Questions About Spaying

I have a 21 month old kitty who I will be getting spayed in a few weeks. I have two options for getting her spayed. One is via a special program by our local humane society where they subsidize the spaying and the total cost to me of getting it done would be $40.00. The second option is to take her to our regular vet where the cost of getting it done is $360.00 (he doesn’t participate in the humane society program).

Both vets are very reputable and very highly regarded. Some differences between the two is that with the less expensive humane society surgery, she would be released to come home the same day as the surgery (about 4-5 hours afterwards) while our regular vet would keep her overnight and not release her until after 12 pm the following day to make sure that she is doing OK.

Another advantage of our regular vet is that of course he has been treating her regularly, knows her and has all of her records to date. Our regular vet’s price also includes a pre-surgical exam to make sure that she is OK for surgery. She just had her regular check-up with him 2 months ago however, so that feature is probably not as important.

The $320.00 difference in cost is a lot of money for me so the decision is a real dilemma. I’ve already checked with our regular vet and they have no problem with my taking her to the humane society program if I choose to. Does anyone here have any input regarding this? As I said, it’s a tough decision for me and any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.

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A spay is very straightforward surgery and you're regular vet has checked her over I don't see a problem with the low cost option.  Keeping them overnight is a great idea but many times there is no one there with them overnight so it really isn't any different than being at home.  Actually if they have a problem at home it would get noticed and there would be a trip to the emergency vet.  In a clinic with no one there it wouldn't get noticed.

I would pick the local humane society low cost option given your situation. They do a lot of spay/neuters and are very very experienced at doing them. The staying overnight is not necessary. Many vets release them the same day.

I work for a rescue and go thru spay/neuters all the time. Here is a little more info for you.

The "Pre-op" exam done via your regular vet includes at least a basic blood panel to check CBC, kidney function, etc...it gives the vet a general idea of how your cat is doing. *Occasionally* a once over physical done by a vet during a wellness check-up doesn't catch things that might show up in the blood panel. Also, some vets do a more detailed blood panel prior to surgeries. Does the Humane Society do any kind of Pre-op bloodwork??

Also, I would make sure the humane society sends pain Meds home with you (they should.)

While, yes, a spay is a "routine" procedure; it is still some-what invasive. The vets we use require all the females to stay over night as well. I inquired about this and they said simply it is because moving a female right after surgery (think car ride home, picking them up, potentially having them run out of a carrier) can hender the initial healing process and cause them more pain in the beginning. They also like them to stay overnight so that they can make sure they are healing properly. It can be hard to catch early signs of infection/abnormal healing if you have not dealt with having a cat spayed before OR it has been a while.

As mentioned above, the upside to having her home is YOU can (and should) monitor her. I bring almost all the males home with me after they are neutered for this vary reason. I would bring the females if I thought it was in their best interest...which I do not. I do however go check on ALL animals after their surgery and make sure that I feel their incision looks good, they are not in pain, and that they are not licking/biting at the incision. None of my vets mind me doing this.

Also, I would highly suggest confining her to a small bedroom or bathroom during her healing time. This allows you to some-what control her environment so that she is not running around the house or jumping onto furniture. We personally crate ALL of our cats in large dog crates for their recovery time (7 days for males, 10 days for females.)

Thanks for the replies. They have been most helpful. I have gone ahead and scheduled her surgery with the Humane Society vet. They have assured me that she will be getting a shot of morphine for pain just before coming out of the anesthesia and I also get pain medicine to give her at home afterwards (applied via the inside of her ear).

Just something to know when bringing your kitty home after the spay is that she MAY still be quite groggy and appear "drunk" and wobbly.  It can be disturbing if you're not expecting this.  This sometimes happens because every kitty processes the anesthesia differently and some may still be in her system.  It's common for them to be somewhat sedate when they come home and to be very sleepy for a little while that night still.  This may not happen to you, but just in case you'll be prepared.