Stray cat possible spayed already?

A friend called me after finding a young (just over a year old maybe) female cat so I picked her up and we've had her for almost 3 months, trying to find a forever home for her.  Sally was quite skinny when she came, but now that she's at a healthy weight again, I've noticed two things:  she's not gone into heat at all and her stomach is soft and hangs, like when a cat is spayed.  I cannot afford a $50 exam just to have a vet look her over to see if she is spayed.  If she's not gone into heat in this length of time, is it possible she's already spayed?  I've tried to look for a scar or tat and she won't hold still long enough. 

All of our house cats are spayed/neutered except for a 6 month old female who I found a few weeks before I picked up Sally...and that one went into heat last week.  We have numerous ferals/strays in the area who frequent our yard daily to eat, yet Sally has no interest in them at all.  Thoughts? 

Sounds like there's a pretty good chance she is already spayed.

That's good news

Definitely!  We typically only take in orphaned kittens 12 weeks and younger, but my friend who found her talked me into taking her.  Of course, we've had little interest in her, since she's an adult, but I'm hoping with the possibility of her being spayed that it might increase her chances.  She really is a very sweet girl and deserves a great home....just have to find it! 

Before adopting her out, you'll have to find some way to confirm whether she's spayed or not. It would be terrible if you told them she was spayed and then they trusted that and she got pregnant :/. But, yes, it is possible that she was spayed before getting lost/dumped.

If she were in heat, there would be tom cats showing up at your door even if she wasn't expressing interest. Not all female cats in heat make the caterwauling sounds, but the tom cats around them can be VERY noisy and restless when there's a female in heat around.

If whoever adopting her keeps her as an indoor cat, then the possibility of pregnancy won't be an issue because she won't have access to tom cats. You could be honest with the adopter and offer to pay for the spaying if she were to go into heat. There's really no way for a vet to determine whether or not a cat has been spayed other than to cut her open if a scar isn't visible--this is why many vets ear- tip feral cats when they're spayed.

A similar thing happened to me but I was able to take her to the vet.  She was so skinny, I was actually afraid she would die unless she saw the vet.  He shaved her belly and saw the scar.  Luckily, she is very compliant and hardly blinked when he turned her on her back to look.

You could volunteer to spring for a spay if she goes into heat.  But maybe you could ask your vet for a quick check - he might give you a break on the cost.