Cat Spey
What is a Spey?
Ovariohysterectomy is the proper medical term for "speying" or "desexing" of the female animal.
The surgical procedure involves the complete removal of the uterus and both ovaries. Although it is a commonly performed procedure, speying a cat is major surgery, involving a general anaesthetic and sterile operating technique.
There may be a slight discomfort for one or two days after surgery. Recovery is rapid in most cases.
Why spey?
Speying is performed from four months of age. Unspeyed female cats (queens) are very successful at getting pregnant. From late winter a queen begins cycling every two weeks until she is pregnant. When she is in season she will call loudly for a mate, attracting smelly tom cats from kilometres around. She will give birth to a litter of 3-5 kittens about nine weeks after mating and may produce two or three litters per year.
Once a queen is speyed:
-
Pregnancy is impossible
- She will not come in heat and attract male cats
- She will not suffer from the uterine infections common in older cats
- Her risk of breast cancer is lowered.
Speying will not cause obesity or laziness nor will it change her personality (a cat's personality does not fully develop until she is two to three years old). It makes no difference whether your cat has a litter or not.
What to do before surgery…
No food should be offered on the morning of surgery. Food may be given up to 8:00pm the night before. Anything given after this increases the chance of vomiting under during anaesthesia. It is okay to offer some water, but restrict the amount.
She should be brought to the clinic between 7:30am and 9:00am on the day of the surgery, or with prior arrangement she may be presented the night before.