February has been a beautiful month for me. Very little cat-drama, lots of adoptions and I've been coasting through feeling organized and and content. It's been blissful having NO sick cats. But I've had one odd situation that has come up this month....
The rescue has had FOUR cats....FOUR....that have gone into heat after supposedly having spay surgery. I've been doing cat rescue for many years. I feel like there's very little a vet could tell me about feline behaviour that I didn't know (silly me!). In all my years, I've never had this happen and it's happened FOUR times....in a MONTH!
One of our cats was spayed and adopted. The adopter contacts me and says, "I think she's in heat." I respond confidently, "Not possible!" These awesome adopters send me a video of the cat who is obviously in heat! (Think porn star behaviour) The vet who did the spay surgery is a friggin' quack - a vet we don't use any longer, so I took her to our A++ vet, who declares the cat in heat and opens her up to find that the stupid FIRST vet leaves BOTH ovaries!!! ARGH!!!! This poor cat had TWO spay surgeries - not one. If you're interested in knowing which vet botched this surgery and live locally, please email me and I'll be happy to tell you.
We've had three more "spayed" cats who have gone into heat - different vets performing the spay surgeries - cats who apparently were already spayed when we rescued them!! These cats didn't just go into heat - they were pee'ing on things too! (double *ugh*) Apparently, if a tiny piece of ovary drops into the abdomen during surgery, the ovary will attach itself to the abdominal wall and try to "reinvent" itself. Mother nature at her best!
How could I be doing this for 15+ years and have never had this happen before? Crazy!
David and I were talking about it and wondering if the proliferation of spay/neuter clinics that have popped up have caused assembly-line-like surgeries where veterinarians are not as careful as they should be?
Sadly, I'm very aware that this might be the reason these cats who were "already spayed" were dumped at the shelter. Howling and peeing around the house - and the dimwits figured it was behavioural and didn't bother to go back to the vet.
Anyhooooo....
I was back at the shelter today rescuing a sweet little girl and delivering her to her foster home. She was already spayed.....but now I'm suspicious. ;)
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16 comments:
I knew if they left behind a bit of the ovary tissue a cat could go into heat again, but I didn't know a removed ovary could reattach, that is fascinating!!
Although I am sorry to hear this has been happening. so sad the vets weren't thorough as they should have been
Connie: Nooo....maybe I wrote this incorrectly. Ovarian tissue can reattach. But the first example, the vet left BOTH of the ovaries in!
OMG - makes you want to choke someone. We have a local low cost clinic here, but I LOVE the vet...and trust her very much. But it sucks that some feel the need to short cut...and the cat suffers for it. sigh.....
which shelter did you rescue from? whats the lucky ladies name:)
Wow. Suddenly everything becomes clear with my own cat, Calli. She doesn't go into full-on heat mode (ie. no yowling), but at certain points in a year she behaves quite similarly to a cat in heat. I always told myself I was being crazy because I had had her spayed, but now ...
Huh.
It's funny how you mention the spay/neuter clinics not being as careful as they used to be. I'm a college student who wants to get her dog spayed. Obviously I don't have a lot of money so I want to use a clinic but I'm afraid to as my friend used a clinic and they butchered her dogs underbelly. Stormy didn't heal right because of what they did and has these ugly crooked large forever scars on her belly. I'm saving for the extra money to have my dads vet do the surgery.
Also just wanted to say I found your blog a few years ago and you inspired me to foster kittens in the summer. I've raised and found homes for three litters of kittens for my local shelter. All were less then a week old when I got them. My cat pees on things if I bring adult cats into the house but I'd love to foster adult cats someday.
Liz: I'm THRILLED to hear that my blog inspired you to foster! That's one of the reasons why I write this. You made my day :)
-B
Beth, when I adopted Annie in August 2001 I had her spayed, won't name the well-known clinic in town. However, she went into heat sometime later--they had left ovarian tissue and so the poor girl went into heat again. Never having seen a cat in heat (truly), I wasn't sure at first what was going on--and of course it was completely unexpected. But when I took her back, yep, they confirmed she was in heat. No charge for the second spaying, of course.
It's a bit easier to confirm neutering. Hahaha.
A vet on Queen St East in Toronto does laproscopy spays with tiny inscisions. Much less trauma.
Harpurr's Mon
Harpurr's mom:I hope that is not the vet I am thinking of, who heavily advertises his laser surgery services, etc. in his windows because I have had a couple of very negative experiences with him and that clinic -- bordering on unethical. Have a look at the GTA VetRatingz site. I have a great vet who is very meticulous and detail oriented. Even with neuters there is only a teeny tiny incision, and the shaved testicle area is smaller than a Smartie candy -- and this is done with scalpels.
I can't believe what a bad job the vet did! he shouldn't be allowed
I had the same thing happen to my Tilly (in Baltimore, not in Toronto). The vet was very gracious and performed the surgery again at no charge. I thought this was a one in a million thing (maybe it is, there are lots of cats) but wow!
Norman thanks for the Vetratingz site. Nifty! Looked Kew up on it and could not see anything negative about it.
Harpurr's Mom
OMG, I was just thinking this morning about vets who tell you your cat has cancer and he must operate, even though there is no cancer this is a huge loophole for fraud, saw a dateline special on a human doctor doing this.
Anyway can anyone explain why boy cats that are neutered still appear to have their "boys" attached? In my day, the "boys" were removed all together but the past few foster males have appeared to still have the "boys" even though they were neutered, is this the laser surgery technique? To fry the "boys" and not remove them?? I know that some vets put fake "boys" in to replace the real "boys" and make the owner feel better supposedly.
Caroline -- I think it may depend on the maturity of the male cat when he is neutered. I have fostered several very mature former strays, whose um, "manhood sacks" were very obvious and well developed. Even after they were neutered the former testicles were larger than those of other cats that were neutered at a younger age. As far as I know they do not remove the entire testicle housing -- just the contents. The prosthetics are called Neuticles I think -- and I'm pretty sure they cost extra, and are usually only used for show animals or owners with uh...issues.
Haha -- sorry about my lack of terminology. I am really fumbling here.
Thanks Andrea!
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