My husband and I aquired 2 cats this weekend! Our neighborlady has been put in a nursing home a few weeks ago, and her children came over to clean out her house to find 2 small cats all alone. I was outside preparing my garden when they asked me if I wanted to care for the cats, and of course I jumped at the chance!

There is a male and a female (I will try and get photos later, they're scared and hiding right now!) and we aren't really sure on the medical past of either of the cats! Here's what we know about them! (FYI:: Neither of them have names, she just called them Silver Kitty and Orange kitty)

Female :: Silver Kitty approx. 2 years old. Current Rabies Shots.

Male :: 7 or 8 months old (She got him as a small kitten in October). Not sure on any vaccinations or anything.

I don't know if they are fixed, but if they aren't that's my first priority!! Does anyone know how to find out if they are?? And if not, about how much does it cost to do the procedure?? (I'll call the vet this week no matter what, but I'm just curious for now!)

My husband and I don't really know the lady, as she wasn't very friendly and welcoming, so I can't really go ask her! (Especially now that she's in a nursing home! That would be akward!

pixidust

March 27th, 2005, 08:03 PM

Hrmmm i dunno about a female but my male cat had a bit of a scar from where he was nipped....it cost me about 95 to get him fixed a female cat was about 125 but that was 7 years or so...i need to look into this again myself...i'm going to have aonther kitty to add to my family

pixidust

March 27th, 2005, 08:04 PM

Oh and you should just take the kitties to the vet anyway...better to be safe then sorry

Isil Darkmoon

March 27th, 2005, 08:28 PM

There are two forms of male fixing--one where the testes and scrotal sack are removed, and the other where the testes are removed but the sack left in place. The first is obviously pretty easy to distinguish; the second, if you're not squeamish, you can very gently ply the sack. If you just feel your own fingers through his skin, he's fixed, if there's an obvious object in the sac chances are he's not.

For the female, you can occasionally see the spay scar on shorthaired cats. On a longerhaired cat, the vet can just shave a small strip of hair off her lower stomach and see if he can locate the scar or not. Spay scares can be really hard to determine for a layperson--I know I still am unsure a vast majority of the time--but vets know exactly what to look for and can give you accurate results high up in the 90th percentiles. False negatives (spayed cats with no visible scar) are of course exponentially more common than false positives (an abdominal scar on a nonspayed cat). If the vet thinks the results are questionable, a good number have the equipment to do the equivalent of an ultrasound and determine if there's anything there or not.

(If the rabies vacc. is current on the female, is there any tag or record? You should be able to locate the vet's name from that, and call and ask if they'll release the histories to you.)

"Speutering" at full cost generally runs from $50ish up through $120+ depending on the vet and the difficulty of the case (i.e. undescended testicle, etc). Males cost less since it's a much less invasive surgery--males generally can go home that evening while most vets prefer to keep females overnight just to keep an eye on since it's a fairly major surgery.

Many areas have low-cost spay/neuter available through rescue groups, shelters, and vets, if the finances are a problem. Some of the discounts are only for toms (such as the 'Neuter Scooter for a Nickle' program) because it's a higher rate of control and an easier surgery.

In return for this high-quality information, I DEMAND PHOTOS!

Jacque

March 27th, 2005, 09:37 PM

Thank you very much!

The boy is NOT fixed!! Which scares me that if the female is not fixed then she could possibly be pregnant!! (I do NOT need little kittens running around!!)

We're making a vet appointment first thing tomorrow!

Isil Darkmoon

March 27th, 2005, 09:49 PM

Thank you very much!

The boy is NOT fixed!! Which scares me that if the female is not fixed then she could possibly be pregnant!! (I do NOT need little kittens running around!!)

We're making a vet appointment first thing tomorrow!

If his age estimate is correct there's a decent chance he's not completely sexually mature at this stage--or at least wasn't the last time the female (if she is unspayed) was in heat.

It is possible for vets to do an "abortive spay" on pregnant queens if it's early enough along. While it's not 100% accurate, these can generally be done pretty safely if she hasn't yet begun to "show". After that it'll depend on the overall health of the cat, and the vet's recommendation. This will make the spay more expensive--usually about half again your vet's going rate--but in the end is almost always cheaper than dealing with a litter of kittens you're unprepared for.

Best of luck with the furbeasts :) And let us know what they end up being named!

Jacque

March 28th, 2005, 11:43 AM

Thank you again Isil :D I really appreciate your kind help!

The boy is named Sparticus :) Last night my husband was watching "Gladiator" and he seemed so enthralled, and then mix that with him attempting to fight (playfully I think) with my German Shepherd, we named him Sparticus!

However the little girl hasn't shown much of her personality yet, so we'll wait to name her!

***

Do vets sometimes allow payment plans? I'm waiting another hour for our vet to open, and I will ask them...but I was just wondering :D

MorningDove030202

March 28th, 2005, 12:08 PM

I know alot of folks don't like to think about this option, but the vet can spay her while pregant and abort the kittens. It's more expensive than a normal spay, BTW.

Dove

Thank you very much!

The boy is NOT fixed!! Which scares me that if the female is not fixed then she could possibly be pregnant!! (I do NOT need little kittens running around!!)

We're making a vet appointment first thing tomorrow!

Isil Darkmoon

March 28th, 2005, 04:47 PM

Some vets allow payment plans, some vets don't--some have a hard and fast policy against it, adn some are willing to work with owners depending on circumstances. Of course, if it's a vet you've been with for a while for other critters (which I assume it is since you said "our vet") they're much more likely to than a vet randomly out of the business pages ;)

If they don't, most quality vets, when asked, will be able to offer some information on reduced-cost spay/neuter if there are good orginizations in town that do such a thing.

Jacque

March 28th, 2005, 06:34 PM

Nope our vet doesn't :( (There are some rather slummy shady vets in our town, and so I'd like to stick with the one we've got currently for our dog!)

I'm going to do the girl next week for about $70; and the boy in 2 weeks for $50

Isil Darkmoon

March 28th, 2005, 06:39 PM

Nope our vet doesn't :( (There are some rather slummy shady vets in our town, and so I'd like to stick with the one we've got currently for our dog!)

I'm going to do the girl next week for about $70; and the boy in 2 weeks for $50

Those are quite good prices, honestly--better than my vet, much as I love her. Good for you for doing the right thing and taking care of these furballs properly :)

TornadoAli

March 31st, 2005, 10:26 AM

Here in atlanta theres a program called CatSnip that will fix them for about $35. That's how I got my boy Guinness done. You may want to look for low-cost options in your town as well.

Ceres

March 31st, 2005, 10:34 AM

Funny side note for this thread: A good friend of mine with 6 kids and is low on cash, but has a sisterinlaw who is a vet assistant. She brought home the vaccines to do my friend's cats for free and then neutered them for free by drugging them and then performing the operation on the kitchen table. She said the kids were fascinated to see it ;)

Not funny other side note: She lives on a farm and says its really sad how many people drop off kittens on their road - thats how she aquired these two males. They were the only kittens that survived in a litter that was dumped in a bag in the ditch near her house.

Enozgirl

March 31st, 2005, 11:18 AM

Down here in SouthFL, we have the "SpayShuttle" where you can take your cats and dogs to be spay'ed and neutered fairly inexpensively.

And Radikalwomyn, that second story is horrible, and all too common unfortunately :(

MorningDove030202

March 31st, 2005, 04:01 PM

If your vet doesn't do payment planns, they might do "Care credit" www.carecredit.com It's like an interest free credit card that you can set up payments with for both vet bills and human doctor bills. Check them out.

Dove

AutumnWitchie

March 31st, 2005, 04:43 PM

Funny side note for this thread: A good friend of mine with 6 kids and is low on cash, but has a sisterinlaw who is a vet assistant. She brought home the vaccines to do my friend's cats for free and then neutered them for free by drugging them and then performing the operation on the kitchen table. She said the kids were fascinated to see it ;)

Not funny other side note: She lives on a farm and says its really sad how many people drop off kittens on their road - thats how she aquired these two males. They were the only kittens that survived in a litter that was dumped in a bag in the ditch near her house.

Thats how I've ended up with 12 cats....3 outdoor and 9 indoor. Maeve was found between the wood door and screen door of our old neighbor's house. He let his sleazy girlfriend get a kitten for her daughter but when she left him, he stuffed the cat there on a hot summer day with no water. Hubby and I heard kitty crying and rescued her. The neighbor wasn't home or hubby would have told him what scum he was for doing that. The least he could have done was turn her out so she could have come over to my place. I found Ra(my orange kitty) on my deck in the rain at our old place. He was very happy to get in out of the rain. We're pretty sure someone dropped him off because they knew we had cats. BTW, my own mother is one of those people who doesn't have a problem just dropping off cats somewhere......just as long as she doesn't have to deal with them. Thats a bone of contention with us. She's always complaining about my cats and how, as these die off I don't need to get anymore. I make certain sacrifices for kitties.....litter box duty...ugh!.....I bought my own steamcleaner for the carpet so my mom couldn't say they were ruining my carpet(I have one sickly, ashmatic kitty who has accidents....my son's old crib pads come in handy for Pinky's spot on the couch).