Neutering and going outside

[Stokey]

Hello, advice please. We have a brother & sister kitten pair who are 14 weeks old. They've had their vaccinations.
Internet seems to say don't let them out until they're neutered and neuter at 4 months plus. Have spoken to a couple of local vets. One has stopped neutering, the other said they could do at 5 months as a brother sister pair.

Just wondered about experience of letting them out pre neutering & what age your kittens were neutered?

Don’t let them out before they are neutered.

Females can get pregnant from a very young age and it’s irresponsible to let an intact male out. They roam and can be aggressive to other cats and of course they can impregnate any feral female cat or a pet that someone has been irresponsible enough not to have neutered.

Guidelines are to neuter from 4 months - ask the vet practices why they aren't following current guidance

icatcare.org/advice/neutering-your-cat/
www.fve.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/FVE-position-early-neutering-cats.pdf
www.bluecross.org.uk/pet-advice/neutering-your-cat

As far as I know vets arent neururing full stop atm (because of corona)

@IndiaMay As the current general advice is to keep un neutered kittens inside, vets are neutering girl/boy pairs, as they will be together and the female will be at risk of getting pregnant.

The recommendation is to neuter where there is a clear welfare benefit.

Preventing breeding in a boy-girl pair would fit with this

A lot of vets have started neutering again. They should be done at four months. As above, ask they vet why they aren't following guidelines. And don't let them out!

Goddards say they haven't started neutering and are only doing emergency ops. The other local vet said they think 4 months is too young and would normally wait till 6 but could do 5 at a push because they are male/female pair. They are still quite small & skinny!

Goddards you say. Are you in London?

I'm assuming North London from the name. Try some more vets. Rescues neuter kittens as long as they weigh 1kg. We, Celia Hammonds, will neuter clients' cats from 3 months. We are doing females at the moment (as they are an emergency in our opinion). If you don't have any joy with private vets please try the Canning Town branch.

Our boy/girl pair were both done at 4 and a bit months - and TBH I don't think it would have been a good idea leaving it later - boy cat was already getting interested.

Boy cat didn't even notice his op - the nurses were all in love with him by the end of the day because he was eating and talking to them from the moment he woke up apparently.

Girl cat had a much harder time and needed painkillers for longer, and I slept downstairs with her on my lap the first too nights, the poor thing.

Could you persuade them to at least do the boy, and then wait until the girl is a bit older (and keep them both in until then?)

Can I defend the practices who are not neutering because of Covid the RCVS flow chart allows us to neuter if it is safe and suitable to do so. Many practices have vets and nurses who are shielding and so staff numbers maybe low so the entire staff is taken up dealing with urgent and emergency cases so no capacity for neutering,

Yes absolutely @Lonecatwithkitten
Apologies I should have said that the recommendation is to neuter where there is a clear welfare benefit. And social distancing/staff safety can be assured. My earlier post referred to clinics who are engaging in routine ops and you're quite right that not all practices are able to do this safely, and done do not have the resources.

The other local vet said they think 4 months is too young and would normally wait till 6

Based on what?

Thanks all. thecatneuterer not quite Stokey any more but close. Canning Town Celia Hammond was my first choice of rescue home but weren't adopting during lockdown so found another local rescue home that were, but they don't neuter. I will definetly ring them. The other vet didn't give any reasons, just said they were too young. They do weigh 1.5kg though so hopefully are big enough.
Goddards did say to ring back in a couple of weeks to see if their policy had changed.

Treestumps good to hear the boy wasn't bother, but your poor little female.

OP - we never stopped homing. We stopped open days, and home checks became virtual, and you had to choose your cats/kittens by video link, but we certainly never stopped.

Lonecat - the guidelines I was referring to were the four month v six month ones - not the Covid related ones (which I'm very hazy on to be fair).

So OP, you could come to us. If she is only 1.5kg that is quite small and you could probably wait another two or three weeks - as long as you don't let her out and there is no sign of her coming into season.

I used a kitten neutering database online to find a vet that would do mine at 4 months as my vet said they wouldnt do it until 6 months

I thought kittens could be neutered earlier than that - from about 10 weeks depending on weight?

But yeah, don't let them out til they're done!

www.cats.org.uk/what-we-do/neutering/find-a-vet