Early sterilisation: (The small print!)
The views expressed on this page are our own personal opinions, based on our
own research and discussions with veterinary surgeons. They are not intended
to challenge any other policies nor do we insist that they are scientifically
correct. They are merely what we, as a cattery, believe and accept as the best
policy for our kittens.
Soulmates Cattery.
Breeders of fine quality Ragdolls, Bengals and Burmese
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Many respected catteries insist that their kittens are sterilised before they go to their new homes at 12 to 14 weeks. Some of our potential owners ask us at Soulmates if we offer this as well.
So far, we have not implemented an early sterilisation policy on our kittens. Our personal opinion is that we are not comfortable in subjecting such young animals to anaesthetic and the rigors of surgery. Based on discussions with our vets, we feel that to sterilise an animal so young, must inevitably have some effect on its development, which relies on the hormones produced as the animal matures. Any cat destined for the show ring (especially a male) needs the hormones to develop the more pronounced features that we have come to expect of an adult cat. Early sterilisation, is a policy that came about to control feral cat populations and to assist under-funded animal welfare organisations to prevent breeding in re-homed animals. In our opinion, it has been adopted by many catteries purely to protect the breeder's lines as it guarantees that there is no unauthorised breeding, but we have our doubts about it actually being the best policy for the kittens involved. Just to say that it does an animal 'no harm' to early sterilise, is not enough for us to blindly accept it as our policy here at Soulmates.
What are the main risks associated with early age neutering? Many of the risks are the same as those associated with any early age surgery. It poses a few potential anaesthetic problems because kittens have greater oxygen consumption than adults and there is a greater risk of hypothermia during anaesthesia because of a kitten’s small size (though vets regularly and successfully operate on a variety of comparably sized small pets). There is therefore a need to carefully monitor a kitten's body temperature, breathing and heart rate. There is greater difficulty of intubation due to the smaller size and less rigid structure of kitten's tracheal cartilage.
Operating on a small animal is always fiddly. In male kittens the testicles may be undescended. In female kittens, the spaying incision is larger in proportion to size and the tissues more fragile, however, there is less fat in the abdomen. Sarah Hartwell (1994)
The cardiovascular and respiratory systems of the kitten are immature, resulting in less cardiopulmonary reserve in the face of anaesthetic-induced depression. It is important that normal heart and respiratory rates are maintained during anaesthesia as adequacy of both ventilation and cardiac output are dependent primarily on rate of breathing and heart beat rather than an increase in depth or stroke volume. Anticholinergic drugs should be immediately available to treat bradycardia, if they are not given routinely. Renal function is also immature in young kittens and the kidney does not yet have normal ability to concentrate urine. It is thus essential that kittens are not allowed to become dehydrated as they are unable to compensate.
A number of metabolic processes are immature in the kitten. Of particular relevance to anaesthesia are energy metabolism and the pathways through which drugs are broken down and excreted. Hypoglycaemia may develop during anaesthesia in young kittens and may cause prolonged recovery. Underdeveloped pathways of drug metabolism may slow the elimination of some anaesthetic drugs, also leading to prolonged recovery from anaesthesia. Drugs eliminated by routes not dependent on such pathways are thus preferable; inhalation anaesthetics are removed by exhalation and the effects of some drugs may be reversed by the use of antagonists.
This is not to say that Soulmates encourages backyard breeding at all! All our kittens are registered at the SACC as non-breeders and none of their offspring can ever be registered. They go on a spay/neuter contract and we rely on the honesty and integrity of the people who adopt our babies. We endeavour to ensure that new owners of our kittens are responsible, loving and caring people. (If there was any doubt then we would not entrust that person with one of our kittens!) Veterinary proof of sterilisation is required as stated in our adoption contract, and we do follow up by requesting this proof by the time the kitten is a year old. There are also heavy financial penalties imposed on those who fail to provide the necessary proof.
However, this means that the extra cost of the sterilisation procedure has been absorbed by the new owners, and in a cat breeding community where adoption fees are in a similar range to those of other catteries, this is not always viewed as fair policy. We have therefore changed our policy on sterilisation to include the following options, effective from December 2008:
- We have entered into an agreement with our Vets regarding the sterilisation of our kittens. If a Ragdoll or Bengal kitten is adopted locally, it may be taken to Park Veterinary Hospital in Boksburg for a spay or neuter to be performed, at our cost, at 5 - 6 months of age. This is by far the safest option in our opinion and can be extended to Burmese and Variant kittens at a greatly reduced fee.
- We will early-sterilise a kitten at the specific request of a potential owner. The sterilisation will be performed at Park Veterinary Hospital in Boksburg, at our cost for Ragdolls and Bengals, and at a reduced rate for Burmese and Variants, but will be done entirely at the risk of the new owner. The kitten must be paid for in full, at 12 weeks, before the procedure is undertaken at 13 - 14 weeks.
- New owners still have the option of a signed spay/neuter contract and can have their kitten sterilised at their own cost, at a veterinarian of their choice.
