Yes, I know its the best thing for her, especially considering what happened to her mother. But, still, when you have raised a kitten by hand since she was 12 hours old, bottle fed her, spent many a sleepless night caring for her and grown to love her like a - well no, not exactly like a child, but close! - putting her through surgery is kind of a scary thing.
And yes, I also know that the odds are in her favor. Spay surgeries are generally pretty safe nowadays and the chances that anything will go wrong are very small. And the overall health benefits for her are greater than leaving her intact. Still…I worry.
Banshee is almost seven months old. She was born on May 12. Her mother died less than 12 hours later, on mother’s day . Really, she should have been spayed already, but I underestimated the popularity of low cost spay and neuter programs. Apparently they are often booked up months in advance. And I’m a procrastinator by nature, which didn’t help. But a while ago I did finally get her into a program through the local humane society and next week, she is scheduled for the surgery. Because of the delay, she grew old enough to have her first heat cycle just a week ago. (And no - she did not get outside at all - that is certain!) So at least I can be fairly confident that she won’t be in heat for the surgery, which is better.
A couple of newer pics - to conform to the rules!
The first is Banshee with my brother’s cockatoo - they are best buds, lol! The second is one of the reasons she needs to get spayed asap, she is hanging on the screen door determined that if everyone else is outside, she should be too!
She’ll be fine. Is it a laparoscopic spay? Either way, I believe it’s minimal. It’s the right thing to do; intact females are disgustingly slutty, and intact males are just plain disgusting.
We also share a birthday. I’m a bit older, though. For these cats, we can only guess their age and have a observed birthday, as we got them from various rescue places (the dog is Bastille Day).
Yay for Banshee! I remember your threads about her, and she’s growing up to be a right beautiful kitten. She’ll come through just fine (tho’ I’d probably worry too).
LillyoftheField try to rest assured. I’ve had many, many cats spayed over the 20 years I’ve been involved in rescue and the only time I’ve seen a problem was a poor little girl who was released to soon and developed an infection. We now hold them for 7-10 days and and can provide support at the first sign of any infection. I can tell you will watch her like a hawk for the first few days she’s home, so I can’t forsee any issue.
She’s a lovely looking lass. So lucky to have had you to nurse her through those first critical months, and to love her.
Be aware that when you bring her home after the spay surgery she will still be under the influence of the anesthesia and quite groggy. The one I have at home right now in recuperation couldn’t even stand up initially. She’s all healed up now (it’s been about 4-1/2 weeks) and is doing great.
HillKat
i know how it feels. you take a perfectly healthy little girl into the vets, and bring home a loopy hurting little girl. it is tougher on the human because you know what is going on.
thankfully they heal fast and you don’t have “heat worry”.
She will be fine! Very low risk surgery, but having two furkids I understand the worry! It is definitely the right thing to do, not only keeping her from going into heat and having kittens, but spaying reduces breast cancer risk in cats to practically zero.
I remember that kitten. She grew up to be gorgeous!
I definitely agree that spaying is a good idea. As snuffleupagus says, it reduces the risk of nasty things like breast cancer in addition to the benefits of avoiding cat overpopulation. I’m glad you are doing the right thing even though it’s anxiety-provoking to have a pet go through surgery.
She’s a really pretty kitty! I can’t tell you not to be nervous. You’ll be nervous until it’s over no matter what anyone says. Hell I assist in these surgeries and I would be nervous myself. She’s young and healthy and already been vetted a couple three times, so she’s really a leg up since she’s already been checked for things like a heart murmur or other obvious exam abnormalities. So, you know, don’t worry!