Expert: Marcia Owen - 7/11/2009

Question
Hi I have a male cat that is about 5 months old. We have now got 2 new persian kittens (one male and one female) just over a month old. I am worried about my older cat wanting to mate with the kitten. Is this a real possibility? Is the best thing to newter him? And how soon will he want to mate with her? I am worried about ths. Many thanks. Rose

Answer
Dear Rose

I am very surprised that a breeder has sold you two kittens that are only a month old and to be honest these kittens should be returned to their mother until they are a minimum of 8 weeks old, but preferably 12/13 weeks old.

Your 5 month old boy may well become sexually mature at anything from 6 months old though being a Persian (?) he may be a lot later.  Any girls coming into the house will only interest him if they come into season and again it does depend on the individual cat as to when this will happen.

My advice would be to neuter your boy at your earliest opportunity to save the girl being mated too early.

Marcia.