Due to the abundant fertility of female cats, control of their reproductive cycle is one of the priorities of all caregivers. His neutering or sterilization is, therefore, a common intervention in veterinary clinics, since it is highly requested by caregivers.
This operation is usually carried out after 5-6 months, therefore, if we find ourselves with an older cat, we may have doubts as to whether or not she has already been operated on. Therefore, in this article on our site we are going to explain, in a simple way, how to know if a cat is neutered
What is castration of a cat?
Before detailing how to know if a cat is neutered, we must know what castration is and what it consists of, also known as sterilization or, more specifically, ovarihysterectomy, if the ovaries and uterus are removed, or oophorectomy, if the procedure is restricted to the ovaries.
As we say, to sterilize a cat, the vet will have to make an incision of a few centimeters, usually in the abdomen, through which to remove the uterus and ovaries. With this operation, the cat will not be in heat, that is, her behavior will not be altered periodically with meowing, restlessness or nervousness, she will not attract male cats nor, of course, will she be able to have offspring. These data will give us clues to know if our cat is neutered or not, as we will see in the next section.
Signs of neutering in a cat
Therefore, as we have discussed, we can pay attention to both physical and behavioral aspects when determining whether or not a female cat is neutered. In summary, they would be the following:
- Physical elements: sterilization will leave a scar, usually on the cat's abdomen or on one side. That area will be shaved before making the incision, so if the operation is recent, we may see the area with less hair and/or we can see the scar.
- Behavioral elements: a spayed cat will not go into heatat no time (if it does, it would be a problem known as ovarian remnant or remnant), so we can assume that we will not encounter any alteration in its typical behavior during this period. Thus, their behavior will not change during the year.
Therefore, if we identify an abdominal scar in our cat and she does not show symptoms of heat, we can think that she has been castrated. But these indications are not going to be enough, since they show the following inconveniences:
- The scar caused by a sterilization is usually not perceptible, since its color is lightening and the area will be covered with hair, therefore, it will be difficult to determine if a cat is or is not. not castrated by this method.
- Regarding the typical symptoms of heat, such as meowing at a very high pitch, there are cats that, even without being sterilized, do not show any agitation during this period, so the absence of These signs are also not a direct indication that the cat is neutered.
- It should be added that in some shelters or sterilization programs for cats from street colonies developed by municipalities there is a custom of practicing a small cut on the earof cats to mark that this animal has already been treated. But it is not always done and not all cuts occur for this reason, therefore, it is not a completely reliable criterion either.
So, How to know if a cat is neutered with total safety? We found out in the last section.
The definitive castration diagnosis
Although we can pay attention to a series of relevant signs when it comes to finding out if a cat is spayed or not, how to know if a cat is neutered or not can only be done through performing a ultrasound at a veterinary clinic With this simple, painless and minimally invasive technique we will be able to determine if our cat has a uterus and/or ovaries or, for On the contrary, they have been removed.
More and more clinics have an ultrasound machine and, likewise, a greater number of veterinarians are trained in the use of this technique. To find out if a cat is sterilized or not, the veterinarian will shave her belly and apply a conductive gel that will serve so that, by passing the ultrasound scanner through the area, we obtain the image of the inside her body If there is no uterus or ovaries we can be sure that the cat has already been spayed.
