what are the risks of neutering a kitten early?

[wolves88 Cub Find all posts View Profile Close wolves88]

i just got a new kitten and the doctors at my work will only "fix" cats after 5-6 months of age. however i have heard of rescue groups that will do it as early as 9 weeks. i was wondering if anyone knew of any risks or problems that could arise from doing it this early? anything would be helpfull. thanks :)

[DogMom Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close DogMom]

There are a couple vets here that will do it as early as 2 pounds. Any kitten brought in weighing at least that much can be fixed.

My personal feeling is that before 5 to 8 months is just way too early and I won't promote early spaying/neutering. Celtech--you wait til at least 18 months don't you??

I think the biggest concern with doing it so early is the effect the medication used to "knock it out" has on the animal. The dose can only be made so small so sometimes it's stronger than what the animal actually needs. Does that make sense??

Check this out, maybe it'll answer some questions.

http://www.k9web.com/dog-faqs/misc.01.html#l_23417

They do make some good points in this article but I still stand by my beliefs that before 5 to 8 months is just too early.

[celtechfarms Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close celtechfarms]

Not me nope, Dakota was done a month early due to sever aggression issues and Jade was done at six months. I think doing it as a baby is just too soon though, I understand why rescues do it, but I don't condone it. My suggestion would be just wait until they're at least six months, thats the general rule here, six months, the only reason they did dakota early was to avoid any sexual maturing that would make him even more aggressive then he already was.

[wolves88 Cub Find all posts View Profile Close wolves88]

thanks so much guys! :)