I’ve been doing early spays and neuters on my kittens since I began breeding Maine Coons in 2017. It was a part of my bundle. All of my kittens have been altered earlier than they go residence. However the extra I opened my eyes through the years and am capable of suppose for myself as a breeder, I noticed that it will not be the very best choice for my kittens.
There’s undoubtedly two opposing sides to this subject. The early spay advocates will say that early surgical procedure has no impact on a kitten by any means. The opposite aspect will say that there are too many dangers concerned. It’s as much as me as a breeder to do my very own analysis and make the very best choice for my kittens.
Sadly, our “group” of breeders places a excessive quantity of stress to verify it’s finished earlier than the kittens go away for his or her new houses. There’s just one purpose is used to help this, and that’s to ensure that individuals don’t breed the cat.
Once I first established a relationship with my veterinarian, she suggested me to not do early surgical procedures. She stated she doesn’t love to do them earlier than the age of 6 months previous. I insisted that we would have liked to do them earlier than the kittens went residence at 12 weeks previous. She reluctantly agreed.
The Harm That Modified My Thoughts Fully
I used to be contemplating not doing early spay/neuter for a number of months earlier than I had an incident occur that modified my ideas fully.
I took my litter of kittens in for his or her intercourse altering surgical procedures on the age of 11 weeks previous. Everybody was wholesome, vibrant and doing nice. When the kittens got here residence, I seen that one wasn’t capable of poop. He was consuming fantastic and appearing regular, however was straining in his litter box.
After a vet go to, she suspected that his bowels might be “transferring sluggish” because of the anesthesia and that “it occurs typically”. I used to be instructed to provide him some laxative and monitor him.
Two extra days glided by and his situation worsened. He was crying and being vocal within the litter field, nonetheless with no outcomes. He grew to become torpid so again to the vet he went.
After some X-Rays, she defined that his intestines have been “bunched up” and that it seemed very grim. I needed to make the choice to humanely euthanize him. He was scheduled to go residence with a sibling, and having to inform the proprietor this information was coronary heart wrenching.
Different Points I’ve Skilled from Early Surgical procedures
Sure unhealthy issues occur, and possibly this wasn’t precipitated from the neuter surgical procedure. Nevertheless it was too bizarre of a coincidence for me to ever suppose in another way. After researching this immensely, I found that anesthesia CAN decelerate the bowel motion, which CAN trigger massive issues. Because it did in my case.
It was on that day that I actually began researching the potential damaging results of early spay and neuter and in the end got here to the choice that I’m making as of the day of this weblog publish.
The danger of demise from this process is clearly uncommon, however I’ve skilled it first hand. As well as, I’ve some pals that additionally breed Maine Coons which have had kittens go away throughout the surgical procedure, and one to get lung infections from the respiratory tube and go away a number of days later. So my case shouldn’t be remoted.
There are different issues that I’ve personally skilled from early spay/neuter surgical procedures:
- Hematomas
- Stitches being opened and getting contaminated
- Testicle infections from among the scrotum being “left behind”
- Hernias
I’m going to get rid of the infants having to endure this stuff at such a younger age. Sassy Koonz Maine Coon Kittens will not be spayed or neutered before they go home. It is going to be the accountability of the brand new proprietor to do it earlier than the age of 6 months previous.
My vet might be completely happy to listen to this information.
Controversy Round The Early Spay/Neuter Pattern
Till the late 1990’s, most spays and neuter procedures have been carried out between the age of 6 to 9 months previous. With the rise of pet overpopulation “issues” the development started to implement altering cats at a youthful age.
The aim of early spay and neuter was to:
- stop unplanned litters
- scale back the variety of homeless cats
At the moment, it’s widespread follow for a shelter to spay and neuter each kitten earlier than it leaves for its new residence. The one requirement is that they kitten weigh at the least 2 kilos. This follow has definitely decreased the variety of undesirable litters, so it did accomplish what it wanted to.
Working with Pedigree cats, particularly Maine Coons, is a bit totally different than shelter cats. Once I began researching the dangers concerned, I found that you just get totally different search outcomes based mostly on the query you ask. So there is no such thing as a definitive solutions. All of us simply have to make use of our greatest judgement. I actually don’t suppose there’s a proper or improper reply.
Well being Issues
Most veterinarians consider that there are well being dangers related to altering a cat earlier than it reached full maturity, particularly for a large breed cat like the Maine Coon.
Some dangers are brief -term whereas others may be life altering. I’m not okay with any of those dangers:
- Hip Dysplasia
- Osteochondrosis Dissecans
- Patellar Luxation
- Progress Plate Accidents
- Arthritis
- Sarcomas
- Intestinal Points
In fact, these points can come up in any cat whatever the age it was altered. However concerns needs to be made for Maine Coons that are slower to mature.
Behavioral
Hormones have an effect on the way in which people suppose and behave. They’ve the identical have an effect on on a cat. Altering a Maine Coon early disrupts the pure hormone stability of the cat. This might probably influence the conduct of the cat into maturity.
Please notice that not all cats will expertise points however listed here are some points that would current, all of which may be related to early spaying and neutering:
- Nervousness/Fearfulness
- Aggression
- Inappropriate Elimination
Maine Coon Kittens: Bigger Than Life
It’s a good query to ask if our Maine Coons needs to be disadvantaged of their likelihood to develop for the sake of comfort or management. My opinion on this has modified. What I as soon as thought was the one “proper” option to do issues has now change into a listing of way more negatives than there are positives.
By permitting the brand new homeowners to spay and/or neuter their kitten as soon as it will get slightly older, the cat might be at much less danger for among the damaging dangers of early surgical procedures.
What’s the Greatest Age to Neuter a Cat?
Regardless of ongoing analysis and controversy, there is no such thing as a “magic” age to neuter your Maine Coon. For the reason that breed is sluggish to mature and is a really massive breed, I say that the longer you may wait, the higher.
Women and men start to change into sexually mature round 6 to 9 months of age. This could differ from cat to cat. We don’t need the males to begin marking or “spraying”. We additionally don’t need the ladies to have repeated warmth cycles.
Spaying and neutering between the age of 5 to six months is the best and really useful age by me.
Sources To Do Your Personal Analysis
I encourage everybody to do their very own analysis relating to making most of these selections, similar to I did. There’s definitely two sides to this coin. I’ll publish among the articles I used for my very own analysis.
