Getting my kitten spayed

[PriamFarrl]

I have a 5 month old kitten. I got her at 11 weeks from Cats Protection. Due to a nasty worm infection she was, and still is, small. Today she weighed in at 2 kg.
So here is the problem. We are teachers and were hoping she could have the op over the summer so we can be with her. The vet that CP want us to use is a car drive away but the vets that we want to use is in the next street. The CP vet want her to be 2.5kg which will take a while, it’s taken a month to get her from 1.5 to 2.

If we use our local vet we could drop her off in the morning before school in a Friday, have the op done and then be with her over the weekend. If we use the CP vet then it wouldn’t be until October half term that we could do it as we can’t get there during opening hours.
Getting her done at the CP vet would be free. At the local one it would be £140.

So what would you do? If I wait until late October will she go into heat?

Personally I would wait until October.

My kitten is 12 weeks.. I'm getting her spayed at 4 months.. luckily she's putting on weight normally. A cat must weigh at least 2 pounds and be four months or older... so l think 2 kg is an ideal weight.. if she's now free from infection. Maybe ask another vet for another opinion..and if he agrees.. take her to the vet near you....you are not obliged to take her to Cats protection.. you are now the owner.
I'm eligible for a CP voucher .. so can get her spayed anywhere l want with a chip for £10.
I have had many cats.. last one lived until 16 and died last year.

I might talk to the local vet again. When I asked CP about getting a voucher from then to use towards the cost they were really funny about it and said that we had to get her done at their vets. But to go to their one will mean a car journey. To go to our local one is a two minute walk.

Cat tax

Take her wherever you want.
https://www.cats.org.uk/what-we-do/neutering/financial-assistance?gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwi7GnBhDXARIsAFLvH4lH3YugSQCAwvPEi-Xy-szcomV5cLfBFcKS2WmYTKMpEYArWkzqFawaAvk5EALw_wcB

In fairness the cost isn’t a huge issue. I’d sooner not spend the money, but equally I’d pay to not have the stress of a car journey for her.

The reason Cat's Protection want you to use their voucher and vet is because of funding. If the free spay/neuter is not taken up then they would lose funding for the following year. It was explained to me when I said I could afford to get my cat neutered and didn't need to take the charities money. I had to make up the shortfall of around £5.

I got mine from Wood Green where they neuter them at 1kg!

Given cost isn't your issue, I'd go for the vet next door and as soon as possible.

A factor you need to take into consideration is her seasons.

Cats come into season and carry on until they are mated because they ovulate on copulation. They sort of go off for a few days but not really. Spaying them in season is a lot more work inside and they are at a far higher risk of bleeding because a fruity uterus has much bigger blood vessels.

If she is in robust good health, I would crack on ASAP.

That is my worry. I don’t know when she is likely to come into season.

I had our kitten booked in at 10m for a spay, ours was other end of the scale sadly and over 3kg so we had to get her weight down before. She came to us with a lot of extra weight.
She ended up going in to heat before we could get her spayed. At 10m she was going into heat every three weeks for just over a week every time, and it was difficult to get a clear 7 days of no heat. She had us up literally all night and it was a nightmare; we felt so bad for her.
In the end the vets spayed her whilst she was in heat because it was clear we weren't going to get the required time between her heats. She had no drip, and a cone of shame for two weeks. Cost us £190 all in including her pain meds.
She struggled for the first two days massively. She could barely walk, I think she was still dosed up to be honest. I was hand feeding her chicken and putting droplets of water into her mouth because she wouldn't get up. Now I look back I think she probably could have moved on day two but got too used to being waited on!
She is all healed up now and lost the weight she needed to and remains healthy.

When they come in is dependant on a lot of factors like food availability and temperature.

Getting her spayed would avoid her mating with some random tomcat with an unknown virus status. some cat diseases are lifelong and apart from the sexually transmitted element, the tom bites the queen on the scruff nine times out of ten.

The 2k think is linked to vets liking to use an anaesthetic called a 'triple' and the recipient has to be 2k for that. A normal IV can be given to bodyweight at any dose.

Book her in for two weeks time.

At five months old and going into September? Any minute now in my experience.

I'm surprised she hasn't had a season already, to be honest. She needs to be done ASAP. Weight shouldn't be an issue - it's absolutely fine to spay at 2kg.

Believe me when I say you don't want a cat in season - it's utterly miserable. She will yowl, wail, scream, do whatever she can to escape and potentially even start urinating and marking around the house. If she does get out (and believe me, she'll try) it's highly likely she'll come back pregnant which could kill her.

With the daytime hours getting shorter your kitten is unlikely to call before January. I breed cats, even my current mum who called a few months ago stopped (and they are normally on a one week off one week on schedule).

I’m pretty sure our vet was happy to spay at 1.8kg as we had our boy and girl done on the same day and the girl is very petite , her brother is a right chunk . I’d get it done ASAP

I’m going to go to the vet up the road tomorrow and ask them about it. She’s had her check in done there so they know her.

I would go asap unless lots of other kittens are not your thing. Assuming she is not an indoor only cat?
I'm not sure I would worry about being with her. She will be sore and groggy and not move around much for a couple of days. You can opt for a onesie instead of a cone of shame which will make access to her stitches very hard. But it means she can drink easily and move around.

She is mainly indoor but goes outside with us, doesn’t leave the garden and isn’t left alone. We wouldn’t ever let her go out alone without being done.
I’m going to speak to the local vet tomorrow.

I had the onesie for my last cat after she had an operation, she was expert at getting it off.

I have a male so can't be 100% for female but we have a small boy too. And had to wait until 6 months for him as he wasn't 2kg when he was 4 months.

I'd check with your vet and go with their advice

You are taking a huge risk here - she needs to be inside until she's spayed and fully recovered from her surgery.

I think she is unlikely to come in season before Jan/Feb. This is because cats season is affected by daylight hours, and also she is less than 6 months old and small. I wouldn't let her outside unsupervised though (as you are doing) just in case

Cats can come into season at any time of the year though - yes, it's more likely to be earlier in summer but it's still a big risk to take.

A kitten in season is a pain in the arse to live with even if it doesn't result in pregnancy.

She’s booked in for Friday, our vet was happy to do it at 2kg.

That's fab news - she'll bounce back in no time and you won't need to worry anymore :)

She had her operation today. She seems to be coping ok. She’s been very good not fussing at the wound at all.