Whats your views on.....

[Elaine]

Spaying and nuetering at a very early age? The article below talks about dogs but surely the same applies to cats.
[link removed]
I personally think an animal should be allowed to mature before spaying/nuetering. I can understand and apreciate why it would be done at an earlier age in the case of feral colonies but would you have your own cat/pet neutered under the age of 6 months?

[Moli]

All my boys, barr Chancer were neutered at 4 months, I prefer to have it done as soon as possible....My vet was quite happy to do them all at that age...and can honestly say they have not had any ill effects because of it...

[Erin]

I had Tink done when she was just over 5 and a half months old but that was only because Milo was starting to show an interest in her,and I wanted to wait untill he was 8 months untill I had him done.
Jerry was 8 months when he was done.

I really wish I would have waited getting Choc done though,he was done at 6 months and it wasnt untill after I was told by my vet the best time to have the male dogs done was 16 months when they had fully matured. Again the only reason he was done early was because he was showing an interest in Lil and our vets (the one we were using at the time) would not spay untill she had had her first season.
I guess one of them would have had to have been done early what ever way I look at it,but had I have known before hand I could have sent Choc to my brothers for a few weeks and had him done later.

Maybe he wouldnt be such a pain in the butt if I had waited :lol:

[angieh]

Your lil Choc a pain in the butt? Never!

I really don't know enough about the neutering/age issue. I wonder if there is any evidence that later neutering of male cats might have any effect on the number of cats that suffer from cystitis or other urinary problems. Does anyone know if there is any literature on this?

[Moli]

My Leo was done at 4 months, and he is troubled with urinary problems, been on medication for it for the past 6 years...

[smudgley]

The link has been removed, so can't read it. When you say young....how young?

Some cats are being done now at 6 weeks old. :(

[charliebubs]

6 weeks old is definitely too young - but I have read up on them being done at about 4 months and I think that as long as there are no health implications (which there don't seem to be from the research that has been done in the States) it's a good idea.

It ties in with my response to the "pedigree or moggie" debate - as if we, as breeders, could neuter our kittens before they went to their new homes it would eliminate the possibility of their new owners going into unregistered breeding, and I'm all for that.

I think more research is needed before we can make any definite decisions.

I had Red neutered at just over 4 months - as I didn't want the risk of him mating Lily - and he has had no health problems.

[alexgirl73]

well, my Broxi was done at just over a year old and he ended up with urinary probs, whereas Cooper was done at just over 4 months and (touch wood) he's never had any.

As you know, in our branch of CP we spey the girls at 12 weeks and the males at 13 weeks. Our vet has done a lot of research on this and wouldn't do it unless she was satisfied it was completely safe to do so.