My cat, Rowan, was only half spayed and this is something I've been worrying about for the year I've had her. While the surgeon took her ovaries, the uterus remains. Why he did this, no one knows. -_- Does having no ovaries decrease the risk of pyometra? Or should I schedule an appt. to get my cat properly spayed?
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Pyometra...
- Thread starter shiari
- Start Date
I would schedule an appointment to get the cat properly spayed, because a pyometra is an infection of the uterus, the ovaries have nothing to do with it. I would also call this vet and ask why he does spay's like this, because he is still leaving the cat open for health issues.
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- #4
He wasn't a vet exactly. He's a travelling specialist surgeon. 
apparently he does strange things like this every now and then. *shrugs*
I didn't think that removing the ovaries would make much of a difference, but even the vets where I work were unsure if it might lower the chances. Guess I get to make Rowan hate me again. XD
apparently he does strange things like this every now and then. *shrugs*I didn't think that removing the ovaries would make much of a difference, but even the vets where I work were unsure if it might lower the chances. Guess I get to make Rowan hate me again. XD
Truthfully better safe than sorry.
a pyometra is an infection of the uterus, i don't think the overies have any effect on the occurance of a pyometra. i would suggest calling and schedualing an appointment for a spay. make sure the doctor knows that she had her overies removed already to avoid confusion
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- #7
I would be bringing her into the hospital where I work, so that wouldn't be an issue. I'll probably get it done in the next month or two.
A spay can be done either by removing the ovaries alone or the ovaries and the uterus. If a cat has no ovaries, she's spayed - end of story.
Pyometra is caused by repeated heat cycles that leave the uterus permanently somewhat engorged. This tissue is fertile ground for infection. A cat without ovaries cannot experience heat cycles and therefore is not susceptible to pyometra. Incidentally, pyometra is still quite rare even in cats who have had many heat cycles. It is much more common in dogs.
Theoretically, any body part can become infected, but under these circumstances removing your cat's uterus would be sort of like removing your own healthy appendix because it might possibly get infected someday (except that you are probably more likely to get appendicitis than your cat is to get pyometra!). Surgery itself is not risk free and IMO the benefit in no way outweighs the risk in this case. My female cats were spayed by oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries alone) rather than ovariohysterectomy (removal of uterus and ovaries), as were many of my friends' cats, and after many years none of us has had a single problem associated with it.
Pyometra is caused by repeated heat cycles that leave the uterus permanently somewhat engorged. This tissue is fertile ground for infection. A cat without ovaries cannot experience heat cycles and therefore is not susceptible to pyometra. Incidentally, pyometra is still quite rare even in cats who have had many heat cycles. It is much more common in dogs.
Theoretically, any body part can become infected, but under these circumstances removing your cat's uterus would be sort of like removing your own healthy appendix because it might possibly get infected someday (except that you are probably more likely to get appendicitis than your cat is to get pyometra!). Surgery itself is not risk free and IMO the benefit in no way outweighs the risk in this case. My female cats were spayed by oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries alone) rather than ovariohysterectomy (removal of uterus and ovaries), as were many of my friends' cats, and after many years none of us has had a single problem associated with it.
I am in my mind trying to figure out how that would work, because if you take out just the ovaries that leaves the uterus just kind of laying around inside the cat. The uterus of a cat forms a Y shape with the ovaries being the at the 2 top ends, I think it would be too hard to try to just remove the ovaries from the ends while keeping everything still intact to support the uterus. I am just curious as to how this is done.
I would have the cat properly spayed. I've had a cat with pyo and I don't really wanna experience it again. It almost killed my dear Geisha. Partially spayed females can develop pyometra. The risk is lower than the risk for an intact female, but still the risk remains. Of course you could wait and hope for pyo never to show it's ugly face and have the spay properly done IF she gets pyo, but it's safer to perform surgery on a healthy cat than on a sick cat. My Geisha couldn't be spayed emidiately because the vet considered her to be to ill for surgery.
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- #11
Thanks so much for all of the advice. I think I'll wait a few months to do it and keep a good watch on her, so that I can save up to get it done.
One of the vets I work with used to practice in Hong Kong. They commonly spay animals by removing the ovaries only over there. He also said that he performed MANY emergency spays because of pyometra. Many of these emergencies were animals that had been previously "spayed" by removing only the ovaries. While I agree that is is usually a heat cycle that initiates a pyometra, and she will not have heat cyles without ovaries, I would have her properly spayed.
