Hi, I have a gorgeous new kitten named Rocky, he is very playful and lovely and gets on great with my other 1 year old cat Oscar. We obviously have a catflap for Oscar, and we've had rocky approx 3 weeks, he is around 14 weeks old. he is due to go to the vets tomorrow for his first injection.
However literally today he has noticed the cat flap and keeps trying to climb out! we have a regular stray who we have nicknamed "ginge" since ive moved into my house 5 months ago that keeps coming in for buscuits (which we dont encourage!) hes far to shy to come hear us but he gets on great with Oscar, hes not bothered by rocky and vise verse, although he just made a dash out the cat flap and wen i looked out the window, ginger was stood over him and looked like he was biting the back of his neck gently like he was holding on to him.. but i don't quite understand wot was going on there... i ran out either way ginge ran off and the kitten was absolutely fine. Im obviously concerned now that this is it, hes going to keep trying to climb out. so what i need to know is, wot age are kittens usually allowed to start going outside? and when is the soonest you can get your kitten neutered?
any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Kittens should not be going outside before they are 10 months -1 year old,vaccinated and neutered .Males are usually neutered around 5 months old ,vets can vary in the age that they will neuter some will do early neutering around 12-14 weeks.The reason it is better for kittens to be older is that they are so busy doing "kitten things" that they are not aware of the dangers and also they are not nearly mentally or physically strong enough to stand up for them selves against any adults in the area.

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Neutering is usually done around the 6month mark or when kitty gets to a certain body weight. If Oscar is a big kitten, he might be able to be done sooner.

Re letting him out - this is not recommended until a kitten is at LEAST 9 mths old but a year is better. This allows the kitten to grow to a decent size which it may need to defend itself against other cats and also for it to get a bit sensible and become aware of outside dangers. Kittens are too trusting and will go to anyone or anything.

Are you able to cat-proof your garden or provide a run that is safe for Rocky to go into? You'd be able to let him have outside access then but minus the dangers.

It sounds to me like Ginge knew Rocky was too young to be out and about and so stopped him running off. HOWEVER, if Ginge is a full tom-cat, then you need to be careful because toms can kill kittens. It is not unheard of.

The other option you have is to get a chipped cat flap which will only allow Oscar out.

Hope this helps......

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He shouldn't be outside until he has had his vaccinations anyway. I wouldn't want to let my cat out until they are big enough to look after themselves, unless of course they are just in the garden and no further. My kittens are 5 months old and I wouldn't be keen on letting them out even now, they aren't going to be going outdoors but if they were I would probably wait until about a year old. It's up to the owner though. How old was Oscar when he first went outside?

As for neutering, it differs from vet to vet. With males they usually wait until about 6 months but as I say it differs. They would probably look into getting it booked after he has had his second injection (he will be 17 weeks by then). Best thing to do is ask tomorrow when you take him for his injection as they may do it on age or possibly weight.

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Oscar was 4-5 months when i got him neutered because he was spraying all in the house and it smelled vile! He didn't go outside until he was around 7 months old but he was a large cat, but that wasn't through lack of trying aka running out between ur legs if u opened the door or trying to scramble out windows, i felt bad keeping him locked in but hes done marvelous since going out hes always come back. but what am i going to do about Rocky trying to escape all the time.. for now ive shut the cat flap and opened a window for Oscar, but that's not ideal really as i don't want him all over the kitchen counters and its going to be getting cold soon. I took Rocky to the vets in the first week wen he was 11 weeks and they said he was just over a kilo...