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Kittens and their sex lives
japan
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I have two kittens, brother and sister, just approaching five months old. The problem is that they're going at it like there's no tomorrow, and the vet says spaying/neutering is out of the question until they're at least six months old.
As such, we need to either keep them seperated or stop them from having sex somehow. For the next month.
Anyone have any advice? At the moment we're just keeping an eye on them when they're together and shutting them in separate rooms when we're out. I could really do without a litter of inbred kittens.
As such, we need to either keep them seperated or stop them from having sex somehow. For the next month.
Anyone have any advice? At the moment we're just keeping an eye on them when they're together and shutting them in separate rooms when we're out. I could really do without a litter of inbred kittens.
japan on
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There may be a valid medical reason why they can't spay or neuter at least one of your two cats, or that just may be how your vet does things.
From a pet owner perspective, I've had it done at five months and nothing 'bad' happened to the animal as a result of it.
Find another vet.
Some vets will do a neuter on the male, at least, as early as 4 months now. They might want to wait a while on spaying the female, since there's a concern with the anesthesia when they're really tiny. I think I had my female done at about 5 months (it was 11 years ago, so I'm not 100% sure), because she also had a umbilical hernia that we wanted to fix as soon as we could, and wanted to do it in the same surgury.
Keep her inside! If you want to remain litter free, I cannot stress this enough. If she's anything like my mothers queens, she's going to be yowling, causing a fuss, and trying very hard to get out.
Cats can be spayed while on heat, but it is a bit more of an operation (things are swollen, and bits may be missed <ick>). Cats can also be spayed while pregnant, but it is generally more expensive.
You should be able to get your kittens spayed at 5 months, there shouldn't be any problems with it. My breeder recommended that age to me! And she's a vet! Pretty soon you'll have to deal with spraying and the like, if you don't already. So if your vet won't spay before 6 months (and given you've got mixed siblings I'm quite surprized they didn't O.O), you will find the majority do.
My advice is to ask the vet again, because it does sound like your little girl is on heat, and see if you can get the male spayed now. That would eliminate most problems, and you'll only have to deal with one post-op cat at a time
(This is if you want to use your current vet. If not, just go to another and get the male spayed. Save yourself money, and do your little girl post-heat -- I can't remember how long being on heat lasts sorry!)
Edit: Cat heat info Caution: This material will be disturbing for unspayed female cat owners...
Keep the cats separate until the female is spayed or the male is neutered. Also, keep in mind that a few days after the male is neutered, he'll still be able to impregnate her.
She may already be pregnant if she's actually mated with the male. The vet should be able to check. If so, GO AHEAD AND SPAY HER ANYWAY. Yes, it will abort any potential kittens. But having kittens at such a young age would be very, very dangerous for her. Plus they'd be highly inbred . . .
Edit: IIRC, heats last from seven to ten days and females go into heat about every two weeks. They can even go into heat while still nursing a litter of kittens.
Going to try the vet again and see about getting the boy fixed, from what I understand it's the less invasive procedure. Are there any reliable ways to tell if a female cat is pregnant? Just so I know what to look out for.
So yeah, I'd go to another vet.