Many animal shelters are spaying and neutering at 6-8 weeks of age. There has been a lot of research done on this and it has become fairly routine to spay and neuter before the pet leaves the shelter. Check with your vet, I have one cat that was spayed before she left the shelter at about 8 weeks old. She's 14 years old now.
The vets usually say six months, but sometimes females can come into heat sooner.
When I was a kid we kept an entire litter of kittens and their momma who arrived as a pregnant stray. We spayed and neutered everyone, but the girls came into heat really young... around thirteen weeks. The vet clinic decided to spay them early, and put the vet with the most experience on the job.
I am so glad you are on top of this! I do volunteer animal rescue, and it is an uphill battle to convice some to spay. One unspayed female gives rise to an average 420 000 kittens in seven years. Talk about exponential growth. Once you give a vulnerable kitten away, you cannot control how it is treated.
You should spay/nueter around 18 weeks old. I have heard of it being done at 16 weeks but 18 weeks is much more preferred. Most vets have a set age that they will do that procedure (their personal preference) so check with a couple local vets and get prices for the procedure at the same time.
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