(snipped)
There is still controversy about this, because it only started
being a general practise within the last year or so, so nobody
*knows* if it affects development.
However, 6-8 weeks is used regularly at several of the shelters
in my area, and so far there have been no signs of problems -
including no more of a likelyhood of FUS in males. In fact, it
has been found that the direct effects of the surgery are a lot
*LESS* (fewer?). They don't need to use as much anasthesia, so
the kittens are up and awake much sooner; because the female
organs are much smaller, they don't need as large an incision,
so females recover a *LOT* faster. The only requirement is that
both testes in the male must be visible.
The other up-side is that by sending out already neutered kittens,
the number of unwanted stray kittens showing up because people
'forgot' has also dropped.
Diana
(last pair done at under 6 months, and the only problem is that
now they are 12-lb almost 2 year olds who still race around the
house like kittens. THUD!)