Is 5 months old too late for Hermie to be fixed?

[NoahsMommy]

We rescued Hermione from a woman that does TNR. When we took our baby home, she said she would take Hermie to be fixed and it would only cost us $35.00.

We've been talking about when to do it and she was concerned Hermie might have scar tissue due to her little laryngitis problem when we first got her. I consulted my vet and they recommended the vet doing the spay do an exam first, to make sure she'll be OK under anesthesia.

I told this to Carol (TNR woman) and she got back to me after talking with her surgeon tech daughter, saying she wanted to wait until Hermie was 5 months old.

Is that too long? When will females go into heat?? I'm so worried she'll have "feelings" and that it'll create problems.

Let me know what you think. Thank you! :)

[catlady1945]

Cats going into heat vary, but usually it is at 7 or 8 months.

[NoahsMommy]

Thank you catlady1945. :)

We've only had kitten boys, our girls already came fixed, so I'm unsure this time. With Noah and Basil, I fixed them as soon as I could.

[Randy_K]

No, five months is not too late.

[IttyBittyKitty]

But I would be keeping her indoors as a precaution. Most girlies don't come into heat until at least six months, but I had a girl kitty who did go into heat at five months. Unlike other cats we've had who have been in heat, she showed no signs of being in heat or of any discomfort at being shut up inside. It wasn't until she was mating under my bedroom window one night that I realised that she was on heat!!

[wolflady]

No, in your household, 5 months wouldn't be too late. I have seen some situations where kittens 6 months old had kittens, but since your baby is inside with all "fixed" kitties, she should be fine. On the other hand, it's probably not too early for her to get fixed either. The vet at our shelter is fixing kittens as early as 6-8 weeks!! :eek: But I do know that they are doing it earlier and earlier nowadays. I remember when everyone had to wait until the 6 month mark.
I would go with what you think is best. I would say, sure she'd be fine to wait until 5 months, but if you want to go with the exam first to see if it can be done now, that would be fine too:)

Give that cutie a kissie for me! ;)
**hugs**

[TheAntiPam]

Sounds like a perfect time to take care of Sir Jury for Hermie. My Noodle went into heat at about 5.9 months - but fortunately she is around all fixed kitties.

As far as I know, even if she did have her first heat, there wouldn't be anything terrible about having her fixed after that. The only problem I know of about letting cats "mature' is that male cats sometimes start marking their territory and don't stop even when they get fixed.

Good luck to you and Hermie - tickle her tummy for me!

[NoahsMommy]

Hrm...you all have me half convinced to just take her to our vet, where she has always gone, for her spay soon. I don't want to risk her being an early bloomer.

I don't know if saving $$ is worth waiting. I DON'T want her or the other cats to know anything about S-E-X (although, poor Micah sure knows his fair share. :( :( :( ).

[Barbara]

Tigris' mom - a Siberian Forest Cat - was what you call an early bloomer. She began to date his dad :D before anybody knew about it and was pregnant before anybody noticed. She gave birth to 4 wonderful and unplanned babies and one of them is our handsome Tigris.
However for her it was nearly too much. She was so small -7 months at birth time - and the babies nearly eat her up. However she was a very good mom and after the kittens had left her gained weight again and was fine.
The kittens all got very good homes -they were just too cute and very healthy and strong:)

[K & L]

Our little Boo came into to heat very young! It does vary but can happen as early as 4 months. If it were me, I'd pay the extra and not take the chance.

[neko1]

All my kitties were fixed at 6 months and I never had any problems. I think it's a good idea to get her fixed now.

[Former User]

We asked about this from our vet on Friday when we went to take Tessa & Felix for their shots, and he said that he never does cats that are under 6 months old.
I guess it varies on cats then when they get mature. Kitty was done when she was close to 8 months because she wasn't ready yet.
Good luck on whatever you decide :)

[sasvermont]

As far as I know, 6 months is the standard. Some shelters spay the little ones way too early as far as I am concerned, but their concern is that they do not want cats reproducing under "their watchful eye"....so they often do it at 3 or 4 months. The same is true with male kitties. All that said, I think you will be fine with 6 months, keeping the little one inside and your doors secured so that if she does become "receptive", no unaltered male cat can come courting!

Juni Rose is scheduled for September for her spaying. She is so, so tiny now....I may just wait another month. My vet really encourages spaying and neutering.....at six months.

Good luck. She will be fine!:cool:

[Felicia's Mom]

I had one spayed at 6 months and had no problems.

[Killearn Kitties]

Six months is normal here as well. I know our vet isn't happy to do it much earlier.

[Barbara]

Originally posted by sasvermont


Juni Rose is scheduled for September for her spaying. She is so, so tiny now....I may just wait another month. My vet really encourages spaying and neutering.....at six months.



I also think with Abys it may take longer. We broought Tigris in with 6 or 7 months because he began to show unwanted behavior:D

With Filou it was 9 months. He also was so small. But he began to sing loudly in the staircase all night and we got an appointment:( .

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

I think when I took Tubby, the age pre-requisite was 3 months. Now, you have to remember that when I got Tubby, I was told her was a girl, and didn't find out different until I made the appointment to have him spayed. So when I called about it, they said they wouldn't do it until she/he was at least 3 months because any younger than that and they might have problems with the anesthesia. Although, you have to remember, this was 16 1/2 years ago now, and I'm sure technology and medicines have come a long way. I would say that she would be just fine with it whenever you brought her in now. And I almost think the younger the better because then I don't think they'll remember as much.

:)

[dragonchilde]

Please, don't get kitties spayed so young. Five months is a good, healthy age to do it.

Spaying too young CAN endanger a kitten's life. I saw a case at my vet's office where the kitten was spayed at 3 months, and she nearly died. She was too young for the anesthesia, and too weak to recover well from the surgery. She survived, but it was a close thing.

Talk to your vet first, and wait until at LEAST after four months to have your little lady spayed. I don't know about males, considering there is a non-invasive surgery, but please be careful with your females.

[HayleyRosie]

Hayley was spayed at six months of age. Our vet will not do the operation until the cat is 6 months. Mandy is scheduled to be spayed on August 29th. I am hoping she is going to get a little bigger by then. I am afraid she is too small. She is a lot smaller than Hayley was at her age.

[Lerah021399]

5 months is not too late to get her spayed. Ali was nearly 2 years old before she got spayed...not by my doing. Ali was my sister's cat at the time and she didn't have the money to get her spayed. Ali was and still is a indoor kitty, so there was not chance of her getting pregnant, but she sure did drive us crazy w/ her yowling:eek: I don't suggest waiting that long to get Hermie spayed, but don't worry about it being too late for her.

As far as being too young, Jack was too young when he was neutered. We got him from a shelter that required him to be fixed before we could take him home. They said that as long as he was two pounds that he could be fixed. He was 2-3 months at the time and barely 2 pounds. He had a very hard time coming out of the anesthesia after it was over and had a very high temperature the next day.

[catland]

I've always heard that six months was a good age.

Since this is your first experience with a female, you need to know that it will take Hermoine longer to recover than your boys. Her's is a much more invasive sir-jury so expect her to be pretty groggy and tired for a couple of days. She'll just want to sleep it off in a quiet spot (I can remember Jan snoozing under a dresser - we put a box with a towel down there for her).

[Nomilynn]

Tilly was spayed at 6mos, and she had been a stray. She never had a litter, but she was exposed to the "big bad world" ;) She hasn't had any strange effects from it.

I don't remember how old Bassett and Nutmeg were. I guess Nutmeg was around 4mos, and Bassett was around 5, but Bassett was already in heat when I took her in (I didn't know, but I had suspicions).

I think it should be ok :)

[gini]

Kelly, Little Misses Emma and Annie were just about nine months old when they were fixed. That is what made me bring them indoors because I was sure they were going into heat.

(males I had never seen before were circling the house like buzzards).

They both did just fine.

But I think waiting until they are at least six months old is a good rule.

[denver83tet]

6 months here too :)

[krazyaboutkatz]

I also think that 5-6 months is probably the best age to get a cat spayed. My RB Pepper was already neutered when I adopted him and he was only 9 weeks old at the time. I couldn't believe that they had already fixed him. Good luck with whatever you decide. :)