Timid 5 month old Kitten - Spaying

Smilerterry

We have just adopted two kittens from a shelter, a brother and sister both coming up to 5 months old next week. They have only been with us since Monday and although the boy is slightly nervous initially, he has a play, eats some food and then is quite content to sit with you and have a pet. The girl is a completely different story, she is much smaller and extremly timid, she hides behind the sofa or the chair for most of the time and comes out very cautiously for only 30 minutes or so. Any strange noises and she's back hiding.

Our problem is that as they are 5 month old, the brother is getting a little excitable around her, in fact it would seem everytime she ventues out from hiding, he is on her like her flash, trying to get a bit of action.

We are due to get them both neutuered but wanted them to feel at home first, get to know us and their surroundings. We have adecision to make:

a: Get both done tomorrow - although not sure if the littel girl can take any more stress after only moving in with us on Monday
b: Get the boy only done tomorrow, girl done in a few weeks - I think although he is still a bit nervous he will get over the trauma of it at this stage.
c:wait till they are both settled (maybe another week) and just hope that she doesn't get pregnant or she doesn't attack him for jumping her all the time!

Any opinions greatly appreciatted.

eve

I would suggest getting him done tomorrow anyway. If you choose not to get her done at the same time, it may give her a few hours on her own to start exploring without him harassing her. If she's not not going to come in contact with any unspayed males then I don't see a problem with waiting a few weeks to get her done.

hadook

There's a chance he'll still be able to impregnate her for approx 6 weeks after being neutered. If you're just going to get one done you need to get her neutered not him.

If she's not in heat now I'd say get her done. Most vets will recommend against spaying during a heat as it's a tiny bit more risky due to the extra blood flow etc apparently. If you wait a week and she comes into heat (and she's about the age to start thinking about it) you may end up waiting even longer. Cats are resilient creatures and get over a spay fairly quickly. Just make sure you have somewhere quiet for her to recover afterwards

And the most important thing - where are the pictures

hadook

FYI - some vets won't neuter a cat before the age of 6 months. If you do get a vet like that ask them their policy on late spays - ie aborting kittens because they might be forcing you to face that.

If the cats are of a good size and the male is definitely having ideas then the vet will probably come around to spaying that little bit early to save you the trauma of choosing... Otherwise find a different vet

Smilerterry

Thanks for the advice guys, sounds like it may be best to take them both in tomorrow. I didn't realise he would still be able to impregnate her for up to 6 weeks after!

The vet we are using was recommended to us by Cats Aid and they are willing to do them under the age of 6 months, my worry would be that she is very little, so maybe too small.

Picture attached, althought it's not very good, they are extremly camera shy!

Lauragoesmad

Good Luck with the spaying and neutering!! The cats are gorgeous by the way!!