I got my 10 week old kitten yesterday and he was desexed 3 days before that. That seems too young. Wondering what effects this could have on his hormones, personality and development?
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1While the question pets.stackexchange.com/questions/1848 is similar, it's about the recommended age for desexing a cat. This question is about the effect of early desexing. Since early desexing is becoming common in shelters, I think it's good to address this issue.– mhwombatCommented Dec 19, 2016 at 0:45
3 Answers
I don't think you need to worry. The ASPCA says:
It is generally considered safe for kittens as young as eight weeks old to be spayed or neutered. In animal shelters, surgery is often performed at this time so that kittens can be sterilized prior to adoption.
All is good! SPCA's spay/neuter the kittens super young, this helps them to be adopted MUCH faster. The surgery is more risky but you won't have any bad side-effects from it.
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1If you get a chance may post an answer at the dupe where the answers talk about months of age as opposed to weeks of age. Commented Dec 19, 2018 at 18:08
One of the biggest effects of this is that he will (hopefully) never develop a marking habit. Cats usually start marking around the time that they go through puberty and it's more common in male cats, so it's definitely a good thing that he's fixed already