Feline Spaying

When welcoming a new kitten into your home, you’ll often go through a crash course in how to best care for your new friend. Sifting through which food to feed, when vaccines need to be given, and encouraging healthy litterbox habits can feel like a lot to learn. Establishing early care with a veterinarian will offer you an invaluable wealth of information as you traverse that first year.  One of the most important kitten rites of passage is an ovariohysterectomy, or spay procedure.

Cats are seasonally polyestrous animals with induced ovulation. That may sound like medical nonsense, but it's actually a really fascinating reproductive cycle. When the amount of light and dark indicates it is the correct season to breed, a female cat will cycle continuously until they are bred.¹ In short, what this means for you, is that a cat is in heat until she becomes pregnant. Since cats can be famously disruptive and annoying during a heat cycle, spaying is behaviorally advantageous.

Cost of Spaying a Cat

Like all medical procedures, there is a financial cost associated with performing it. Similar to neutering, the health benefits and reduced cost to treat conditions like cancer make the cost of a spaying your cat a worthwhile investment in their health. 2021 Pets Best claim data showed an average cost of $306.15 to spay a female cat. Note that cost may vary in your area.

Health Benefits to Spaying a Cat

Setting aside behavioral advantages, spaying a female cat has numerous health benefits as well. Mammary cancers are generally fed by estrogen, and spaying early has been proven to dramatically reduce the incidence of mammary cancer in cats. In addition, spaying eliminates the risk for pyometra (a life-threatening uterine infection) and ovarian and uterine cancers. Perhaps the most notable advantage to spaying a female cat is the reduction in the burden of unwanted kittens on the shelter system.

When Should I Have My Cat Spayed?

The optimal timing for spaying a cat has been hotly debated and is different than the timing for a canine spay. Most clinicians are in agreement that spaying your cat between 3 and 6 months of age is ideal. Younger cats heal more quickly this way, and spaying prior to a first heat cycle can help prevent some types of mammary cancers.

Cat Spaying Procedure

While spaying your cat is a routine procedure, it is still a major abdominal surgery. Technically, a spay is an ovariohysterectomy, meaning the uterus and the ovaries are removed. In general, this is done as an outpatient procedure, most pets go home the same day, although your veterinarian may recommend an overnight stay. Full general anesthesia is required, and adequate pain medication during and after the procedure will be provided.

Risks of Spaying a Cat

Risks of spaying a cat are minimal, and generally related to anesthesia. Your veterinarian will want to do a full physical exam and possibly pre-anesthetic blood work first to ensure your kitten is healthy enough to undergo general anesthesia. With a clean bill of health, risks of a spay procedure are very minimal.

Home Care After Your Cat’s Spay Procedure

Home care after your cat’s spay procedure is generally straightforward. Kittens are remarkable healing machines and often don’t seem to skip a beat! You will want to provide her with a quiet, somewhat confined space to recover in. A large dog kennel or a small room can work well.

Try to discourage her from too much running and playing until she is healed, usually about 7 to 10 days. She should be kept strictly indoors until that time as well. Some surgeons prefer to place stitches on the outside of the skin, these will need to be removed in 10 to 14 days from her procedure. Many surgeons will bury all the stitches, so there are none to be removed.

Most cats are pretty gentle as they clean and groom themselves. Occasional licking is okay, but if it is sustained, obsessive, or causing trauma, you will need to prevent this with an e-collar (cone of shame) or medical tee shirt until she is healed.

Her belly will have been shaved so the surgical team can properly disinfect the abdomen prior to surgery. This fur will grow back over the next several weeks.

Be sure to give all pain medications as directed by your veterinarian. Never use over the counter human medications!

Cat Spaying Complications

Reasons to call your veterinarian after a spay procedure include:

• Anorexia- some cats will have a decreased appetite for a day or so, but she should be eating normally within 48 hours.
• Poorly controlled pain: Cats are masters of disguise and will rarely let you know they are in pain. Some subtle signs of poorly controlled pain include restlessness, hiding, and inability to sleep.
• Concern for infection at the level of the incision: A fresh spay scar will be bruised and swollen; this is normal. You may even see a small amount of blood-tinged discharge, but you should not see discharge that looks like pus, excessive redness in the skin surrounding the incision, or tissue edges along the scar gaping open.
• Gastrointestinal illness: sometimes kitties can have diarrhea and/or vomiting post anesthesia. The ‘stress’ of the procedure and the medications used for anesthesia can upset the stomach. Vomiting and diarrhea that is sustained or doesn’t quickly improve on its own should be brought up with your veterinarian.

With any luck and a little extra TLC, your new kitten will sail through her spay procedure with flying colors. Be sure to direct any questions you have about spaying your newest fur family member to your veterinarian. Be sure to have Pets Best Pet Insurance for unexpected visits.

¹Griffin, B. (2001). Prolific cats: the estrous cycle. Compendium, 23(12), 1049-1057.