Hello (+ a question about neutering)

In ,
Sunflower being of bellicose mind
posted:
"DemoDisk" wrote in message
...
Hi, all:

I haven't posted to any of the .cats groups since we lost KitKat
3 years ago, but now I have a question....

On the 25th of May we discovered on the back stoop a frightened
little kitten about 6 weeks old (said the vet). KitKat had
taught us to obey, so there was no question about taking him in.

PJ is now a swaggering young cat about 5½ months old. He's an
indoor cat bcz we don't want to lose him to the highway predator
like we lost KitKat (he even looks like her).

Tomorrow he goes to TED to ...well... get fixed. There's not
really time to rethink the decision, but I'd like to know how
other folks feel about neutering a pet they love.

I guess what I'm asking is if it's the right thing to do *to*
him or for him now. He's energetic and strong-willed now, on
occasion very sweet, but sometimes more than we can handle.
How will neutering change him?

'Don't project human emotions onto your cat. Neutering does
nothing but affect them positively, and they do NOT miss out on
anything. If you have it done young enough, they don't even
notice anything's happened. They are far more affected by the
anesthesia than the actual procedure. Full healing for 8 week old
male kittens is approximately 5 days. Add an additional healing
day for every month over 2. The earlier the better.

Sunflower

I had neutered a Siamese male THAT young. 10 weeks was too young.
WAY too young. Weight issues and personality beyond the fickle an
neurotic characteristics of Siamese anyway. Took extra effort to
socialize him.

My best "timing" has been to wait until the cat first starts the late
night yowling to get out of the house to hump anything that he can
pin down ... so to speak. For this current tabby, that was nearly 9
months.
--

~~Philip "Never let school interfere
with your education - Mark Twain"

"DemoDisk" wrote in message ...
Hi, all:

I haven't posted to any of the .cats groups since we lost KitKat 3 years
ago, but now I have a question....

On the 25th of May we discovered on the back stoop a frightened little
kitten about 6 weeks old (said the vet). KitKat had taught us to obey, so
there was no question about taking him in.

PJ is now a swaggering young cat about 5½ months old. He's an indoor cat bcz
we don't want to lose him to the highway predator like we lost KitKat (he
even looks like her).

Tomorrow he goes to TED to ...well... get fixed. There's not really time to
rethink the decision, but I'd like to know how other folks feel about
neutering a pet they love.

It's the only responsible thing to do. Not only are you saving future
kittens from death on the streets, you are extending PJ's life by
curtailing him from fighting (and possibly contracting fatal diseases)
and suffering from mating stress.


I guess what I'm asking is if it's the right thing to do *to* him or for him
now. He's energetic and strong-willed now, on occasion very sweet, but
sometimes more than we can handle. How will neutering change him?

It may mellow him out a bit, it may not. What it will do is probably
prevent him from spraying all over your house.

Please be assured that you are doing the right thing.

-L.

"DemoDisk" wrote in message ...
Hi, all:

I haven't posted to any of the .cats groups since we lost KitKat 3 years
ago, but now I have a question....

On the 25th of May we discovered on the back stoop a frightened little
kitten about 6 weeks old (said the vet). KitKat had taught us to obey, so
there was no question about taking him in.

PJ is now a swaggering young cat about 5½ months old. He's an indoor cat bcz
we don't want to lose him to the highway predator like we lost KitKat (he
even looks like her).

Tomorrow he goes to TED to ...well... get fixed. There's not really time to
rethink the decision, but I'd like to know how other folks feel about
neutering a pet they love.

It's the only responsible thing to do. Not only are you saving future
kittens from death on the streets, you are extending PJ's life by
curtailing him from fighting (and possibly contracting fatal diseases)
and suffering from mating stress.


I guess what I'm asking is if it's the right thing to do *to* him or for him
now. He's energetic and strong-willed now, on occasion very sweet, but
sometimes more than we can handle. How will neutering change him?

It may mellow him out a bit, it may not. What it will do is probably
prevent him from spraying all over your house.

Please be assured that you are doing the right thing.

-L.

"Philip ®" wrote in message
nk.net...
In ,
Sunflower being of bellicose mind
posted:
"DemoDisk" wrote in message
...
Hi, all:

I haven't posted to any of the .cats groups since we lost KitKat
3 years ago, but now I have a question....

On the 25th of May we discovered on the back stoop a frightened
little kitten about 6 weeks old (said the vet). KitKat had
taught us to obey, so there was no question about taking him in.

PJ is now a swaggering young cat about 5½ months old. He's an
indoor cat bcz we don't want to lose him to the highway predator
like we lost KitKat (he even looks like her).

Tomorrow he goes to TED to ...well... get fixed. There's not
really time to rethink the decision, but I'd like to know how
other folks feel about neutering a pet they love.

I guess what I'm asking is if it's the right thing to do *to*
him or for him now. He's energetic and strong-willed now, on
occasion very sweet, but sometimes more than we can handle.
How will neutering change him?

'Don't project human emotions onto your cat. Neutering does
nothing but affect them positively, and they do NOT miss out on
anything. If you have it done young enough, they don't even
notice anything's happened. They are far more affected by the
anesthesia than the actual procedure. Full healing for 8 week old
male kittens is approximately 5 days. Add an additional healing
day for every month over 2. The earlier the better.

Sunflower

I had neutered a Siamese male THAT young. 10 weeks was too young.
WAY too young. Weight issues and personality beyond the fickle an
neurotic characteristics of Siamese anyway. Took extra effort to
socialize him.

My best "timing" has been to wait until the cat first starts the late
night yowling to get out of the house to hump anything that he can
pin down ... so to speak. For this current tabby, that was nearly 9
months.
--

~~Philip

We've juvenile spay/neutered 1319 kittens and 417 puppies (2-6 months) over
10 1/2 years of our vet's practice. Complication % are well below the 6
months+ group. Reports of additional weight gain or personality changes in
juvenile spay/neuters is also less than with 6 months+ animals, and that was
darn minimal for them. Your experiences are idiosyncratic, and while I'm
not downplaying what you assess in your own cat, the changes you describe
are not at all common and perhaps are due to the individual personality of
the cat and his interaction with his environment and not directly
attributable to juvenile neutering versus waiting until he was older. Just
because A follows B does not mean A *causes* B. Only one out my 6 boys
decided to become a cat balloon after neutering, and it wasn't because of
the operation at all, and he was a year old when it was done. It was
because he was a stray that didn't know the source of his next meal so
whenever food was provided, he'd eat, whether he was hungry or not. We're
working on behavioral modification of that tendancy, and at least he's not
gaining any more weight, but like humans, it's a lifelong battle. None of
the juvenile spayed girls have a weight problem, and none of the rest of the
juvenile neutered boys do either, including the one that was neutered at 6
weeks when he was 1 1/2 lbs.

Sunflower


Sunflower

"Philip ®" wrote in message
nk.net...
In ,
Sunflower being of bellicose mind
posted:
"DemoDisk" wrote in message
...
Hi, all:

I haven't posted to any of the .cats groups since we lost KitKat
3 years ago, but now I have a question....

On the 25th of May we discovered on the back stoop a frightened
little kitten about 6 weeks old (said the vet). KitKat had
taught us to obey, so there was no question about taking him in.

PJ is now a swaggering young cat about 5½ months old. He's an
indoor cat bcz we don't want to lose him to the highway predator
like we lost KitKat (he even looks like her).

Tomorrow he goes to TED to ...well... get fixed. There's not
really time to rethink the decision, but I'd like to know how
other folks feel about neutering a pet they love.

I guess what I'm asking is if it's the right thing to do *to*
him or for him now. He's energetic and strong-willed now, on
occasion very sweet, but sometimes more than we can handle.
How will neutering change him?

'Don't project human emotions onto your cat. Neutering does
nothing but affect them positively, and they do NOT miss out on
anything. If you have it done young enough, they don't even
notice anything's happened. They are far more affected by the
anesthesia than the actual procedure. Full healing for 8 week old
male kittens is approximately 5 days. Add an additional healing
day for every month over 2. The earlier the better.

Sunflower

I had neutered a Siamese male THAT young. 10 weeks was too young.
WAY too young. Weight issues and personality beyond the fickle an
neurotic characteristics of Siamese anyway. Took extra effort to
socialize him.

My best "timing" has been to wait until the cat first starts the late
night yowling to get out of the house to hump anything that he can
pin down ... so to speak. For this current tabby, that was nearly 9
months.
--

~~Philip

We've juvenile spay/neutered 1319 kittens and 417 puppies (2-6 months) over
10 1/2 years of our vet's practice. Complication % are well below the 6
months+ group. Reports of additional weight gain or personality changes in
juvenile spay/neuters is also less than with 6 months+ animals, and that was
darn minimal for them. Your experiences are idiosyncratic, and while I'm
not downplaying what you assess in your own cat, the changes you describe
are not at all common and perhaps are due to the individual personality of
the cat and his interaction with his environment and not directly
attributable to juvenile neutering versus waiting until he was older. Just
because A follows B does not mean A *causes* B. Only one out my 6 boys
decided to become a cat balloon after neutering, and it wasn't because of
the operation at all, and he was a year old when it was done. It was
because he was a stray that didn't know the source of his next meal so
whenever food was provided, he'd eat, whether he was hungry or not. We're
working on behavioral modification of that tendancy, and at least he's not
gaining any more weight, but like humans, it's a lifelong battle. None of
the juvenile spayed girls have a weight problem, and none of the rest of the
juvenile neutered boys do either, including the one that was neutered at 6
weeks when he was 1 1/2 lbs.

Sunflower


Sunflower

Thanks to everyone for your sincere replies; I'm grateful that you cared.

I disagree with Iso that "It's just a cat," and "you can always get
another," but I was getting too sentimental. Getting PJ neutered seemed
like a big step and I do love the little guy.

Well, it's done. I took him at the appointed hour, and the kind nurse fussed
over him and took down the information they didn't already have. They let me
see him once more before I left; he was in the back in a "cat condo" with
other patients who were also getting fixed. His cage door said "CASTRATION."
PJ didn't have a clue...which made all my fears and sympathies worse. Guy
thing, I suppose.

The vet's called me at home very early; they'd changed the surgical schedule
and he was ready to go home. I returned with a doped-up, unresponsive tomcat
who just lay there unmoving for hours, answering me with flicks of his tail.
Gradually, he roused and got a bit to eat. Then he started checking his
places: behind the kitchen wastebasket, on top of the piano, etc. Mostly
he'd wobble a few steps, collapse and stay put. Finally, this evening he
accepted a snack and then grabbed my wrist and mildly chomped my hand.

I'm joyous; PJ's back.

Thanks to everyone for your sincere replies; I'm grateful that you cared.

I disagree with Iso that "It's just a cat," and "you can always get
another," but I was getting too sentimental. Getting PJ neutered seemed
like a big step and I do love the little guy.

Well, it's done. I took him at the appointed hour, and the kind nurse fussed
over him and took down the information they didn't already have. They let me
see him once more before I left; he was in the back in a "cat condo" with
other patients who were also getting fixed. His cage door said "CASTRATION."
PJ didn't have a clue...which made all my fears and sympathies worse. Guy
thing, I suppose.

The vet's called me at home very early; they'd changed the surgical schedule
and he was ready to go home. I returned with a doped-up, unresponsive tomcat
who just lay there unmoving for hours, answering me with flicks of his tail.
Gradually, he roused and got a bit to eat. Then he started checking his
places: behind the kitchen wastebasket, on top of the piano, etc. Mostly
he'd wobble a few steps, collapse and stay put. Finally, this evening he
accepted a snack and then grabbed my wrist and mildly chomped my hand.

I'm joyous; PJ's back.

On Thu, 9 Oct 2003 03:15:45 -0500, "DemoDisk"
wrote:

Thanks to everyone for your sincere replies; I'm grateful that you cared.

I disagree with Iso that "It's just a cat," and "you can always get
another," but I was getting too sentimental. Getting PJ neutered seemed
like a big step and I do love the little guy.

Well, it's done. I took him at the appointed hour, and the kind nurse fussed
over him and took down the information they didn't already have. They let me
see him once more before I left; he was in the back in a "cat condo" with
other patients who were also getting fixed. His cage door said "CASTRATION."
PJ didn't have a clue...which made all my fears and sympathies worse. Guy
thing, I suppose.

The vet's called me at home very early; they'd changed the surgical schedule
and he was ready to go home. I returned with a doped-up, unresponsive tomcat
who just lay there unmoving for hours, answering me with flicks of his tail.
Gradually, he roused and got a bit to eat. Then he started checking his
places: behind the kitchen wastebasket, on top of the piano, etc. Mostly
he'd wobble a few steps, collapse and stay put. Finally, this evening he
accepted a snack and then grabbed my wrist and mildly chomped my hand.

I'm joyous; PJ's back.

You really feel it for him, don't you? Me too. Good luck. MLB

On Thu, 9 Oct 2003 03:15:45 -0500, "DemoDisk"
wrote:

Thanks to everyone for your sincere replies; I'm grateful that you cared.

I disagree with Iso that "It's just a cat," and "you can always get
another," but I was getting too sentimental. Getting PJ neutered seemed
like a big step and I do love the little guy.

Well, it's done. I took him at the appointed hour, and the kind nurse fussed
over him and took down the information they didn't already have. They let me
see him once more before I left; he was in the back in a "cat condo" with
other patients who were also getting fixed. His cage door said "CASTRATION."
PJ didn't have a clue...which made all my fears and sympathies worse. Guy
thing, I suppose.

The vet's called me at home very early; they'd changed the surgical schedule
and he was ready to go home. I returned with a doped-up, unresponsive tomcat
who just lay there unmoving for hours, answering me with flicks of his tail.
Gradually, he roused and got a bit to eat. Then he started checking his
places: behind the kitchen wastebasket, on top of the piano, etc. Mostly
he'd wobble a few steps, collapse and stay put. Finally, this evening he
accepted a snack and then grabbed my wrist and mildly chomped my hand.

I'm joyous; PJ's back.

You really feel it for him, don't you? Me too. Good luck. MLB

"DemoDisk" wrote in message ...
Thanks to everyone for your sincere replies; I'm grateful that you cared.

You did the right thing. Congrats!

-L.