# Have you ever taken a cat to the vet to be spayed... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 22, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207 "2014-08-22T15:27:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![QuarkChild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c5a1d2/32.png) [@QuarkChild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuarkChild)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/1 "2014-08-22T15:27:55Z")
…only to be told that your cat is a male? That happened to me today. Three weeks ago, my cat died. She was a tiny black female cat, about 14-15 years old. One week ago, I went to the SPCA and found a new cat, black female, about 2 years old. This cat is enormous–11 pounds, extremely long body, very solidly built. Weighs over twice what my previous cat did, and seems to be twice as long. Has enormous paws, too. Really sweet cat, though–very cuddly. Hard not to take home a cat who purrs when you pick her up. Anyway, I paid an extra $50 for a spay voucher, since she was unfixed. So today I take her in and I am told that I have a neutered male cat. Spay was canceled. Now I need to decide on a name. This enormous male cat is not a Clara 🙂 I’m thinking Thumper or Tobias. I’d post a photo, but I’ve never posted a photo link here before. I don’t really have a link to a website or anything. Just imagine your standard all-black domestic shorthair, but bigger. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/2 "2014-08-22T16:12:36Z")
How about Duncan (as in the late Michael Clarke)? ---
**Author:** ![QuarkChild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c5a1d2/32.png) [@QuarkChild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuarkChild)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/3 "2014-08-22T16:17:13Z")
Not familiar with Michael Clark Duncan. Is that a size reference? Probably shouldn’t name him Idi Amin… ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/4 "2014-08-22T16:22:37Z")
Did you contact your SPCA and question them on their ability to tell male and female cats apart? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/5 "2014-08-22T16:23:19Z")
> [@QuarkChild](#): > > Not familiar with Michael Clark Duncan. Is that a size reference? Could be! [He was a rather large black man known for playing protective gentle giants.](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003817/) We did adopt a kitten once who was of indeterminate gender by visual exam. The vet scheduled the kitten for “a spay or neuter? We’ll see when we get in there.” Turned out to be a little boycat. ---
**Author:** ![QuarkChild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c5a1d2/32.png) [@QuarkChild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuarkChild)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/6 "2014-08-22T16:24:10Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Did you contact your SPCA and question them on their ability to tell male and female cats apart? Not yet, but my vet did make a cryptic comment about not being surprised when I told him the cat came from the SPCA…:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/7 "2014-08-22T16:24:31Z")
We took Hugo to the vet to get neutered. ‘He’ ended up getting spayed. It’s hard to tell with young cats, the vet couldn’t be sure from a visual inspection alone. ---
**Author:** ![jayrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/47e85d/32.png) [@jayrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayrey)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/8 "2014-08-22T16:34:25Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > How about Duncan (as in the late Michael Clarke)? This is EXCELLENT! From what I’ve heard, Michael was a pussycat in real life. Big, big, black man who probably purred when you petted him. \*\*Skywatcher \*\* for the win! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/9 "2014-08-22T16:48:42Z")
> [@QuarkChild](#): > > Not familiar with Michael Clark Duncan. Is that a size reference? [Yes.](http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1114118!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/michael-clarke-duncan-the-green-mile.jpg) He’s standing on a box for that scene; in reality, he was only 5" taller than Tom Hanks (the guy facing him). ---
**Author:** ![Lorene89095](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@Lorene89095](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorene89095)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/10 "2014-08-22T17:09:30Z")
You have a House Panther 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/11 "2014-08-22T17:13:40Z")
> [@QuarkChild](#): > > Now I need to decide on a name. This enormous male cat is not a Clara 🙂 > > I’m thinking Thumper or Tobias. Is there a historical or fictional male that was mistaken for female? I can only think of the opposite, like Billy Tipton. Ooh, how about Lola, from the Kinks song! Ehh, it’s still a girls name, which I guess is not what you are going for. Too bad we never learned Lola’s birth name in the song. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/12 "2014-08-22T17:25:50Z")
I took Gracie, an adult foster cat from a rescue to be spayed - turned out she was a neutered male. Not my cat, so this was the rescue’s fight, but I was pissed. The cat had been at the clinic for day or two prior to this for diarrhea, so they’d seen him and you think someone would have looked under his tail and checked either then or before opening him up for surgery. The vet clinic said they needed to go in to make sure there were no retained testicles, but I think they didn’t bother to look and then had to justify why they tried to spay a male cat. :mad: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/13 "2014-08-22T17:53:56Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Could be! [He was a rather large black man known for playing protective gentle giants.](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003817/) > > We did adopt a kitten once who was of indeterminate gender by visual exam. The vet scheduled the kitten for “a spay or neuter? We’ll see when we get in there.” Turned out to be a little boycat. Michael Clarke Duncan was also a cat lover. I’ve known people to wrongly determine the sex of young kittens, but yeah, a 2-year-old-cat, that’s unusual. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/14 "2014-08-22T18:06:57Z")
Under the circumstances, Orlando would seem an appropriate name. ---
**Author:** ![QuarkChild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c5a1d2/32.png) [@QuarkChild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuarkChild)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/15 "2014-08-22T18:13:30Z")
> [@Lorene89095](#): > > You have a House Panther 🙂 I like that. Alternatively, Land Orca (although that would be more for a tuxedo cat. The Cat Formerly Known as Clara is completely black.) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/16 "2014-08-22T18:21:04Z")
My favorite Michael Clarke Duncan scene in anything ever. I cannot believe he didn’t laugh. But that voice of his is like falling into a vat of rich velvety melted chocolate. (Language warning: misogynic song lyrics with the word “bitch” repeated over and over…and over…) [Two and a Half Men - Michael Duncan and Charlie Sheen - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA3t6tNSh1I) ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/17 "2014-08-22T19:56:32Z")
Although we figured it out a bit earlier than the point of sterilizing him. We really always preferred girl kitties. So we got this sweet frisky playful patio kitty. We called her “Annie”. We prefer to name our cats after foods and drinks, and “Annie” is short for Guatemala Antigua, our favorite coffee varietal. A few week on, we notice some bumps growing where girl kitties don’t usually have bumps. Took her to get her fixed and, sure’s shooting, she’s a he. He’s “Andy” now. Same full name, just a tweak in pronounciation. Our rule has been refined so that girl kitties are named after candies (such as Necco the Neko or Baby Ruth) and boy kitties are named after beverages. ---
**Author:** ![diggerwam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/919ad9/32.png) [@diggerwam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggerwam)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/18 "2014-08-23T01:33:09Z")
Yep, got Frankie at about 16 weeks. We had not ever had cats growing up, so we took the sellers word for it. I wanted a male cat cause I figured fixing would be easier. Vet told us she was a girl cat, we kept the name and lived happily ever after. ---
**Author:** ![ladysorrowfree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@ladysorrowfree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladysorrowfree)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/19 "2014-08-23T02:08:37Z")
About 20 years ago, I acquired two litter mates, a little girl cat and much larger little boy cat. Or so we and the vet thought. Our appointment to spay and neuter the two of them got hurried up when "boy cat went most spectacularly into heat with massive displays of hour nines. ---
**Author:** ![ladysorrowfree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@ladysorrowfree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladysorrowfree)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207/20 "2014-08-23T02:09:56Z")
Dad gummit, still getting used to iPad and finger slipped. Mod, please delete the partial post. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-taken-a-cat-to-the-vet-to-be-spayed/696207.md?page=2)