AT WHAT AGE CAN I HAVE MY CAT NEUTERED?

Ideally, your vet will advise you according to each case, age, state of health, lifestyle and other details. However, here we will give you some hints to help you know when the time is right.

WHAT IS STERILISATION?

For male cats, both testicles are removed. This is a short and very safe surgery. In this procedure, two small incisions are made which, in one week, will be practically healed. The process is quick and the recovery is fantastic.

For females, it is slightly more complex because their reproductive organs are located in the abdominal cavity. However, with the techniques used today, a small incision is made through which the ovaries and the uterus (sometimes only the ovaries) are removed. Recovery is very quick and, in a few days, they will be living a normal life.

FROM WHAT AGE CAN THEY BE STERILISED?

Currently, there is talk of pre-pubescent castrations in the case of colony animals. These are carried out from an age of only two months and their aim is to reduce the number of unwanted litters. Although there are studies that support this type of early spaying and neutering, the truth is that it is something that has been done relatively recently and there is still a little fear of the possible consequences that it may have on behaviour or development. Even so, many vets who have been doing it for years advise and encourage us to put it into practice because of the ethical management of colonies and our responsibility in it.

The best thing to do with indoor kittens (that do not have access to the outdoors or belong to colonies) is to sterilise at 4-6 months of age, and in any case before the age of one year.

STERILISATION IN FEMALES:

Females may begin to exhibit signs of heat as early as 5 months of age, depending on the time of year in which they are born. Female cats are seasonally polyoestrous animals, i.e. they start their heat when the days and hours of light start to get longer, and with the increase in temperature, they usually have heat episodes every 3 weeks, although each cat can have different cycles.

Heat in cats is quite noticeable, as they can spend the day or night screaming, they can run away and it brings no benefit to them as it prevents them from leading a normal life.

In no case is it recommended that female cats have a litter before being sterilised and, therefore, it is advisable to sterilise them before the first heat without negative consequences for them. On the contrary, they are animals that develop normally and will live a normal life once they have recovered from surgery.

STERILISATION IN MALES:

As soon as unsterilised males develop sexually, they may begin to engage in marking behaviour (urinating on what they consider to be their territory), aggression towards other males and a tendency to run away from home to find a partner.

Spaying and neutering before the marking of territory behaviour appears can make living with male cats much more bearable and, although not all cats mark their territory and it is not always a sexual behaviour, the fact is that early spaying and neutering helps to prevent this behaviour from appearing.
Male spaying and neutering is a very safe procedure and will allow us to have a much calmer life partner who will not be stressed out about finding a partner or fighting for his territory.

María González.
Founder of Refugio La Vida Color Frambuesa and vet for VeggieAnimals.