[Anonymouse]

It isn't necessary for a cat to have had one litter before spaying; that doesn't make any difference to her health. But if she does get pregnant while she's still a kitten herself, it'll make a difference to her growth because her body will be putting its resources into making kittens and not her.

One positive advantage of spaying is that she'll live longer. Unspayed queens are placed under stress every time they come into season and aren't mated, so spaying eliminates that stress. The alternative is to be knee-deep in kittens...appealing, but impractical. Actually, my cat is the result of her mother's owner's erroneous belief that she didn't need spaying so soon since kittens couldn't have kittens. Nuh-uh!

What breed is she? I read somewhere that British Shorthairs tend to mature more slowly than some breeds, so I delayed Tigger's spaying until she was 9 months old to give her a chance to mature as much as possible (though it made little difference; she took after her mother, who is quite small). It wasn't too much of a risk re pregnancy because a) most of the local cats are queens and b) she's mainly an indoor cat anyway. Had I been in a job with sensible hours I would have liked her to have had one litter, as I'm sure they would've been cute beyond all reason and I could have kept one or two as company for her. Oh well.

So all in all, it's best all round if she's spayed sometime in the next few months - unless you want a litter and you're sure you can find homes for them.