Inside we have Kiki, who showed up in our backyard about 16 years ago as a kitten (and now has chronic liver failure), and O'Malley, who showed up a few years ago as an adult - and found his way inside after our Maggie passed away from cancer (she was also a stray who had multiple bb's in her - an abused past).

Outside, we have two wild cats that we feed - Scruff, a mangy black longhair with a mouth (he's very demanding when he's hungry - but will not let himself be touched), and a large black & white cat we call Mugsy - who appears to be deaf and freaks when she realizes that we're about a foot away from her.

Now, as of a couple of weeks ago, it seems we have a pair of kittens. Pretty wild, although with work we were just able to pet each of them - enough to find out that we have a male and a female. *sigh* I do love animals, but I wish others did as well - I'm sure these were dropped off. I do not want more kittens roaming around, so we will need to take them to be "fixed". It's been so many years though since we've had a kitten though - can someone remind me of how old they need to be to have this done? I guess I don't know exactly how old they are now... not newborn by any means, but not adolescent either. (and the male has already been in a scrape, so he will probably need antibiotics as well, plus they both look like they need deworming....) How do they know which house has the softy in it?!

They say about 6 weeks old, but I feel safer if I wait until 3 months old. :-)

At least 8 weeks is recommended. You may want to do it before he boy hit puberty and starts spraying to mark his territory.

We had a little problem when our first furbaby started spraying in the apartment. The vet warned us it may be too late that you should do it before they start. We lucked out and he stopped after getting spayed.

stupid computer-double post

Maybe I should ask how soon a kitten can HAVE kittens? I don't want to wait until it's too late... but long enough for it to be healthier for them...

I found a site that says "two months and two pounds" is a good time to spay/neuter.

Thank you for doing this.

Sounds like you live in my neighborhood.

That helps - thanks!

That's sad, isn't it. I mean, not sad that we'd live in the same neighborhood - just sad that it's such a universal problem. :-(

I have an invisible sign at my house.....it says "stop here they feed good". My 5 dogs and 1 cat have all been dumped. The rule is, If you eat my food you get fixed!

:thumbup: :lol:

as someone else said I think they need to weigh at least 2 lbs

With us it was dogs that got dropped off. Who can refuse those puppy dog eyes of a hungry dog laying on your front porch. They always seemed to know when they were welcome.

Oh we have spent oodles on strays getting them spayed... Dang idiots that won't take care of their pets and then dump the poor babies... Argh, better not get started on this

I was just doing a quick adding - I think this will be at least numbers 9 & 10..... oh no - make that 10 & 11.

Talk to the vet - they maybe will give you a discount as these were animals dumped at your house! Sometimes the humane society gives discounts too. Thanks for keeping them.

There is no absolute rule on when to fix an cat or dog. Some vets are doing it right away, others wait until they are a little older. I prefer waiting. Your vet will let you know their preference. We also have a cat that was a stray. It was the middle of winter with extremely low temps. One day she felt comfortable enough to just walk right in with our pug and cocker. She's been with us ever since (about 5 years now). When we wanted to take her to the vet we had to drop her into a pillow case because she was afraid of the carrier. I sure had battle wounds from trying! Now she is the perfect loving pet. Sucker is written over our door.

I'd love to take more in, but O'Malley was diagnosed with FIV - he was already in the house with Kiki when we found out so we figured that we wouldn't worry about it with her, but I'd be afraid to bring anyone else in. So far he's been pretty healthy though in spite of it.

I do know of a vet that gives quantity discounts, but you need 3 of them. I'll have to check with the vet we're currently seeing. I think I had called around with the last slew of kittens (had 3 and a cat at one time) and the only break was the 3 at a time one. I should check with the humane society - thanks for mentioning it.

I've learned more than I ever cared to know. My vet says 3 lbs is minimum. They have litters every 65 days. Can stay in heat 3 weeks at a time. Charges average $55.00 for neuter and $85 for spay at Humane Society up to $143.00 at Vet's because they require shots before they will spay or neuter. At one time we had 3 females pregnant which delivered within 3 weeks of each other. Each had 5 kittens. That is 18 cats, and that didn't include the males who thankfully couldn't get pregnant. We are down to Lil Miss, Scotchie, Midas, Ace, Bandit, Tippy And Casper. And thank the Lord they are all finally fixed!

ditto! sharet

I was called the cat lady because I was always taking in strays getting them fixed, like everyone else why do people get pets and than just dump them, I know that some vets will do as young 8 wks but I think 3 months is young enough, you might have to get a wild cat trap to get them,we have two cats that were strays, one was behind the garbage container (Cleo) she was someone's pet cause she wasn't wild at all,just a sweetheart about 6 months old than now she's 4 yrs old,,,,

It's been amazing - just yesterday I was able to lure the female into being petted. Today the male let me - and now both of them are letting my 6yo son pet them! They are still cautious though, but at least it should be easy to corral them for the vet. As long as they hang around.

I would take them in ASAP. Though unlikely, the female can get pregnant at 4 months old-more likely 6 though. We end up with dumped cats, and they get taken in as soon as we can either catch or trap them.
If we ever have the opportunity to get a kitten again, it will be altered at eight weeks, provided it's healthy enough, etc. The younger they are, the quicker they rebound, and the smaller the incisions.

I just had my cat at the vet because he broke a hip. He said it ws because he was neutered too young (2 mos old). We got him from the humane society already neutered.

Apparently it is not good to neuter a male cat too early. Their hips tend to fracture later on.

BTW, he still limps but is doing very well.

Dawn, that's awful! I've never heard of a cat breaking a hip - I'll definitely consider that!

Here we sterilise cats at 6 months. Apparently there are some health risks if it is done too early. Soon the cat laws here are to be changed. Unless you are a registered breeder all cats must be sterilised, microchipped and wearing an ID collar, licensing (we do that with dogs) is also on the cards. Not a bad idea as we all know how irresponsible a lot of people are. Good luck with your little ferals....hope you can get them sorted at a discount price.

Our humane society used to do $15/$30 spay and neuter for dogs and I think cats were about the same, I know they still do it, but the funds aren't as plentiful as they once were, so once they are out of funds that's it for the year.

well... 2 inside + 2 newbies outside is 4...

I volunteer for a feline rescue. We usually spay and neuter at 2 lbs. or around 8-10 weeks. If you wait until they are much older say 4-6 months you run the risk of the females going through a heat and getting pregnant. We have a lot of kittens having kittens and the males starting to mark their territory. Check with your local rescues for a nice discount and yes we have a qualified vet doing the spays and neuters.

All my rescues are neutered early early early. I have 18, 12 and 10 year old boys. I have never had any health issues and have NEVER had any boys spraying (over a 30 year time span.)

I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN WE LIVE UP A HOLLER AND PEOPLE DUMP ANIMALS OFF AT THE END OF IT BECAUSE YOU CANNOT SEE ANY HOUSES UP THE HOLLER.I STILL HAVE A MUTT NAMES HARLEY FOUND HIM GOING OUT MORNING IN FEB 2002LOOK LIKE HE WAS ONLY ABOUT 5 OR 6 WEEKS OLD I THOUGHT I HAD HIT HIM WITH MY CAN,BUT THANKFULLY I DID NOT.

They have to be at least 2 pounds.

Thanks - I'll have to try and weigh them. And I'll call around this next week. (The inside ones have been fixed long ago, and the two grown outside ones are still too wild - I suspect Scruff is a male and the deaf kitty to possibly be a female - and because of how large/fat/mature she is I wouldn't be surprised if she had been fixed by someone already - so they couldn't help with the discount - and I know we could set a trap, but we've caught far too many skunks (accidentally) to make that appealing! lol!)

Earlier might be better for the male at least - I think his testosterone is running high as he's already been in a fight.

Duh! See what happens when I stay up late... I just realized you meant 3 procedures at a time -- not 3 pets :roll:
I'd call every vet within a reasonable distance. I found a vet to do the dew claws a litter of puppies for me for $55 total -- the next cheapest wanted $33/pup (x 10 pups :shock: ) . I loved that vet! he loved animals, not the owners money, kwim

I think he does it assembly line style! lol! The only problem with that place though is my last experience with them was a feral with a large wound who bit and scratched me... we wound up having to have her put down and checked for rabies - (she would've been ok - so that place brings back sad/guilt feelings. She was the most beautiful long hair tabby... I was trying to put her in a crate to take her for care and she totally freaked on me) - the more animals you have, the more sad experiences you have with different vets, the more difficult it can be to go there.
But wow - what a price difference!

Don't feel guilty about the last experience there. We just do the best we can with the knowledge we have at the time.

I foster kittens each spring/summer. They will spay or neuter them when they weigh two pounds. That's around 8 - 10 weeks old. I feel it's a little early, but would go with what the vet recommends. Love those little critters. Just gave back 4 kittens and a mama to have their surgery and be adopted.

LindaKayCat

Spaying/neutering at 8-10weeks is too early!!!there is a vet near here that takes care of Humane Soc. And SOS pets, that fixes them really young because they heal quicker. My vet and others that I talked to said the kittens urinary tracts need to mature enough or they will have kidney problems and UTIs when they are bigger. A study was done with lions and the males that were fixed too soon never developed a mane because of the lack of hormones. IMHO before 3-4months is too early. Talk to a vet you trust and go by their recommendation.

Thanks sewmom. Maybe if I take a pic of them I can take that to the vet and see if they can roughly judge where we might be with age. We need to pick up more ringers for Kiki anyway so we'll be going there....

Call your vet. One thing that I recently learned from my sister who got a kitten. Dogs only go in heat a couple times each year; as puppies they may not go for the first year at all. Kittens start around 6 to 8 weeks and keep on every so many weeks; it drove my sister crazy; her kitten would only want attention when she was in heat so it was easy to tell when she was in which seemed like most of the time.