Do animals have to legally be neutered before taken from a shelter?

Melissa, I am just curious if they ever busted your friend off of her warrant. They are letting folks go here who do violent crimes because they have no room in jail. I guess they could use it for a hassle factor though just to "keep her in line". I've never heard of them busting anybody here for that, but I don't know if there is an actual law in this jurisdiction.

It all depends on local ordinances. You'll have to check this out where you live to be sure. I'd call the local Humane Society???

I am so sorry! I meant dog not cat.

I think as others have stated that it depends on your area and the shelthers rules that you got it from. Many shelter's do require that all of their animals are spayed/neutered before being adopted (but that would be the shelter responsibilty to do that). Other shelters only require that the owners do it. Our first dog came from a shelter that did not believe in having dogs spayed/neutered until they were 4-5 months old. I adopted Trooper when he was only 9 weeks old. In my adoption application I had to confirm that I would neuter him by the time he was 6 months old and was required to send the documents. If you didn't send documents they could come after you for breach in contract. Now when we got Scout (from a different shelter) he was already neutered at 3 months.

Now, I do strongly recommend that you have your cat spayed. But find out from the shelter what their rules and local laws are and than talk to your vet who can let you know at what age is best to spay the little girl.

I find it difficult to understand how it could be illegal to adopt out an animal without being spayed or neutered, since cats and dogs have to be at least 5 or 6 months old to have it done. This would lead to even more overcrowding of shelters. I would look into this further. I guess it can vary from state to state. I live in MA and when I adopted my kitten she was 7 weeks old, and they told me that they would refund $15 of the adoption fee after I had her spayed and provided proof that it had been done.