2. Spaying a cat safely

A well-informed cat owner had his cat spayed only after she had stopped caterwauling. She started being noisy the whole day and night at 8th month of age.

"Was there any sound of male cats fighting downstairs?" I asked him.

"No sounds can be heard," the owner said as he posed the spayed cat for a picture for this research. "We live on the 19th floor."

Probably the female cat could hear the sounds, came on heat. So, she caterwauled and wanted to go downstairs. This would be her first heat.

As you can see from the pictures, the ovaries and uterine horns are NOT so enlarged and fragile. The blood vessels have shrunkened and are not so fragile.

The cat was given an injectable general anaesthetic. The left ovary and uterine horn were hooked out first. The cat's paws were released from the loops tying her up for surgery.



Then the cat's cervical spinal area was lifted upwards by an assistant from under the surgical drape. This method seemed to enable the vet to access the right uterine horn as follows:



The left uterine horn was stretched out so that the end of the right uterine horn could be seen and hooked up. The right ovary and uterine horn was exposed. The ovaries were removed first. Then the uterine body was ligated and both the right and left uterine horns were removed.


A bandage was put over the wound to prevent the cat licking off the stitches for 10-14 days. Replace the plaster bandage in 3 days if necessary or if it comes off the cat. Usually, there are no problems.

This spay was safely done because the owner was knowledgeable in getting a cat that was no longer caterwauling to be spayed. The reproductive organs had subsided in size and had were less fragile. So there was much less bleeding.

However, in reality, such owners are rare. Most cat owners and others will want a cat in heat or caterwauling to be spayed immediately. If the vet tries to educate such owners, the cat just get spayed elsewhere.