Early Age Spay and Neuter

Early age spay and neuter (pediatric spay-neuter) has been a godsend to rescue groups who employ the procedure to stem the tide of unwanted puppies and kittens. With the best of intentions, many people who adopt a kitten or puppy from a shelter, promise to have their new pet spayed or neutered. Life, of course, happens and all of the sudden, the pup or kitten who is now six months old, gets out when a child or adult leaves a door ajar and returns home (hopefully) pregnant or having impregnated another animal (tragically.) With early age spay neuter, puppies and kittens may be safely spayed or neutered before leaving the shelter, never to reproduce.

Early age spay/neuter is a relatively new procedure to those who graduated veterinary school more than 15 years ago, though it was endorsed by the AVMA (American Veterinary Medicine Association) in 1993: "Resolved, that AVMA supports the concept of early (8-16 weeks of age) ovariohysterectomies/gonadectomies in dogs and cats , in an effort to stem the overpopulation problem in these species." This statement is based on numerous studies that examined the risks versus benefits of altering at an early age, as well as short-term and long-term side effects.

Benefits to Early Age Spay and Neuter

What the scientific evidence indicates is that there are indeed several benefits to early spay-neuter:

Pediatric patients have a faster metabolism than older patients, making anesthesia clear the system much faster, allowing for a faster recovery;

Young patients are usually eating and drinking within a half an hour to an hour after surgery and are up-and-about after about two hours;

The faster metabolism of pediatric patients makes withholding food and water the night before surgery unnecessary. These youngsters can typically eat dinner normally and then half their usual breakfast the day of surgery;

The rapid growth rate of puppies and kittens allows for a more rapid healing of scar tissue surrounding the incision site;

Kittens and puppies who were altered as pediatrics did not experience long-term or short-term side effects that were any different from older patients;

When performed by a vet trained in early age spay and neuter, the surgery itself typically takes half the amount of time than in an older dog or cat.

Keep in mind, many vets who are now practicing may not have been trained in early age altering, due to the belief that pups and kittens should not be spayed or neutered until they were six to seven months old. This belief, while having no scientific basis, persevered in veterinary schools up until about 15 years ago. As such, your vet may not be comfortable with the procedure, but I strongly encourage you to find a vet who is. I waited to have my cats spayed until six months and one of them, Spooky, entered puberty at an early age (by his small appearance, you'd never believe it), and I had to deal with spraying behavior. Had I known better, I'd have sought out a vet who performed early altering, and hauled him in the day after he appeared on my property!

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