misleading advertisement for rescue cat

[PurpleElla]

I adopted a cat nearly two weeks ago, she is five and absolutely lush and already has her paws well under our table.

However I've just had to spend a significant amount on her being microchipped and starting again with her vaccinations. I don't mind but am a little annoyed as I was misled about her situation by the rescue I got her from.

Her advertisement said she had a full vets history, was microchipped and neutered. Actually she's not microchipped and I only found out by getting the vet to scan her, she has no vets history (can't even ascertain her old vet in order to contact them). The rescue say they can't get hold of her own owner. I get that the old owner clearly misled the rescue but I think they should have only stated facts that could be confirmed with paperwork!

This means I can't be sure she is neutered and the vets say the only way to find out is surgery. So I have to keep an eye out for behaviour that would indicate she isn't. Some advice about what to look out for would be welcome please?

Still she now has her forever home and I will do whatever it takes to keep her happy and healthy.

I'm a little surprised that a decent vet couldn't establish her status by looking for an op scar at least. Was this just one person's view?

Yes, this was the vets I've registered her with based on lots of recommendations, local and well thought of. I did think the same thing tbh but as a cat newbie took her word for it. Shouldn't I have done?

The normal way to check if a cat is neutered is to shave a patch and look for a spay scar. I'm surprised your vet didn't suggest it.

I think that I might well be considering another vet. Were they 'offhand' at all? And was this one of the regular vets or a locum?

My cat came with a bald patch where she'd been shaved to look for her spay scar. I was very particular in being able to be reassured that she had in fact been spayed as they told me she'd been spayed by a previous owner rather than by them and have heard horror stories of rescue "spayed" cats turning up pregnant or with kittens some weeks later....

I would have thought that the rescue would have vaccinated and microchipped her as well? Again, my cat had had her first vaccinations and I had to take her for the second dose, and the vet scanned for a chip at the same time.

Yes, I would put in a complaint to the rescue for miss-advertising the cat (she's probably not the only one) but I would also take her to another vet to check to see if she's been spayed. If she' scan adult cat there's no reason why the rescue shouldn't have done this.