Kitten spaying...

Re: Kitten spaying...

Rachael_24 — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 13:20:23 GMT

I have never worked in a practice where cats have to be a year old to be spayed. That is ridiculous! I have however heard of practices where they recommend allowing the animal to have one season prior to being spayed. Personally I would not do this with any of my animals as there is much evidence to suggest that early neutering is the best way forward!

With regards to midline Vs flank. Yes midline involves going through the linea alba and therefore in theory is less traumatic and also less painful. I think problems can arise due to cats being too active following midline spays. in these cases, the wound is more likely to breakdown if it is midline (think about the way that the abdomen stretches when a cat jumps). Although midline incisions do allow better visualisation so surgery time is often reduced. Basically there are pros and cons of both!

Re: Kitten spaying...

Lesley Stinson — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 23:09:56 GMT

In my practise we regularly spey from 14 weeks for pet kittens and from as young as 7 weeks for ferals. The important thing when neutering young kittens is to ensure that they don't become hypoglycemis and should be kept warm till they are fully awake.

It may be that they use an injectable anaesthetic instead of oxygen and isoflurane. This is not safe enough for kittens as their is no control.

In my practise i have never seen a hernia post op but i have seen reactions where a little seroma fluid can build up but this will dissipate after a week or so.

Most of our spey's are midline unless it is a mother who is feeding her kittens.

Re: Kitten spaying...

Sal the 1st — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:47:06 GMT

the thing is what happens in this country and the way things are done in this country isnt always the way they are done elsewhere and if you pee somebody off be they vet , nurse, bod off the street by telling them how they will do their job do you really think they will thank you for that or make a good job of it ?(whatever the job is)

Re: Kitten spaying...

sarinhaa — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:39:10 GMT

I don't do vetting straight away because I ike the nursing side of it more, I also don't have sufficient science qualifications, not to mention how expensive it would be for me to do it

Once whilst on one of my work experience placements we had a spayed female not sure how old it was but approximately 1-3 yrs old and she had a hernia and I asked what could have caused it and they said bad spay job could be a probable cause. And because I'm not qualified or anything I just din't doubt or ask anymore about it.

But thank you both so much for your replies you have reassured me that what I said to my grandmother about spaying earlier was right and that there's nothing to worry whether vet decides to do flank or ventral midline Thank you so much

Re: Kitten spaying...

BengalcatRVN — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:33:50 GMT

[quote user="Nick Shackleton"]

Don't forget the midline has a natural division of the muscle (linea Alba) and therefore probably less traumatic than flank spay. Althou my kitty was spayed flank and she is now 5yrs and no complications. Personally I'd rather the vet performing the surgery use which ever technique they are most comfortable/used to doing.

[/quote]

Totally agree Nick! I was an annoying client who wanted midline for my bengal girl, and no problems. My vet was comfortable doing them too. Rarely seen a problem in midline or flank spays.

Re: Kitten spaying...

Fuzzyduck — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:30:02 GMT

My sister is living in South Africa and was also told her kitten couldnt be speyed until 1 year of age. The vet even checked her cat 1 week before the kittens were born and said it wasnt pregnant!!! Then surprise surprise a week later her 6 month old kitten gave birth to 3 more kittens!!!

I told her repeatedly to get that kitten neutered but her vet told her it was fine, im hoping now that shes learnt and can find a better vet and get her and the kittens all neutered before they have 100s of unwanted kittens.

I think the only way with foreign vets is to tell them what you want and demand they do it

Re: Kitten spaying...

Nick Shackleton — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:18:25 GMT

I have worked in practices where it was routine to do spays frank yet we had an austrailian vet who had only ever done midline and didnt stick to practice policy and stuck to what he was comfortable doing. At the end of the day its the decision of the vet performing the surgery surly??? and not the client???

Re: Kitten spaying...

Caro Laithwaite VN — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:08:19 GMT

Ditto to never seeing a problem midline all other ops are done there so wondering what makes you think spay would be different.

Re: Kitten spaying...

Steph Worsley — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 21:53:31 GMT

if you want to be a vet why dont you just go straight to uni and do that?

in the uk we normally do a flank incision not a midline in cats (always a midline in bitches) but when i have seen a midline i've not seen many problems arising from it, not saying it couldnt happen but not seen it.

Re: Kitten spaying...

sarinhaa — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 21:42:59 GMT

I was also wondering if there's any other way of doing the spaying without it being ventral midline as I'm quite worried about hernias and other complications later :\ I'm not a vet nurse yet but I regularly worry of stuff like this on a daily basis lol

Re: Kitten spaying...

sarinhaa — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 21:24:53 GMT

I know exactly what you mean I was very confused and quite angry because I know it can lead to unwanted kittens and the horrendous "calling" etc... My grandmother lives in Portugal Steph so I can't contact them directly I did tell my grandmother to go back and tell them she wanted it done earlier. And Caro what you just said is exactly why I plan on becoming a vet nurse and after 5-10 years if everything works my way I'll do the vet surgeon qualification and move to Portugal and open my own little thing even if I won't be able to do a lot of rehoming I plan on giving out lots of information and support to people as there are many people in Portugal with pets who they don't vaccinate nor neuter! or know much about how to take care of their pets! besides that I also plan on grabbing strays from the streets and neutering them as much and as many as I can as the population is out of control, there are too many on the streets, poor things I've seen so many with ribs and hips sticking out, very diseased, it's awful. Not to mention that in this year alone my grandmother has been attacked by 2 stray dogs already!! So hopefully I'll b able to convey a message and other organizations back me up and then create better animal welfare and health care in Portugal. :/ sorry for the long post.

Re: Kitten spaying...

Caro Laithwaite VN — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 21:09:39 GMT

Nope kittens and puppies can be spayed from 8 weeks and regulay done in rescue and common for all in usa. About 10weeks + in puppies wait till testies drop.

I would call the vets who dont spay/neuter till a year several things none polite and also those that wont pay till after first season same words. They need to get on with doing a proper job and sorting the animal explosion out and stop finding excuses not to. Very few though have the guts to step up and will find a host of excuses not to and it isnt our fault is the starting point of those excuses. .

As Steph posted before me..it isnt theory, it is fact and about time was done by all.

Re: Kitten spaying...

Steph Worsley — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 21:09:26 GMT

hmmmm, normal (or at least when I was in normal practice) age for neutering cats is 4-6 months although in theory you can neuter earlier than this.

I have no idea why she would be told she had to be a year old, as this leaves so much chance for unwanted litters. Maybe ring your grandmothers vets to get a correct idea of exactly what she was told and then you can question them directly