Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK

Cat Rescue & Rehoming => The Rescue Room => Topic started by: midgecat on November 04, 2014, 22:30:40 PM

Title: female adult cats
Post by: midgecat on November 04, 2014, 22:30:40 PM
Hi ... this is maybe another dumb question .. but bear with me ... I'm still new to being a cat rescue. :-[

We took in an adult stray cat a few weeks ago.  The finders thought she was pregnant but vets confirmed she wasn't ... it was just wind bloating her.  Not been able to find any 'owner' so we're now looking at getting her ready to be rehomed - she's started vaccinations and will be chipped.  The wind is settled and health check said she was fine.   Thing is ...... what do we do about spaying?  I don't want to put her through a spay op if she's already been done   (vet wasn't keen on this idea either) ... and kind of suspect she has been done because she'd most likely have been pregnant if she'd been straying for a while and is only about 18 months old (vet thinks).   If we keep her and keep her indoors to see if she comes into season ... how long should we wait to see if she does?  Is it going to be quite a while since we're going into colder weather?   I'd not thought about it that much before - previously we've either had pregnant females, stray toms, kittens and cats who someone has given into rescue who has a history of whether they'd been spayed or not.
Title: Re: female adult cats
Post by: Lyn (Slugsta) on November 05, 2014, 01:16:43 AM
This must be something that rescue centres have to deal with a lot. Is there one in the area that you could phone and speak too (in fact, I guess it doesn't need to be in the area).

Maybe one of the Purrs rescues/rescuers will answer and tell you what they do.
Title: Re: female adult cats
Post by: CarolM (Wendolene) on November 05, 2014, 01:59:02 AM
Hi Midgecat.  She won't need to go through the op if she's already had it but she will lose some fur.   It's standard practice among vets to do the incision for the op on the left flank rather than than the right so if you book her in and explain the situation they will shave her first and if they find a scar they will obviously not go ahead.  She won't have had any drugs at this point.  If they don't find a scar they will probably shave her tummy too because in a small number of cases cats have a what's known as a mid- line op where they do the incision underneath.  This method is mostly used if cats are in season or pregnant when they're done, or in 'posh' cats where the owners don't want to spoil the line of their fur.
Title: Re: female adult cats
Post by: Frances on November 05, 2014, 11:27:39 AM
Eleanor posed the same conundrum when she was found (http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,43727.0.html (http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,43727.0.html) for her story).  The vets did the exploratory shaving that Carol describes and she had the "posh" spay 8) - their choice as she wasn't actually mine at the time.
Title: Re: female adult cats
Post by: Dawn F on November 05, 2014, 12:46:56 PM
two of my girls came from the rspca and they had shaved their sides to look for a spay scar
Title: Re: female adult cats
Post by: emmmy_lou on November 05, 2014, 12:50:55 PM
I help out at a rescue and they took a cat in to get spayed last week.

Apparently the vet shaved her and found a scar, but wasn't sure if it was from a spay or not. They went ahead with the procedure to find she had already been done.

I was sad thinking that the poor cat had to go through that, but I suppose better that than having (yet another) litter of kittens in the future needing homed  :(
Title: Re: female adult cats
Post by: Gill (sneakiefeline) on November 05, 2014, 15:48:41 PM
Ummmm stoopid vet!

Leonie who I had as Pussy and now with Lau went for a spay cos it was thought she was a older kitten she was so small but the vet fou nd her scar
Title: Re: female adult cats
Post by: caffiend on November 24, 2014, 18:14:24 PM
Wouldn't it be cheaper to microchip with a "spayed" chip? Or is there some reason a cat can't have two chips with modern technology and all that?
Title: Re: female adult cats
Post by: midgecat on November 24, 2014, 18:18:40 PM
Just to tie up loose ends, I thought I'd let you know that she resolved this herself by coming into season and was spayed last week.
Title: Re: female adult cats
Post by: Gill (sneakiefeline) on November 24, 2014, 18:42:11 PM
Sad but good  :hug: :hug: :hug: