earlier poster's comments saying it was irresponsible. I have two very happy, opposite sex litter mates who just about tolerate each other. They are still individually very happy.

If you got one sex only and they went outside before they were neutered, you'd end up with early reproduction anyways. And all the littler mates that would have to be separated.

6 months would have been too late for us. Why are some vets (knowing you have one of each sex, even if indoors) still advocating this.

Just throwing it out there but im in Scotland. Is advise different up here. Are vets slow on the uptake?

I'm in Scotland too. Dont know why so many vets dont want to do it at a younger age

It's so frustrating because I always planned on getting them done at 4 months. I called my friends vets (the friends whos kittens are from the same litter as mine) and they said 6 months also despite my pals kitten going in next week. He'll be just under 4 months so i suspect shes maybe told them they're older than they are.

I'm in Scotland and every vets I've ever worked at will neuter at 4 months. By 5 months you're female will almost certainly end up pregnant. In fact we neutered a 4 month old boy today because he was showing interest in the owners female kitten, he's right as rain and already home. There is no reason whatsoever yours can't be done now.

Alittleprivacyplease - I'm not disagreeing that they can't be done. I just cant find a vets in my area who will at 4 months!!

Update I've found a vet who will do them just under 5 months old. This is the earliest im going to get so i went with the appointment and if by some miracle I find somewhere else then I'll go with them.

Safer than waiting until 7 months. Hope all goes well

I think you'll have to separate the cats from 4 months until they're neutered. Could you find a temp home for one of them?

@Plump82 I had the same advice but had to have my boy done at 2 months! His mother was feral and he was prepped and ready to rumble at that age. Luckily, he didn't spray, just used to shag his blankie, have a happy ending and fall asleep. The vet advised that had he started spraying, it could become a habitual behaviour rather than instinctual. It's not held him back - he's a massive moggie - almost 9kgs and fine

MrsCatEThigh luckily hes showing no signs of that. He just gallopes about everywhwre and is like a clumsy baby elephant. No grace what so ever. And theres no toilet issues but i appreciate ill need to keep a really close eye on all of this plus on her.