Dog Community

2nd opening for spaying!

Posted : 3/7/2006 9:38:53 PM

Hi I am always on the dog info sight yet my Mom owns a cat and wanted me to ask this question. Can a vet tell by looking at a cat whether or not it was already spayed. My Mom is a senior on a fixed income. She took in a cat that she says was a stray, always hanging out at the house and very skinny. She kept her in for about 2 months and the cat worked out well with the household so she decided to have it fixed. The cat turned out to be 5 years old, not the year old Mom figured. Well the vet shaved the belly of the female cat and found a scar. She said she would have to further investigate. Well she couldn't get ahold of my Mom as she was out buying cat food! and so the vet went ahead and opened up the cat and sure enough it had already been spayed. Well first of all that must of been hard on the cat to go through that unnecessary operation and still she charged my Mom full price for a spaying $279.00 here in Canada. I thought this was very unfair. So back to my question, can a vet tell just by looking at a cat if they have already been spayed. She said (the vet) that she checked around inside and beside her already being spayed everything looked good and stitched her back up.

Nancy Douglas

Posted : 3/7/2006 10:23:26 PM

I have to agree with you on this one.
If she saw a scare then she should have sent the kitty home with your mom and just charged her the sorgery prep charge for the shave.
Sounds like Mom may have been taken advantage of.

jensw

Posted : 3/7/2006 10:32:56 PM

I agree it sounds like your mom was taken advantage of. My grandparents rescued a cat from the streets and took it in to be spayed. The vet saw the scar and suggested that they bring her home and wait to see if she went into heat. She never did, and they were saved the surgery/cost.

dawnk777

Posted : 3/8/2006 7:55:43 AM

I think I would refuse to pay. The surgery was never authorized. It was something that could have waited until another day, not like the cat was bleeding to death or something.

tashakota

Posted : 3/8/2006 9:01:13 AM

I agree. We took in a foster dog that was unknown on the spay issue. When they shaved her belly, there was a scar, so they sent her home without opening her up.

jennie_c_d

Posted : 3/8/2006 3:23:15 PM

The surgery was never authorized.

Every time I've dropped off an animal for surgery, I've signed before I left it....

marynh

Posted : 3/10/2006 10:23:02 AM

the scars aren't always easy to find....fostering for a rescue group where they end up with many cats that are unknown on the spay, and many of them have no obvious spay scar.
Also some spays are done on the side rather than belly area.
One trick suggested by my foster group is if a scar isn't clearly visible rub rubbing alcohol in the area where a scar should be and usually that helps to make it more visible.
If a cat is spayed at a very young age the incision is so tiny it can be very difficult to see. I had 2 femals fosters that were spayed as soon as they hit 2 lbs and I can't imagine trying to find those scars.

cindy Lachapelle

Posted : 3/13/2006 2:45:03 PM

Wish I had thought to tell Mom to wait to see if she goes in heat. Guess none of us ever thought a stray would of been fixed. Geez, I hope it was a stray. No really this cat was hanging around Mom's all of the time and was hungry.!! Anyhow, she does have other cats come around and she was afraid that one time it would slip outside and get pregnant. She does not want any more cats to be homeless. Only good thoughts on her part. The cat is an inside cat right now but she does want to give it some outside freedom, yet for safety is talking about trying her on a lead when the nicer weather comes. No sense telling her agian that I still think she got taken and the vet could of at least waited a little bit longer to reach her, or charge her only half price as she is a senior.

garrettandpaul

Posted : 3/15/2006 1:11:48 PM

Too me the vet sounds like a jerk, even if they did attempt to spay the cat when they found out it wasn't needed the shouldn't have charged thw full price of a spay when they didn't actually do it. I would definately let it be know I would be doing my future business elsewhere regardless if I paid the bill or got out of it somehow.[]