Cat Spaying and Neutering - Essential Facts On Cat Spaying & Neutering

Cat neutering is the removal of a cat's testicles so that they can not breed.

Dr. Michele Drake
The Drake Center

Spaying a cat is removing the ovaries and the uterus of a cat, so they cannot breed.

Spaying and neutering cats reduces some of the high-risk behaviors associated with mating and pregnancy, as they can transmit diseases, and they're also out and about, catting around, so to speak. And this is when cats wind up getting into trouble, getting hit by cars, getting into fights, and being exposed to things we don't need them exposed to. Intact male cats tend to have some behaviors that we don't really like, and the biggest one is marking behaviors or urine marking in your house.

We recommend that every cat is neutered or spayed by six months so that they don't start developing secondary sex characteristics for the males. We don't want female cats getting pregnant, so we want to catch that before it happens.

It's so rare to have an intact tomcat anymore that I can't even think of what sort of problems that they would have because it's so uncommon. On the other hand, female cats can be exposed to potentially having mammary tumors and other reproductive health issues as they age, so it's better to get them spayed.

Males will no longer have the desire to mark your house, and they're not going to want to fight as much. The females' desire to breed and make more kittens and leave the house would certainly be changed by spaying them.

By far, the most crucial thing we prevent by spaying and neutering is unwanted kittens. That's the primary reason to make sure cats get spayed or neutered by six months.

On the day of surgery, we want them not to have eaten since the night before, but they can have water until they come in. We're going to be using some pre-surgical and post-surgical pain medications. When we send you home, we're going to discuss the best way for you to care for them. But generally, when we spay and neuter cats at a young age, they recover so quickly, and with the fantastic pain control medications that we have, they don't have any discomfort. Recovery is primarily keeping them quiet and indoors until they've completely healed.

If you still have other questions and you'd like to reach out to us, you can call us directly at (760) 456-9556, you can email us, or you can reach out on Facebook. But please do reach out, and we'll get back to you as fast as we can.

Cat Spaying and Neutering - FAQs

Dr. Michele Drake
The Drake Center

Cat spays are done under general anesthetic so that the cat does not feel anything, of course. We do the cat spays aseptically to make sure the cat won't get any infections. A spay is done by making an incision into the abdomen and removing the ovaries and the uterus, closing it up surgically, and then recovering and using some post-op pain medication so that the kitty does not have any discomfort during or after the procedure.

They're generally performed the same way as the cat spay. The cat will be under a short-acting general anesthetic so that they do not feel any pain or feel anything going on during the surgery, and we're also going to use post-op pain medication for them. The recovery is quite simple and, by that afternoon, the cat will probably be ready to start playing again.

These days, we use such good pain medication, as it's safe and effective for cats. There's no reason for any cat or dog ever to have discomfort.

The most common and very benign complication we see with the spay is sometimes there'll be a slight reaction to the suture that we use. There might be a tiny bump at that site, which will go away over a matter of a couple of weeks. It's extremely rare to have any kind of complication from a spay or neuter in a cat. I can't even think of one happening here in our hospital ever.

Once the animal's prepped for surgery, we can have a cat spay done in less than 20 minutes. Cat neuters can usually be done in less than five minutes, but there's the prep time, surgery time, and then the post-op care. We pride ourselves on our post-op care, keeping your patient warm and pain-free, and monitoring them closely as they recover from the anesthesia.

Yes, your cat can get a microchip anytime, but certainly during the spay and neuter time is quite often when we do them.

If you still have other questions and you'd like to reach out to us, you can call us directly at (760) 456-9556, you can email us, or you can reach out on Facebook. But please do reach out, and we'll get back to you as fast as we can.