scared to get cat spayed. Advice needed

Hi all,

I have a 5 year old pair of Siamese cats, Halo(female) and Wafer(male) which I want to get neutered/spayed. When I adopted them I didn’t have much experience with cats.  But I did find out about the procedure then. And I was planning on getting them through with it but then one of my friend told me how her cat died after her spay surgery went wrong. And after I heard horrific incident that I just got so scared. I backed down. There was no way I was going to let my cats go through so much pain and then die.

Now 4 years and two litter of kittens (which I have kept with me since I wasn’t able to find good homes for them) later. I really really understand the importance of getting the cats neutered/ spayed. During the last 6 months I made an appointment with the best and the most expensive vet in the city thrice!!.. but every time I just got scared and didn’t go. I am from Pakistan and there is really no accountability here as far as veterinary care is concerned. So if the vet screws up and God forbade something happens to my cats, he won’t even say sorry, let alone try and fix,  and I won’t be able to live with the fact that my cat died because of me, because I put her through the surgery.

But on the other hand I just can’t handle anymore kittens, I already have 7. And I really can’t go through anymore heat cycles, trying to keep Halo inside. And with wafer spraying urine everywhere, running off , getting into fights with stray cats, especially my neighbour’s cat (the neighbour is not very happy about that), he’s becoming very aggressive. Especially during Halo’s heat cycles. It’s world war 3 in my house every few months!

What’s more is that Wafer has “monorchidism” and the vet’s office told me he won’t go through the normal neuter routine. They’d have to make an incision in his belly to find the non-descended testicle. I just heard “incision”, I picked him up and told the vet I will come back later and never went back. After that I made two more appointments intermittently, on the phone. But just couldn’t find the courage to take them.

So now I have 9 intact cats at my home right now. 7 are still young but I am not anticipating all the trouble once they grow up as intact cats. And I am just too scared to get them fixed. I don’t know what to do.

I am sorry for such a long email. I am just really stressed. And I don’t quite know why I am writing this here and what sort of advice am I looking for…

But thanks a lot for reading! 

Best Regards,

I know surgery is scary but it really does need to be done.  Those 'kittens' from the original pair will begin mating and numbers will dramatically increase.  You will also have a situation with inbreeding and the health issues that come with it.  As far as accountability, the situation is virtually the same here in the U.S.  The most we can do here is report a vet to the state licensing agency.  The punishment really depends on that particular agency.  In the state I live in it usually means a fine and a required class. 

I agree with Denice.  We have some really good vets, as well as some who are not good.  This is true of doctors for humans too.

You need to get your brood spayed and neutered.

Good wishes to you.

I don't know what the standards of veterinary medicine are in Pakistan, but as an owner there are specific requests, let's call them orders, you can give your vet to ensure a smoother surgery and recovery.

1.  Preanesthetic blood chemistry and CBC, to ensure they aren't in the middle of fighting something internally, or have low blood sugar, immediately prior to their anesthetic event.

2.  Intravenous catheter. They need venous access in case one of the cats starts to become hypertensive or hypotensive intraoperatively, or postop. They need intravenous fluids throughout their anesthesia, at 10mL/kg/hr. Ask they be maintained on fluids throughout prep, surgery, and post-op until their are fully awake and recovered.

3.  Infiltrative analgesia. They can inject within and under the skin, local pain management to limit surgical site pain during anesthesia and postop. Infiltrative analgesia is underused by many rural and 3rd world vets, but it is very inexpensive and most vets already carry the drugs we use for this pain block.

4.  Meet the support staff. Ask them what they will be doing to monitor your cats before, during, and after their anesthesia. Ask what parameters they use, be it pulse/oxygenation, capnograph, blood pressure, temperature, respiratory and heart rate, to monitor your cats. Ask what they will do if your cat's blood pressure is high, an indicator of light anesthesia or pain. Or if blood pressure is low, an indicator anesthesia is too deep.

5.  Ask about their pre-med protocols, what they inject prior to anesthesia, to have the cats on a good anesthetic plane and the lowest inhalent gas necessary. What pain management pre-operatively, intra-op, and post-op will they receive? Pain control can decrease the amount of inhalent gas needed via their endotracheal tube throughout surgery.

I have never had a feline or canine patient die during an ovariohysterectomy, removal of their utuerus and ovaries, or a castration, removal of their testicles. I've not always worked at places that do labwork or have monitoring capabilities beyond manual heart and respiratory count checks. A thorough pre-op exam can tell a vet roughly if their patients are healthy enough for anesthesia. I prefer bloodwork though, if at all possible.

Your vet can listen to their hearts and lungs, ensuring no murmur or arrhythmia is heard, no crackles or wheezes in the lungs. They can ensure the lymph nodes don't feel large, a sign of infection. They can palpate the abdomen for any abnormal organ size or tension. If anything abnormal on exam, they will pause to give your cat anesthesia.

Ultimately, preop bloodwork, venous access with IV catheter, supportive fluids throughout anesthesia, good analgesia/premed protocol, and good nursing/anesthetist monitoring will make all the difference between a good surgery and recovery, and a bad one.

Try to find a vet, in your limited area, that offers all these, and feel reassured that spaying and castrating your cats is the best possible care and management of them you can provide.

Thank you so much for all the replies!!

@puck. Thanks a lot! This is some excellent piece of information. I will call the vet's office first thing tomorrow and ask them if they follow these protocols.

Hi @wafer,  It does sound like your vet already knowing about the 'non-descended testicle' is very capable, and would preform the pre-op tests that Puck mentioned, if you requested.

I do understand your fear of getting any surgery done, because surgery does involves some risks.

I just took in my neighbour's cat, two weeks ago, for a neuter operation.  He has a heart murmur, of grade 2/6, and the neighbour and I were very worried.  But the procedure went fine, and the cat went home the next day. 

I also know that things can quickly go wrong, but usually that is not in our hands, or even in the vet's power to change.  I would still ask about the pre-op tests, type of gas used, iv fluids, and recovery protocol, as Puck suggested, but with weighing all the options,  I would opt for the spay and neuter.  Good Luck and good wishes are sent.

Hi

I just went through sterilizing my dear pet Grin. She was a neighborhood cat that had 2 litters I could not locate... thus I can only hope they survived. The third litter she had in my home and is the reason I joined TCS a couple of days later. 

Every day since I met her I've worried about what happened to those early babies and they never slip my mind. I always knew the importance of sterilizing your pet, but with just the thought of kitties dying, being run over or tortured by psychos, I realized the importance of such a procedure.

We want the best for our cats and sterilizing them is key for them to not get into fights or kitty going through labor several times over.

I was scared of my pet, she had just given me 4 beautiful grandkittens and I didn't want her to bring any more little souls to suffer in this world. So I took her to the vet as soon as I heard shenanigans in my backyard.

The vet I took her to has been in my neighborhood at least 15 years and is really nice. He tells you everything he's going to do and walks you through it while he does it!  Yes, he let my boyfriend and I into the operating room from anesthesia through the surgery, sutures and asked if we could leave her there overnight to keep an eye on her, he said he could return her to us in a couple of hours but that he wanted to feel reassured that she made it well out of anesthesia. My cat Grin's (she) procedure took about 30 mins and it was done. He's a great vet. He talks to us and listens to our concerns and works with us in the care of our pets.

He doesn't take appointments, so you can just come in BUT!  there is something we to do every single time we plan going there: we call beforehand.  Why? Because he has an understudy / assistant and his wife is sometimes there as well, and they think they know everything ( most likely because they've heard him say things to patients) but they do not know anything since they are not vets (maybe the assistant is, I don't know), they are also very rude, so if he's not there, we don't go at all. My point is, although it's the same clinic, we only trust that one doctor. 

You need to find and work with the vets to see how they handle the work. I talked to this vet about 5 times before I actually took my Grin in, and every time he was very nice and explained everything without fuss or being rude or impatient. I tried the 3 vets in my neighborhood (an injured dog and Grin's accident which is how we met) and although he's the middle price, he's the nicest and works well. 

TL;DR Talk with the vets and see which one you feel most comfortable with. I second what @cat nap  said about the "non-descended testicle" vet, he seems to know what he's doing and know that they will be fine and better off. 

Sending you great vibes in your concerns     

cat nap said:

 
Hi @wafer,  It does sound like your vet already knowing about the 'non-descended testicle' is very capable, and would preform the pre-op tests that Puck mentioned, if you requested.

I do understand your fear of getting any surgery done, because surgery does involves some risks.

I just took in my neighbour's cat, two weeks ago, for a neuter operation.  He has a heart murmur, of grade 2/6, and the neighbour and I were very worried.  But the procedure went fine, and the cat went home the next day. 

I also know that things can quickly go wrong, but usually that is not in our hands, or even in the vet's power to change.  I would still ask about the pre-op tests, type of gas used, iv fluids, and recovery protocol, as Puck suggested, but with weighing all the options,  I would opt for the spay and neuter.  Good Luck and good wishes are sent.

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So true. Many vets that are part of mobile spay/neuter units miss an undescended testicle on exam, and surgery! And they do these 30 times a day. Your rDVM palpated, found it readiy, and told you. Points in his favor, surely.

Thank you so much all of you!

I had a talk with the vet's assistant (the vet himself doesn't take calls). He told me they just do manual observation during the operation. They will return the cat to me right after the operation, that means she will be unconscious when I pick her up. I am a little uncomfortable about taking her home while she is still under anaesthesia. Post-op care consists of antibiotic shots for 5 days.

I have an appointment for Monday with the vet himself. I will discuss further with him. let's see how that goes.