The Harv is Neutered... thanks to The Toby Project!

crumbandharvey

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Hey, friends! I've missed you. There was a power line fire on my block here in NYC this Saturday night (wires were on fire 4 feet from my head on the other side of the wall and of course, I slept through it somehow...) and my Internet just got restored this morning.


The Harv helped the cableman.


Anyway... I wanted to brag on Harvey, and really give a shout out to my experience this weekend with the NYC ASPCA's free spay-neuter van, The Toby Project.

They post a schedule online with van locations for each weekend at 7:30a. The vans mostly park in underprivileged neighborhoods, outside of Petland Discounts. We chose a location close to our own home, and I emailed in advance to find out how early we should arrive. Unfortunately, we never heard back from them, and their phone number only led to a robot.

We arrived at about 6:45a, only to find a good sized crowd already present. We signed up as 21st person on the list, and many people had 2 animals (the max per person). We found a great couple from Staten Island to hang out with, popped up our lawn chairs, and faced the Harv toward their kitties so they could all chat.

By 7:30a, there were probably about 40 people on the list, and even more animals. Unfortunately, the van didn't arrive until 8:30a. It was smaller than expected. The very nice vet tech with the very hard job of organizing people first intook all the pit bulls (pitties get priority, reasonably), then read about 10 additional names from the list for the remaining spots and the waitlist. While people were filling out forms, I asked him how early we should show up next time, since I had emailed with no response and their phone # was just a recording. He was sad to hear no one had responded to me, and asked what kind of animal I had. He then talked to the other vet tech and the veterinarian inside the van, and came out to announce that anyone with just male cats would be allowed to wait to see if they had any extra room. Despite having no more room in the in-van cages, they allowed a few of us to leave our boys in their hard carriers to be neutered. Luckily, we were the first ones with only a male cat, and got in by around 10:30a.

We came back to pick him up around 2:30p. They discharged all the other animals first though, as they were operated on first and also had to have e-collars and more followup care discussions. We got Harvey back at about 4p, and he was loopy and wobbling around, but still affectionate and excited to go home. We donated what we could and headed back to the apartment.

The Toby Project did an incredible job -- I remember Crumb having a much worse looking incision, scabbing, etc. Is there an old-school way to neuter versus more recent techniques? They only did 3 small incisions on Harvey, and he doesn't even notice them. No pain, no licking, no nothing.


Explicit cat nudity!
But really, this was 24 hours post-surgery. Looks even better now.

The Toby Project really saved lives this weekend -- not only by preventing possible unwanted puppies and kittens, but one of the young female cats had an infection in her uterus that if left untreated much longer, would have exploded and killed the kitten. They also gave out $5 Frontline for animals that had signs of fleas, free vaccinations, and discovered one cat had roundworms and treated those too. Once I have a million dollars, part of it will definitely be going their way.



This is one happy kitty.
 
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crumbandharvey

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My only worry is that they were using Metacam as the oral pain med they gave to everyone to administer the next day -- I did give it to Harvey, not knowing the trouble it could cause.

I literally just now read about it in the thread about the sick kittens, and doublechecked to see what kind of painkiller they gave me. I thought it was worth noting. Harvey was prescribed 1.5ml to be given 24 hours after the surgery. Luckily we had no issues, but now I'd definitely not give him that again.
 

lisacat

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What a handsome boy Harvey is! Even though there's a little tiny bit less of him
Just fyi, the Toby Project is an independent organization and while they do get grants and funding from the ASPCA and other groups, they are independent and can always use donations! The ASPCA has their own fleet of spay/neuter trucks but operate in pretty much the same way. I agree about the metacam, especially for the cat neuters. It's not a major surgery and better to be safe than sorry. There was a time when pain meds weren't even considered for post-op spays and neuters, so on the other hand it's good that they recognize that animals may be in pain!
 

cat person

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I just wanted to say your cats incision area/neuter site looks great from a veterinarian technicians point of view
. He also seems to be behaving normally, at least in photo's at least
.

So I would not worry about giving him Metacam or any other pain medication. Since he does not seem to be in pain, in my humble opinion.

Glad you have your internet back
.
 

bluerexbear

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That is a wonderful service! Harv looks great. There must have been an old school way to neuter because I remember when Blue was neutered, the recovery was much like with a spay. When Percy was neutered, I could hardly even see the incisions and he didn't have to go back at all for stitches removal. He was never in pain and was up playing that night!
 
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crumbandharvey

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Originally Posted by lisacat

What a handsome boy Harvey is! Even though there's a little tiny bit less of him
Just fyi, the Toby Project is an independent organization and while they do get grants and funding from the ASPCA and other groups, they are independent and can always use donations! The ASPCA has their own fleet of spay/neuter trucks but operate in pretty much the same way. I agree about the metacam, especially for the cat neuters. It's not a major surgery and better to be safe than sorry. There was a time when pain meds weren't even considered for post-op spays and neuters, so on the other hand it's good that they recognize that animals may be in pain!
That's great to know, Lisacat... it had the ASPCA's name on the side of the van, so I assumed they were in charge, if not at least affiliated. I really can't thank them enough.
 

nekochan

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I think there are some variations on how neuters are done. I got to watch my boy Mr Grey's neuter since I was working for my vet at the time, and the incisions she made were so tiny I could barely see them once she closed them up.

As far as the Metacam, I have had a cat on it before with no issues.
 

ninacaliente

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What a neat organization! And you have a beautiful kitty, BTW. I'm glad his surgery went smoothly.
 

my4llma

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The Toby Project sounds like it's a very good organization
 
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