Trying to tell is a cat has been spayed

Trying to tell if a cat has been spayed June 30, 2009

I used to work in the spay clinic at our HS.

We can't palpate to find a uterus unless the cat is calm, most rescue cats aren't used to exams and won't stand for their belly being palpated, and many cats that are used to exams don't stand
for it very either.

We had to knock out the cat and shave its belly usually from sternum to thigh, side to side, then look for a scar. Some vets cut high, some low, some on the midline, but some from the side, so a small patch shaved won't tell you much if you miss the right spot.

The scar may mean the cat is spayed, but it may mean that it had surgery for something else, or even that it has been scratched deeply. With the use of glue instead of sutures, some spay
scars are indistinguishable from a straight scratch.

Maybe we would see a tattoo, but you would be surprised that there is no universal spay tattoo. Most
clinics do not have the time to follow up and figure out if the tattoo is an owner's mark, a litter number from a breeder, an id for showrings, or any of the other things it might mean (biker cat?).

While they are out, shaved and flat on their back, you could palpate, but a healthy uterus is very slim and it isn't a roundish object like a human, it is 2 elongated arms, which could be mistaken
for guts, if you felt them at all.

Normally, if you feel the uterus, it needs to come out as it is probably diseased, and if you don't feel it you need to open the cat up and look for it.

Ultrasound is expensive and time consuming, in most spay clinics a good vet would spay 3-4 cats in the time it takes to do one, and they don't have the extra staff or even the equipment.

In most high volume clinics it is just faster to shave and open up. Yes it may be unnecessary
surgery, but it is better for the cat than getting preggers is.

__._,_.___