Cat Neutering and Spaying
Spaying and neutering are important for the well-being of your cat. There are many health benefits of these procedures but one of the most important is to not contribute to the cat overpopulation problem.
What is spaying or neutering?
The term “spaying” refers to the surgical excision of the ovaries and uterus from a female cat (an ovariohysterectomy). The term “neutering” refers to surgical excision of the testicles from a male cate (castration)
When should I neuter/spay my cat?
We recommend spay and neutering at six months of age.
What is the procedure to spay/neuter a cat?
Both procedures, though different, require a general anesthetic. They are day procedures where you drop your cat off in the morning to one of our Registered Veterinary Technicians for admittance. Our RVT’s will then discuss pre-anesthetic blood work, microchip implantation and the surgical procedure. Once all questions have been answered we will admit your cat into our dedicated cat ward. Once we have the pre-anesthetic bloodwork results a physical exam is completed, and they are sedated. We will then induce general anesthetic and for males, remove the testicles. For females, once the IV catheter is placed, and general anesthesia induced we shave and surgically prep the abdomen. The Veterinarian will then open the abdomen to remove both ovaries and the uterus, ligate all vessels and close the abdominal incision. Sometimes there will be skin sutures, and sometimes there will not be. We recheck all surgical patients 10 – 14 days after surgery. Both males and females recover in an area where we can watch them and monitor the patient after surgery. We use external heating devices to help keep patients warm and comfortable after surgery. Patients are given pain medication in the hospital. We also dispense some take-home pain medications for owners to administer.
