I learnt something from the vet today and would like share it with all of you.
She mentioned it is for cats, but I guess it can also work for dogs with the necessary modifications.
I was discussing with the vet about ear notching Kai, Akira and Indra at a later date. During the spaying that day, it had slipped my mind to remind the vet as this is my regular clinic and the senior vet would have known I wanted all neutered animals ear-notched. I forgot to mention it to this (new) vet so she did not do it. It was my bad.
The vet advised me to wait for a month before subjecting them to anaesthesia again in order to minimise the effect on their kidneys.
You might be wondering why I place so much importance in ear notching all females.
Well, because no matter how careful you are, there is always the chance that your neutered cat/dog can escape and what if a good samaritan catches her and takes her to the vet to be neutered again? All because there is no ear notch to indicate that she has already been neutered.
In running AnimalCare, we have had applicants saying that they brought a rescued female to the vet to the spayed, and the animal was opened up only to discover that she had been previously spayed. And because of this, the poor animal is subjected to full anaesthesia, being prodded to look for the uterus and having to recover from the prodding and stitching after that, all for nothing. All this unnecessary suffering can be prevented if only the ear had been notched.
Heidi was left in front of our gate many years ago. I took her to the vet on the same day I managed to lure her into the kitchen and since Heidi was a “very old cat”, the vet advised me to confine her and observe her for two weeks to see if she has signs of coming into heat. I did, and Heidi did not have any signs, so that means she had been previously neutered without an ear notch. Well, I was lucky that the vet gave me good advice instead of jumping in to straight away neuter her. Heidi lived with us for many years and was a CNRM free-roaming cat. She never got pregnant.
As for Kai, Akira and Indra, it is important for them to have the ear notch because they might live for another 20 years and I might not live that long to see them through, so their godmother will take over caring for them. Hence, the ear notch is very important.
So today, I discussed with the vet again and this time, I learnt more.
The vet said no vet would simply jump in to neuter a female cat (but we know some vets do, from the reports we have received in the past from applicants).
The first thing the vet would do is the shave the belly to check for any signs of suture. But granted, there would be no signs after 6 months. Also, some vets do a flank spay.
If there are no signs, the vet says she would advise putting the female cat amongst some male cats to see if she comes into heat or the males go after her. All this would help identify if she has been spayed or not. To do this, the rescuer would have to observe closely.
Only after this has been done will the vet evaluate if there is a need to open her up to be neutered.
It’s good to know that there are all these ways that can be done instead of straight away jumping in to neuter a newly-rescued female cat.
Kai, Akira and Indra will be ear notched after a month from now. The procedure will only take 5 minutes and they will be under a mild injectable anasthestic. Reminder to self and a big bonk on my head: ALWAYS remind the vet to ear notch!!!
