Hello all,

Our gorgeous new kitten Rocco has been with us since Easter Sunday and he is just adorable. He has been reluctantly accepted by our first cat Luna, although she is still quite moody with him and gets annoyed with all his pouncing and chasing. I'm sure she secretly loves him though ;-)

The breeder strongly recommended that I get him neutered ASAP to avoid problems (spraying etc) so I have booked him in for next Wednesday. He is 4.5 months old which traditionally is viewed as early, and the vet expressed this when I booked the appointment. I'm going with what the breeder recommends but just want to see if any of you have an informed opinion on this subject? He is a Devon Rex and she said that they reach sexual maturity early, hence her encouragement to neuter without delay.

Thanks for any views!
Saskia

I don't have any experience with Cornish Rexs but I have two male maine coons from different breeders. Oscar(our first MC) was neutered at just under 6 months and Leo was neutered by the breeder's vets at 14 weeks. I have read that Maine Coons are slow to develop and many people recommended leaving neutering till as late as possible (7 or 8 months) in order for them to get to a good size and have the full ruff, large heads etc. As Oscar was intended to be indoor/outdoor I felt that getting him neutered was more important than having a huge cat. He is in fact the smaller of my two despite later neutering. We often joke that he still has a testicle somewhere giving him his naughty disposition He is the alpha cat in the house and has "catitude" but I haven't noticed any negative impact from Leo's early neutering, he has the full ruff now and is developing into a beautiful big boy. Just my opinion but I am sure others will disagree as even our vets have different views on this.

Cats neutered early do tend to be a bit larger because their bone growth ends about 5-7 months later than in intact cats. In unneutered cats hormones signal bones to stop growing, so the bone growth ends sooner. But secondary sexual characteristics don't develop in cats neutered early, such as rounded head in males.

Kittens are successfully neutered nowadays as young as 8 weeks. Mine were neutered just a little over 5 months and their recovery was magnificent, so I don't think you should worry about it!

More about neutering - notice that the only two "problems" with neutering before the age of 7 months are prolonged bone growth (which is not really a problem) and adhesion of the prepuce to the penis (which is only speculated to be a problem but no adverse effects have been reported, because in reality nothing bad happens to cats with this adhesion.)

My vets don't do early neutering as a rule but they go the 2kg in weight or 6 months but monty was done at about 5 months as he reached 2 kg and as I had two un-neutered cats of the opposite sex I wanted it done asap, as long as he is a good weight and his *ahems* are present and correct then it should be fine.

I dont think that 4-6months is 'early'

5 months will be fine

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Thanks Def Kitty. I didn't know that. I thought it was the other way around

Mine were dont at six months but i would of done them early if my vet allowed it i tryed from just under five months to get them done. Recovery was fine they were back to being normal within a few hours and some cuddles xxx

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Mummy to Dexter and Ollie <3

I have Oci's and was recommended 4 months and they were done at around 4.5 - I knew that a few people had their kittens done before they went to their forever homes and that some people waited to about 6/7 months, and now I know why!

No-one informed us that neutering early would result in a bigger cat, but after reading that article it makes sense.

We're getting two Siberian kittens, a brother and sister, and will be getting them both neutered. Obviously we want to avoid any possibility of them attempting to mate with each other.

When is the best time to get co-habiting male and female kittens neutered to avoid this possibility?

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Bonnie and the gang xxx

Any time before they reach sexual maturity is a good time.