Are there a lot of negative feelings against pediatric spaying/neutering? I know there are risks to it, but once I found a vet that offered it I've brought at least 15 stray kittens in for the procedure. I couldn't house and care for these animals until they reached six months so I am grateful for the procedure and the vets that will do it, but is there a general dislike of clients who ask for this, and vets that perform it? I've been reading some pet blogs and there's some discourse about it.
No, I wouldn’t say there’s a lot of negative feelings against pediatric desexing, especially when it comes to cats. A major factor is what you’ve described, the sooner a rescue animal can be desexed, the sooner it can be reliably sent to a new home without further breeding, which is what a rescue is trying to achieve. If you’re obliged to wait until the animal is an adult, you are stuck with them through all their ‘cutest’ stages and have to rehome an adult, or you risk the new owner breeding that animal anyway. I know some breeders seem tube tying for their puppies, but this just subjects the animal to a second surgery.
Most of the voices against pediatric desexing are from pet bloggers who are not working with rescues or shelters, who are considering a single dog or cat in an ideal scenario with ideal owners, not a bunch of 15 kittens that need rehoming to goodness knows where.
It’s usually more a technical concern at the vet end. Do we physically have tubes and kits small enough? What’s our weight cut off? For me it’s 1.5kg for a spay, so long as they’re at least 8 weeks. (All the pain relief meds registered for use to take home aren’t registered under 8 weeks), but while it’s something I can offer it’s not something I routinely push.
And anyway, what’s the alternative for a rescue situation? Rehome entire animals and hope for the best? Accidents happen and contracts about desexing aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. Keep them until adulthood when they’re harder to rehome? Or desex them as soon as you can and give them the best, soonest shot at a happy life.
