Kitten names + comment on neutering
Marc D. Rossner
are going to be Vincent and Theo. It's nice and kind of "cultchuhed" but
not too hackneyed and still cute.
Thanks to all who mailed or posted suggestions. The number one popular
suggestion was "Romulus and Remus".
Anyway, comment about neutering:
Animal Services had pegged the kittens at 3.5-4 months. When I said I would
adopt them, they said -- "well, just pick them up tomorrow evening and we'll
have them neutered before you take them".. I thought they were a little young
but thought that Animal Services must know best.
Anyway, when I took them to the vet 2 days later he was very surprised that
they were neutered so young (he aged them closer to 3 months). He thought
the shelters pushed much too hard for young neutering since they need to
keep up their neutering count (they do it themselves) to justify their
existence. He thought there was no health hazard for my kitties, but that
neutering so young may hinder the development of some male sex characteristics.
In re the person talking about the relationship of baby teeth to neutering,
my vet did point out the baby teeth as a sign of young age.
Anyway again, I felt a little guilty about not protesting to Animal Services
before it was done, but I guess I couldn't really have known.
So otherwise -- Vincent and Theo are doing great -- running around like
kamikazes, really getting off on their little sponge balls, using their litter
pan like troopers, and still affectionate and sleeping close to me. I'll
keep you apprised ...
Marc Rossner(and Vincent and Theo)
m...@netcom.com
da...@master.uchicago.edu
stuff deleted
>
> Anyway, when I took them to the vet 2 days later he was very surprised that
> they were neutered so young (he aged them closer to 3 months). He thought
> the shelters pushed much too hard for young neutering since they need to
> keep up their neutering count (they do it themselves) to justify their
> existence. He thought there was no health hazard for my kitties, but that
> neutering so young may hinder the development of some male sex characteristics.
>
for early neutering because the shelter needs to justify its existence ?!?
If this is really what your vet thinks, I would change vets. Shelters
push for early neutering because they are forced to kill scores of animals
a month/week/day (depending on where they are) and often can't trust their
clients to do it at the proper time. Your vet is right, it probably won't
effect the cat's health, but could hinder the development of some male sex
characterictics.
I personally don't like neutering them that early -- the chicago animal
control does it even earlier, so I didn't adopt from them, but from the
anti-cruelty society which let me wait until 6 mos.
**************************************************************************
David H. University of Chicago da...@master.uchicago.edu
Thousands of years ago, the Egyptians worshipped cats as gods.
Cats have never forgotten this.
(Seen at Hallmark)
**************************************************************************
Pete Zakel
>I personally don't like neutering them that early -- the chicago animal
>control does it even earlier, so I didn't adopt from them, but from the
>anti-cruelty society which let me wait until 6 mos.
My understanding is that early neutering increases the chance of the cat
developing FUS. FUS (Feline Urinary Syndrome) is *nasty*, and can require
surgery in severe cases.
I would NEVER neuter a male cat before 6 months. According the "The Natural
Cat", a male cat should not be neutered until the urine changes odor (and
believe me, the odor change is VERY noticable -- Frosty is about 6 months
old and his urine changed odor within the last two weeks -- time to call the
vet!). Supposedly, the odor change is the signal that the testosterone has
done almost all its work.
-Pete Zakel
(p...@cadence.com or ..!uunet!cadence!phz)
Don't feed the bats tonight.
Lianne Raley
writes:
|>
|>I would NEVER neuter a male cat before 6 months. According the "The Natural
|>Cat", a male cat should not be neutered until the urine changes odor (and
|>believe me, the odor change is VERY noticable -- Frosty is about 6 months
|>old and his urine changed odor within the last two weeks -- time to call the
|>vet!). Supposedly, the odor change is the signal that the testosterone has
|>done almost all its work.
|>
|>-Pete Zakel
What I've heard is that you should wait until the testicles have completely
dropped, as it's a harder process any earlier and it's just overall "healthier"
for the cat. That usually happens around 8 months.
However, I find your remarks about urine odor very curious. Our first cat
was neutered just shortly after 8 months and I had just started noticing
a very strong urine odor. The vet had also said it would take a while
before that smell died down after he was neutered (unfortunately he
wasn't around long enough for me to see that happen :( ).
I'm going to try this with my remaining cat. It's almost time for him,
but so far I haven't noticed any changes in smell (a bit harder to tell
since he prefers to go outside instead of in his litter box).
But believe me...that was a REALLY obvious smell; I would clean the box
every day but each time was enough to knock you over!!
- Lianne -