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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

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Original poster

When to get male kitten neutered?

43 replies

Nahhh · 17/08/2021 22:31

My kitten is coming up to 5 months old. He’s had his first two lots of vaccinations. I was always under the impression that cats should be neutered ASAP but my vet says we should wait until he’s around 8 months old to let him “mature”. I’ve never heard of this before so I was wondering what other people’s opinions are.

He LOVES exploring the garden but is beginning to get too adventurous for his own good (see picture of him up a tree) and I’m worried that he will try and venture out soon which obviously isn’t a good idea pre-op….

OP posts:

Heronatemygoldfish · 18/08/2021 09:03

Early neutering stunts growth? HAHAHA. I'd hate to think what size our boy moggie would be if we'd neutered him at later than 4 months if that was the case! He's 5.5kg, about 4cm taller than his mum (rescued at same time and she'd not exactly small either) and we joke that his dad must've been massive!

PeonyTime · 18/08/2021 09:10

Before you let him out.
So, since you are already letting him out, ASAP.

dementedpixie · 18/08/2021 09:20

I had to go to a different vet to get my 2 boys neutered as mine said 6 months. There is a kitten neutering database online that shows vets near you that offer neutering from 4 months or earlier.

dementedpixie · 18/08/2021 09:21

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

NotWanting · 18/08/2021 09:25

He should be out at all if he hasn't been done.

All our cats were done at 4 months.

Grumpyoldpersonwithcats · 18/08/2021 09:42

My most recent pair were done at 9 weeks at Battersea. They are both small cats, but I assume they would have been anyway.
Basil and Sybil were done at 6 months (which was the norm 10 years ago). That was early enough to avoid any trouble between them.

Anonaymoose · 18/08/2021 09:54

Never let an entire male out, not if you want to see him again!. I do work for a cat shelter, almost all the stray cats that get brought in are young entire males who have wandered, usually not chipped either so no chance of reuniting with owners. Many more don't make it to a shelter as they are often the victims of road traffic accidents.
The benefits of neutering a young kitten (and they can be neutered from 2kg, age is irrelevant) far outweighs the risks.
I have never heard of a vet advising delaying neutering of cats, sounds like he's got his species confused and is thinking of dogs!

lljkk · 18/08/2021 09:55

Cat2 was humping his brother so I (lied to vet) & got them both done at 5.5 months.

Worriesandwobbles · 18/08/2021 11:21

Same as other posters, vet advised 6 months but as we had a mixed sibling pair and he was trying it on with her he agreed to neuter both at 5 months.

Notaroadrunner · 18/08/2021 11:22

I read on here recently that boys can be done at 4 months so off I went to the vet to book him in. But they won't do it until 6 months.

dementedpixie · 18/08/2021 11:25

@Notaroadrunner

I read on here recently that boys can be done at 4 months so off I went to the vet to book him in. But they won't do it until 6 months.

Thats why i used the kitten neutering database and took my boys to a vet that would do it at 4 months

AnnaMagnani · 18/08/2021 17:57

I've also seen some inter-sibling action between unneutered mixed sex kittens, was woken up by the bed shaking

My neighbour has also rehomed 2 stray boys and is currently feeding another - all lost with balls intact. Young cats have v little brains and when those are under the influence of testosterone they are even smaller.

Notdoingthis · 18/08/2021 22:37

We went for 4 months as we have a mixed sib pair. Also small kids and we wanted to be able to leave doors open without worrying.

TableNiner · 18/08/2021 22:59

4 months and definitely before outdoor access.

Cerebelle · 18/08/2021 23:53

My boys were done at just over 5 months and 2.5kg. They are from the same litter and almost a year old now. They used to be the same size but now one is tiny and one is massive. The tiny one seems to eat more than fatty so I think it's just their natural sizes.

ChickNorris · 19/08/2021 01:12

4 months. Not 6. We waited until 6 which was late. By this time the sexual urges have definitely kicked in. Ours was an indoor cat so no danger to the outside cat population but my point is that even after neutering some sort of an 'echo' or a memory of this feeling remained. I believe that this was responsible for what I interpret as sexually charged/slightly agressive/dominant behaviour towards our other cat.
Do check with your vet again. The 4 month/2kg rule sounds right to me and it definitely reflects my experience.

Animum2 · 19/08/2021 07:52

We got our Gizmo in April aged 8 months, he was unvaccinated and unneutured so we got the vaccinations done and yesterday we had him neutered

He's wearing a cone and bumping into everything but he seems fine now after a wobbly evening

dementedpixie · 19/08/2021 08:06

Don't need a cone after neutering unless surgery was complicated. Neither of mine had one

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