Feline Fix by Five

Today’s guest post comes to us from Krista Beucler, Marketing & Communications Intern at Community Cats Podcast.

Fix cats by five months? To those of you working in a shelter setting, this idea might not make a lot of sense, as you’re probably already spaying and neutering kittens by 8 weeks or 2 pounds. But the general public—and even many private practice veterinarians—don’t know you can safely alter a cat before the age of six months. The Feline Fix by Five public awareness campaign aims to change that.

Can’t believe people don’t already know you can fix a cat before 6 months old? Well, a 2011 study from IPSOS marketing found that 75% of people surveyed either didn’t know when they should fix their cat or thought it was 6 months or later.

In 1993, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) approved sterilization of cats at 2 months, but only for shelter animals. Most vets then and today are still recommending that cats be spayed or neutered after 6 months of age.

In 2017, the AVMA, the Association of Feline Practitioners, and Catalyst Council approved fixing cats before 5 months as the new best practice. Thirteen state veterinary medical associations have also embraced this philosophy.

Dr. Philip Bushby, Feline Fix by Five’s veterinary liaison, outlines how fixing cats before five months is good for female cats, good for male cats, good for vets, and good for pet parents.

Dr. Bushby tells us that fixing female cats before their first estrus (heat) cycle can help prevent mammary neoplasia, pyometra, pregnancy, and can reduce relinquishments to shelters. Mammary neoplasia is mammary gland cancer and the third most common tumor in cats. Ninety-six percent of mammary tumors are malignant and fatal, but spaying before the first heat cycle reduces the risk of mammary neoplasia to almost zero. Waiting even until after just one heat cycle can significantly increase the risk of mammary neoplasia. Spaying before 5 months also helps prevent pyometra, an infection of the uterus. Spay surgery is much more difficult and risky on a cat with a pyometra than on a cat with a normal uterus, but without an operation, a pyometra is fatal. Of course, spaying cats before 5 months also prevents unwanted and unplanned for pregnancies, saving pet parents from dealing with kittens, or having to have a more difficult and risky spay surgery on a pregnant cat. Last, sexual behaviors are one of the most common reasons cats are relinquished to shelters, including behaviors during the heat cycle, getting pregnant, or having a litter.

For male cats, neutering them before 5 months helps reduce territory marking as well as fighting and roaming behaviors, which are common reasons male cats are relinquished to shelters. Because of their tendency to fight and roam, unfixed male cats were found to have a life expectancy of only 7 years by a study in 2014.

This changing norm also benefits vets, as the surgeries are easier, and patients recover faster from surgery. Plus, spaying/neuter by 5 months avoids the potential of having to spay late-term pregnant queens, and it prevents having to perform surgery on cats with pyometra or mammary neoplasia. Implementation would be easy for vets and would likely increase compliance from pet parents, as kittens are already generally coming in for a series of appointments for vaccines and parasite control, so the spay/neuter appointment would simply become the last appointment in the series.

Making sure to fix by 5 months is good for pet parents too because it eliminates confusion about when their cat needs to be fixed, reduces the likelihood of unwanted and unplanned pregnancies, and reduces frustrating behaviors that may result in pet parents wanting to rehome their cats.

But if there are so many reasons for fixing cats before 5 months, why are vets still recommending waiting until after 6 months? There are many misconceptions that surround pediatric spay and neuter. First, surgeries are believed to be more difficult, which is false. Surgeries are actually quick, easy, and have a small incision with fast recoveries and a low likelihood of complications. Another misconception is that anesthesia is too dangerous for young kittens, which, while true in the 1970s, is no longer the case. It was also once believed that early neutering would increase urinary obstruction in male cats. This was disproved by a study in 1972 and studies in 1990. The last misconception is that early sterilization will predispose cats to orthopedic problems. Though there is some evidence of orthopedic problems linked to early sterilization in large breed dogs, there is no such evidence for cats.

So how can you find a vet who will perform sterilization surgery before 5 months? We encourage you to speak to your own vet first and find out what their stance is. If they don’t perform spay/neuter surgery before 5 months, you can bring them any of the articles or resources from the Feline Fix by Five website. If you end up needing to find a vet who will perform early-age spay/neuter, you can reference a list of participating vets, as well as the list of state veterinary medical associations that endorse Feline Fix by Five.

Note: Please email Krista if you would like details on any of the sources referred to in this article.

Originally from Colorado, Krista Beucler received a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing at the University of Mary Washington (UMW) in Virginia. She was the editor-in-chief for Issue 7.2 of the Rappahannock Review, the literary journal published by UMW. Krista’s creative work has been published in From Whispers to Roars literary magazine. She is spending COVID-19 at home with her cats.