Nuetering

I didn't do a search on this particular topic because I wanted the
most up to date information. I will be calling some professionals also
but I wanted to hear your comments on what age to fix a male kitten.
My breeder is willing to keep him (my Siberian kitten) and have him
nuetered for me but it means him keeping him another two months and I
don't really want to give up that time with him.

I have been picking up bits and pieces about some vets claiming that
earlier nuetering is less traumatic for the kitten. Anyone heard
anything about that. I am worried about caring for him aftre the
surgery how to keep him from running around and injuring himself.

I had my Golden Retriever done but by the time he was done he was
already pretty well trained and a bit easier to handle that I think
the kitten will be.

Thanks in advance


Brad

LIFE'S JOURNEY IS NOT TO ARRIVE AT THE GRAVE SAFELY IN A
WELL-PRESERVED BODY, BUT RATHER TO SKID IN SIDEWAYS, TOTALLY WORN OUT,
SHOUTING... " HOLY @#$%... WHAT A RIDE!"

On Mon, 02 May 2005 08:12:19 GMT, Brad
wrote:



I didn't do a search on this particular topic because I wanted the
most up to date information. I will be calling some professionals also
but I wanted to hear your comments on what age to fix a male kitten.
My breeder is willing to keep him (my Siberian kitten) and have him
nuetered for me but it means him keeping him another two months and I
don't really want to give up that time with him.

A kitten can be neutered by early spay/neuter by the time he's
2 pounds. Ask your breeder if her vet does early spay/neuter, and if
not, start looking around where you live for a vet that will. By the
time he's ready to come home (12-16 weeks) he should be more than
ready and you can just take him off to your vet.


I have been picking up bits and pieces about some vets claiming that
earlier nuetering is less traumatic for the kitten. Anyone heard
anything about that. I am worried about caring for him aftre the
surgery how to keep him from running around and injuring himself.

One of the advantages to early altering is that they bounce
back so fast. It's really a very minor surgery, and I wouldn't worry
too much about keeping him quiet. None of my boys had a period of
enforced inactivity, and they're all just fine.



Orchid
See Orchid's Kitties! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/bengalpage
Want a Purebred Cat? Read This! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/orchid

Orchid wrote:
On Mon, 02 May 2005 08:12:19 GMT, Brad
wrote:



I didn't do a search on this particular topic because I wanted the
most up to date information. I will be calling some professionals
also
but I wanted to hear your comments on what age to fix a male kitten.
My breeder is willing to keep him (my Siberian kitten) and have him
nuetered for me but it means him keeping him another two months and
I
don't really want to give up that time with him.

A kitten can be neutered by early spay/neuter by the time he's
2 pounds. Ask your breeder if her vet does early spay/neuter, and if
not, start looking around where you live for a vet that will. By the
time he's ready to come home (12-16 weeks) he should be more than
ready and you can just take him off to your vet.

Do you remember a certain poster who used to argue against early s/n?
Tho I never did pay much attention to anything else he said, I always
wondered about this...he claimed that, in a male, neutering before 6
months was detrimental to the urinary tract growth and would cause
problems in males later. Do you know what the latest take on that is?
Does there seem to be anything at all to substantiate it?

Sherry

Brad wrote:
I didn't do a search on this particular topic because I wanted the
most up to date information. I will be calling some professionals
also
but I wanted to hear your comments on what age to fix a male kitten.
My breeder is willing to keep him (my Siberian kitten) and have him
nuetered for me but it means him keeping him another two months and I
don't really want to give up that time with him.

I have been picking up bits and pieces about some vets claiming that
earlier nuetering is less traumatic for the kitten. Anyone heard
anything about that. I am worried about caring for him aftre the
surgery how to keep him from running around and injuring himself.

I had my Golden Retriever done but by the time he was done he was
already pretty well trained and a bit easier to handle that I think
the kitten will be.

Thanks in advance


Brad

LIFE'S JOURNEY IS NOT TO ARRIVE AT THE GRAVE SAFELY IN A
WELL-PRESERVED BODY, BUT RATHER TO SKID IN SIDEWAYS, TOTALLY WORN
OUT,
SHOUTING... " HOLY @#$%... WHAT A RIDE!"



Don't let them keep the kitten another 2 months. I worked for a
high-volume feline specialty hospital and we did early spay/neuter all
the time. There are tons of research papers indicating it is
absolutley safe. Your kitty has to be two pounds, though, (for
anesthesia) so that usually means at least 8-10 weeks old. Call around
and find a vet that will do it for you. Have the breeder drop him off
and you can pick him up.

good luck,
-L.

wrote:
Orchid wrote:
On Mon, 02 May 2005 08:12:19 GMT, Brad
wrote:



I didn't do a search on this particular topic because I wanted the
most up to date information. I will be calling some professionals
also but I wanted to hear your comments on what age to fix a male
kitten. My breeder is willing to keep him (my Siberian kitten) and
have him nuetered for me but it means him keeping him another two
months and I don't really want to give up that time with him.

A kitten can be neutered by early spay/neuter by the time he's
2 pounds. Ask your breeder if her vet does early spay/neuter, and if
not, start looking around where you live for a vet that will. By the
time he's ready to come home (12-16 weeks) he should be more than
ready and you can just take him off to your vet.

Do you remember a certain poster who used to argue against early s/n?
Tho I never did pay much attention to anything else he said, I always
wondered about this...he claimed that, in a male, neutering before 6
months was detrimental to the urinary tract growth and would cause
problems in males later. Do you know what the latest take on that is?
Does there seem to be anything at all to substantiate it?

Sherry

I have had males neutered anywhere from 3 months to 10 months. In thinking
back, the ONLY ones that had a urinary problem in their lives were those
clipped before 5 months. But ... those same cats preferred a dry food diet
too. I would not clip males until I heard that first yowl by the back door
"I know she's out there and she wants ME!!!"

On 2 May 2005 07:27:45 -0700, wrote:


Do you remember a certain poster who used to argue against early s/n?

Mmmmm. Not offhand.

Tho I never did pay much attention to anything else he said, I always
wondered about this...he claimed that, in a male, neutering before 6
months was detrimental to the urinary tract growth and would cause
problems in males later. Do you know what the latest take on that is?
Does there seem to be anything at all to substantiate it?

There is absolutely no evidence to substantiate that claim.
Dr Susan Little has wonderful information on ESN (and a ton of other
stuff) on her website. Here's the link to the ESN studies --
http://www.catvet.homestead.com/EarlyAlter2.html

If you have some time, I strongly recommend reading through
the rest of the site -- some great stuff there. She travels all over
the world to speak about feline health and ESN.



Orchid
See Orchid's Kitties! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/bengalpage
Want a Purebred Cat? Read This! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/orchid

On 2 May 2005 08:48:15 -0700, "-L." wrote:


Brad wrote:
I didn't do a search on this particular topic because I wanted the
most up to date information. I will be calling some professionals
also
but I wanted to hear your comments on what age to fix a male kitten.
My breeder is willing to keep him (my Siberian kitten) and have him
nuetered for me but it means him keeping him another two months and I
don't really want to give up that time with him.

I have been picking up bits and pieces about some vets claiming that
earlier nuetering is less traumatic for the kitten. Anyone heard
anything about that. I am worried about caring for him aftre the
surgery how to keep him from running around and injuring himself.

I had my Golden Retriever done but by the time he was done he was
already pretty well trained and a bit easier to handle that I think
the kitten will be.

Thanks in advance


Brad

LIFE'S JOURNEY IS NOT TO ARRIVE AT THE GRAVE SAFELY IN A
WELL-PRESERVED BODY, BUT RATHER TO SKID IN SIDEWAYS, TOTALLY WORN
OUT,
SHOUTING... " HOLY @#$%... WHAT A RIDE!"



Don't let them keep the kitten another 2 months. I worked for a
high-volume feline specialty hospital and we did early spay/neuter all
the time. There are tons of research papers indicating it is
absolutley safe. Your kitty has to be two pounds, though, (for
anesthesia) so that usually means at least 8-10 weeks old. Call around
and find a vet that will do it for you. Have the breeder drop him off
and you can pick him up.

good luck,
-L.

I should have mentioned that the breeder is in Oklahoma and I am in
Wisconsin. Philip I think it was you who mentioned waiting until he
shows signs of wanting to mate what are the odds of him spraying
before yowling which obviously I would like to keep away from.

Brad

In article ,
enlightened us with...
he claimed that, in a male, neutering before 6
months was detrimental to the urinary tract growth and would cause
problems in males later. Do you know what the latest take on that is?
Does there seem to be anything at all to substantiate it?

There is absolutely no evidence to substantiate that claim.

But have there been any studies, with controlled groups, targeting such? If
so, I'd love to see them. Maybe I can get a new article about ESN out of
this.

It would be very hard to prove correlation without extensive studies with
controlled groups, since so many other factors also influence UT problems.
Even with controlled groups, there's no accounting for genetics, but at least
you'd be able to rule out environmental things like dry vs wet food.

Also, the pros for ESN in general (esp. in regards to "bulk" neuters, such as
at shelters) might still outweigh slight increases in probability of UT
problems later in life. If we had a better idea of numbers, it might end up a
recommendation for individual people to wait until 5-6 months (i.e. people
buying from breeders), but that shelters should go ahead and do it, you know?

--
--
~kaeli~
Synonym: the word you use in place of a word you can't
spell.
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace

On Mon, 2 May 2005 12:32:25 -0500, kaeli
wrote:

In article ,
enlightened us with...
he claimed that, in a male, neutering before 6
months was detrimental to the urinary tract growth and would cause
problems in males later. Do you know what the latest take on that is?
Does there seem to be anything at all to substantiate it?

There is absolutely no evidence to substantiate that claim.

But have there been any studies, with controlled groups, targeting such? If
so, I'd love to see them. Maybe I can get a new article about ESN out of
this.

"In the University of Florida study (Stubbs et al, 1996),
urethral pressure profilometry revealed no adverse effects on urethral
function in cats from early altering. Urethral diameters were similar
in the cats of all 3 groups. The penis could be fully extruded in all
neutered cats in this study. The external genitalia of male and female
cats in both age groups remained infantile compared to the intact
cats. In another study in early-altered cats at the University of
Minnesota (Root, Johnston, Johnston, Olson, 1996), researchers found
that there was no difference among the same 3 groups of cats in
urethral diameter (both pre-prostatic and penile). The researchers
also found that complete penile extrusion was possible in all the
control intact cats at 22 months of age. However, complete extrusion
was possible in only 60% of the cats altered at 7 months and in none
of the cats altered at 7 weeks. The balanopreputial fold is an
androgen-dependent membrane that connects the preputial mucosa to the
penile mucosa at birth. The longterm significance of incomplete penile
extrusion is unknown."
(http://www.catvet.homestead.com/EarlyAlter3.html)





Orchid
See Orchid's Kitties! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/bengalpage
Want a Purebred Cat? Read This! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/orchid

In article ,
enlightened us with...
"The longterm significance of incomplete penile
extrusion is unknown."
(http://www.catvet.homestead.com/EarlyAlter3.html)


See, that bugs me a little.
But the diameter is the most important thing, right?

As long as the diameter is the same with early alters, it shouldn't affect
blockages.
Do altered males ever get erections, anyway? I can't see there being an issue
with that, and if there is, I can't see it affecting the UT much. Maybe
another health issue, but not the UT blockages I was thinking about.

Thanks for the link. I'm going to peruse it more later, when I get home.

--
--
~kaeli~
Support your local medical examiner: die strangely!
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace