[iheartkittys]

I just got back from a shelter in Dallas, TX who told me some alarming news!! I was looking at a litter of lilac siamese kittens who were about 4 weeks old (the mother was onsite) I was interested in adopting one UNTIL the lady told me that I would adopt the kitten today (paperwork and such) - he would be fixed sometime next week and THEN i could take him home!!!! I looked at her like she was crazy and said "At 5 weeks??? Are you JOKING ME???" :roll: The lady told me that I couldn't have the kitten until he was fixed...and that they are starting to fix the kittens before anybody can take them home. How nuts is this???!!!

 

[Chinisimo]

that's crazy. what my shelter did was that they sent the cat to a vet for a more thorough check up and shots and such. if the kitten is too young to be fixed, you'll have to put down a deposit and make an appointment in a few months to bring the kitten back for the operation.

she must be new there. that's totally unsafe for a kitten that young to go under the knife. i'm sure the vet will agree too

 

[queen of the nile]

I admit it is really young, but many shelters have had to take this sort of action due to a lack of compliance with spay/neuter on the adopter's part. Apparantly, before the shelter where I live switched to fixing the animal before it was adopted out, only 50% of people actually got their animals fixed.

The thing that scares me about this situation is that the shelter will adopt out the animals at this age. Kittens should not leave their mothers until 12-14 weeks of age. Although they will have finished nursing at about 8 weeks, they still have much to learn from their mom. I would question why the shelter is not concerned about the kittens' welfare in this manner, more so than the such early spay/neuter. If the cats were adopted out at 12 weeks, like they should be, there would also be less dangers with the spay/neuter operation because they would be 3 months old.

 

[Jeanie]

Queen of the Nile is so right!

 

[Sol]

Like allready mentioned, the kitten shouldn't leave the mother before the age of 12 weeks. When it comes to the spaying/neutering question, American studies show that you can spay/neuter kittens from the age of 6 weeks.It can be done if you have the knowledge about what to use for anaestethics.

I'm not pro prepubertal neutering/spaying but I do understand the need for it in shelters.

 

[drjean]

To my knowledge all early spay-neuter studies have been done on kittens at least 8 weeks old. No reputable vet I know will do surgery if they're under 2 pounds, anesthesia is just too dangerous. In CO it isn't even legal to adopt out under 8 weeks.

Cheers,
Dr. Jean