very young cats

Question
Hello Dr. Fry, and thank you for being here.
I have a question about cats.  We discovered two baby kittens in the garage of our house about six weeks ago. I have no idea what could have scared the mother cat away, but she never came back. They were in pretty good shape, though they were obviously hungry---their eyes were open, but they were obviously very young. their teeth had not developed completely at the time we found them so we bottle-fed them Hartz kitten formula for a couple of weeks and then weaned them to Purina kitten food. Now they are eating well and they are very robust and energetic. They are showing all the signs of being very healthy cats: clear eyes, ears, nose and they play and jump around and then they sleep at regular intervals---Also already box-trained, amazing how quickly they learned to use the litter box!--anyway, my question is: At what age should we get them immunized,  At what age will they be safe getting the "behind the ears" flea and tick treatment, and at what age should we have them spayed/neutered?(one is male and the other female)  Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Thank you
----Jim

Answer
Immunizations should start between 6-8 weeks and continue every 3-4 weeks until they are 3-4 months old.  They should also be tested for Feline Leukemia on the first trip to the vet and until you have done so, you should isolate them from any other household cats you have.  And they should receive deworming too.

Flea and tick treatment really depends on what product you are using.  ADVANTAGE from your vet is flea only but is safe for very young kittens.  I would not recommend any OTC products as they are likely to cause problems in such young kittens.

Spaying and neutering is done around 4-6 months of age.

GOOD LUCK!