Spaying and Neutering

Spaying and neutering aids in population control, behaviour, and minimizing health risks.

Spaying or neutering your cat is important from a medical perspective and helps decrease unwanted behaviours. It also has a significant impact when it comes to controlling the unwanted (think stray and shelter) pet population. Medically speaking, intact (aka not spayed/neutered) males and females are at risk for certain forms of cancer. Intact females are also at risk for the life-threatening condition called pyometra, which is an infected uterus. Unspayed and unneutered cats can display unwanted behaviours such as urine spraying, late-night vocalization or roaming/breaking out to access a mate.

Unspayed female cats can go into heat very frequently, displaying these aforementioned behaviours each time. The stray/feral cat population is a very serious problem. Spaying and neutering cats have an exponentially positive impact on the unwanted pet population and help to reduce the public health concern. It also decreases the number of strays left to suffer illness in the absence of care and lessens the burden on local shelters and rescue organizations. Ask us about our wellness plans to help you budget for your cat’s spay or neuter.

What is spaying or neutering?

Spaying (females) and neutering (used for males) are surgical procedures that remove the reproductive organs. After this procedure, cats are no longer able to father or have kittens.

When should I neuter/spay my cat?

We recommend having your cat spayed or neutered at 6 months of age. As most cats have yet to reach sexual maturity before 6 months, having this surgery done after 6 months helps you avoid unwanted situations that arise from sexual maturities such as roaming/the risk of them becoming pregnant or impregnating a female, urine spraying in the home (males) and late-night vocalizations.

What is the procedure to spay/neuter a cat?

Your cat’s surgery is a big deal to us, and we take great care to ensure you are well informed. Whether a spay or neuter, your cat will be admitted to our hospital first thing in the morning. Before surgery, the veterinarian will perform a complete physical examination to help determine if your cat is healthy enough to undergo the procedure. We strongly encourage pre-anesthetic bloodwork done the same morning and prior to surgery for all pets regardless of age. Blood work allows us to have a look at your cat’s internal health and alerts us to any abnormalities that may impact how they handle anesthesia and surgery. With this information, we can determine the best plan for your cat’s surgery.

During surgery, your pet is maintained on intravenous fluids, kept nice and warm and monitored closely on a variety of monitoring devices and most importantly, by a Registered Veterinary Technician. We are committed to keeping your pet as comfortable as possible to ensure pain management is a priority before, during and after surgery.

Surgeries are typically completed by early afternoon. A member of our team will contact you to let you know how your cat is doing and when you can expect them to be ready to go home. Discharge time is arranged to minimize the wait time for you and ensure we can review all home care needs in detail.

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