Kitten's Freedom

AntiVirus

Hi,

I have 2 lovely 4 months old female kittens. I started to let them go out into the back garden about 3 weeks ago but they now have figured out how to climb up the wall and will sneak off into one of the neighbours back gardens if I'm not looking. They do come back when I call them.

There's a couple of friendly cats that like to sit on the wall watching them play and the kittens don't see to mind them any more. I haven't had them spayed yet and they don't go into heat till they're 6 months or older.

Are they too young to be let outside?

Thanks.

Ruby Soho

What do you mean they only go into heat from 6 months? I think you've been misinformed. That's only the average age, they can, and do cycle earlier, don't be caught out! The signs can be hard to interpret if you don't know what you are looking for. I have often seen kittens spayed at 6 months who are already heavily pregnant.... Siamese cats for instance are known to go into heat from as young as 14 weeks. Yeah, 3 1/2 months... Breeding season for cats lasts well into October so you never know!

Tabitharose

they should be spayed before they are allowed outside access as the above poster said 6 months is only an average

AntiVirus

Can they be spayed now?

Ruby Soho

Depends, some vets will, some won't. If they're particularly tiny, its not really a good idea, you're better off waiting at least until they're 5 months, have a chat to your vet, see what he says. It would often be done in a TNR scheme, for feral kittens, but not ideal, the longer you can wait the better I would say.

AntiVirus

I'll ring the vet tomorrow and see what they think.

Thanks for the replies

comongethappy

If you want to let your cats outside for a bit and they are not spayed, I recommend getting a cat harness and tying it to rope (just so they have enough room to walk over all your garden), and secureing it to perhaps a drainpipe. Surpervise them at all times when out to make sure other cats don't try to mate or if they get scared and try to run off and choke themselves!

We let our cats out on the harnesses and keep an eye on them and we haven't had any problems It will also help them to learn their boundaries for when they're older. We had ours on harnesses only, then we let them off when we were working out in the garden - but they started to jump over neighbour's wall (and they are next to a busy road). So, it was back on harnesses, and now if we're out they haven't tried to jump over the wall again.

Nanook32

Once they have gotten their first vaccinations against Cat Flu and other illnesses they can pick up it's totally fine for them to be out and about. They are the right age for getting brave and adventurous:D
I would reccomend getting them spayed as soon as they are 6 months old. Stop's them straying & Tom's comming around spraying all over the place and making your garden smelly plus the fighting won't happen either!!!

Nanook32

They can't be spayed before 6 months.
Reason is they are not developed enough.

Sigma Force

If the vet won't do it yet mabey try another one there are some that will and some that won't but you can have them done anytime as long as they are in good general health. There are also ways of cat proofing your garden esp. if you have walls around it can be done cheaply and easily by hanging brakcets up and chicken wire over it hard to explain but some people have done it.

Saruman

I myself got my kitten spayed at 6 months. She did not go out before that.

Tabitharose

Nanook32 wrote:

Once they have gotten their first vaccinations against Cat Flu and other illnesses they can pick up it's totally fine for them to be out and about.

no it is not - they are of an age where it is possible for them to have kittens

Tabitharose

Nanook32 wrote:

They can't be spayed before 6 months.
Reason is they are not developed enough.

there have been veterinary studies done on this and there is no medical reason why they cannot be spayed earlier - sorry to be contradicting you again....... I don't know where you are getting your information from;

The American Veterinary Medical Assoc. endorsed the concept of early age altering in 1993 - by early altering they are talking about spaying / neutering between 8 and 16 weeks.

Admittedly there are still vets in this country who will not spay early but then there are also vets in this country who would recommend that a bitch has a litter of puppies before she's spayed although there is no good reason for this.

Themadhouse

Nanook32 wrote:

They can't be spayed before 6 months.
Reason is they are not developed enough.

As my vet said, the only reason most vets will not do op earlier is that they cant be arsed to take the time to do it. Yes, it is a bit more complicated as they are smaller but it can be done. If they can go into heat early they can be neutered early.


Please dont take the chance with your kitten, if you can find a vet to spay her now do so, she can go into heat at any time....

wyk

AntiVirus wrote:

Hi,

Are they too young to be let outside?

Thanks.

It depends, what happens when they wander into someone's garden that has a Greyhound or two? And would you like it if I were to visit your garden and drop my kitten biscuits among the grass there?



Wez

cotton

100% agreee with what Tabitharose has said. Mine were done at 5 months & you should see the puddings they turned into.
Have you thought about having them as indoor cats? I've 7 here & if you showed them an open door they'd close it for fear of getting a draft.:rolleyes:

AntiVirus

wyk wrote:

It depends, what happens when they wander into someone's garden that has a Greyhound or two? And would you like it if I were to visit your garden and drop my kitten biscuits among the grass there?



Wez

LOL, None of the neigbhours have any dogs and I've yet to see a dog climb up a garden wall. They only use the litter tray at the moment but they'll stop the hundreds of birds from ****ting all over your house and washing line.

AntiVirus

cotton wrote:

100% agreee with what Tabitharose has said. Mine were done at 5 months & you should see the puddings they turned into.
Have you thought about having them as indoor cats? I've 7 here & if you showed them an open door they'd close it for fear of getting a draft.:rolleyes:

Nah, I'd like to let them get out and about when they've been spayed.

Demonique

cotton wrote:

100% agreee with what Tabitharose has said. Mine were done at 5 months & you should see the puddings they turned into.

If you're saying that spaying makes cats fat then you're mistaken. Spaying/neutering reduces the energy requirements of a cat, meaning they need less food than they did before. Many people continue to feed their cats the same amount of food as they did before spaying resulting in the cat getting more food than it needs which results in it putting on weight.

Our two girls are spayed, and they are fairly sleek, but thats probably because they spend the nights outside and turn up in the morning for their dried food before going upstairs for a couple of hours curled up on a bed. They get plenty of exercise (they don't play together though, the older cat was two years old when the kitten arrived four years ago and she took an instant dislike to her and has never taken to her)

cotton

Not saying they're fat at all, just large cats. It didn't stunt their gowth which is a common misconception.

Sigma Force

Some cats are just lazy and will put on weight. My parents have 2 neutered males the ginger one is the laziest thing ever and the other guy keeps himself busy and is always on the go.
My two dogs are spayed and never put on any excess weight one was spayed when we got her (she was apporx 3 or 4 yrs old at the time) and the other one was spayed at bang on 6 months of age.
I've had rabbits spayed and neutered and they never put on any excess weight. In fact the only animal that ever did is my parents ginger cat he's very spoilt too though which doesn't help it's because he's spoilt and not because he's had the snip that he's a puddin.

I wish more vets would spay early.

AntiVirus

The two of them are in for their overnight operation today at the ripe old age of 5 months and 10 days old.

MsFifers

They are beautiful kittens!
Got mine spayed & neutered last week at 6 months - just in time I'd say as there was a lots of suspicious licking activity going on between them!!!

The op. doesn't seem to take much out of either the male or female. They were both skipping around the day after - sleeping a bit more maybe, but in great form.

Good luck with it.

AntiVirus

I collected the 2 of them yesterday morning and they're running and jumping around the house just as much as they were before the operation!! :eek: You'd never think they had just had an operation, only the scar gives it away.

If I was them I'd be pretending to be still recovering so I'd get more prawns as little treats

dame

Mine was the same! She was done two weeks ago and I did wonder if maybe the vet forgot to do anything! Couldn't see any scar cos they did it underneath and I was afraid to pick her up in case I hurt her. :rolleyes: No fear of that!