Wordy Wednesday - Neuter Day

The kittens are going back to the shelter to be neutered today. I know this makes some people sad; I hope this post will change your mind about that.

I know that going through surgery is hard, and I imagine not know what is happening makes it a bit harder, but kittens generally handle the surgery pretty well, waking up a little groggy but not showing any outward signs of really knowing what happened. Sometimes they will lick their incisions and their shaved bits, but it appears to be more of a 'this is so weird' kind of feeling more than anything else. I've had a few pick at the glue they use to close up the incisions and generally when this happens it is because there are a few extra bits of glue sticking to their skin. I know I can't ignore it when I have super glue on my skin.

I also know that there is some risk to the surgery. I have had a small number of kittens pass away while being neutered and one in particular who "died" twice (points at Twee). Every time you sedate someone there is risk but being neutered is a very important part of a housecat's life.  Without it, they are generally not very good companions, caring more about reproducing than anything else.

There has also been some discussion about the harmful long-term effects of neutering and how a cat might live a longer life if they are allowed to progress into puberty or even keep their sex hormones throughout their lives. I don't believe the current information translates to cats. I also believe that the risks of neutering young and the possible risks of disease because of the lack of hormones is minimal compared to the known risks of the diseases that a cat faces when the hormones are on board. The behavioral issues are also a serious risk to cats. So many people want to 'get rid' of their cats simply because their cats are being hormonally intact cats.

So let's change the narrative.  Neuter day is a day to celebrate. It is a right of passage that turns a kitten into a housekitten. It is the day they get their golden cat bed and makes it possible for their humans to find them so they can live a long happy life.

Drunk sleepy kittens are freakin awesome

The kittens have been making progress and they are gaining weight, so it is time to start thinking about bringing them back to the shelter to be adopted. I wrote in and asked if they wanted to schedule them to be neutered while they are on the smaller side to make it easier on them and let them continue to take charm lessons at Casa de Gato while they healed up.  The challenge of being neutered is a huge one, and if they could return to something they know the hope is that which frightened them before won't be so frightening now.

So I took them in to the shelter yesterday and picked them up at around 5pm. I brought them home and they were still kind of drunk and sleepy from the sedation.  Mary ate some, Winifred used the litterbox, Sarah was a bit paranoid. I was able to hold Sarah and we cuddled for a bit, but she remembered that she doesn't like that and asked to leave.

Mary wanted to snuggle with Winifred but Winnie wasn't having anything to do with it and was growling at her, so I picked up Mary and snuggled her for a bit. She was tired and cold and wanted to snuggle so she put up with me. I was able to kiss her silly, it was so nice. She finally got sick of me and wanted to get down too, and she and Sarah ended up snuggling together on Happy Bear.

I wanted to take photos of them but I had left my good camera upstairs so I finally decided to go and get it. Sarah didn't much like my moving around and ran and hid under the couch. Fortunately they were back on Happy Bear by the time I returned and were sleepy enough to let me take photos, pat them, kiss them, and even manipulate Happy Bear into a place where the lighting was better.

and so I took 100 photos or so of them..

You are only getting seven of them now..

Anyone want to see more of the photos tomorrow?

Neutering didn't go quite as planned

Generally the kittens are neutered with little to no complications.  This time was slightly different.  At this point the kittens are fine, eating and walking about the kitten room, but I will be keeping an eye on them just in case..

I dropped them off Thursday morning and they spent the day at the shelter.  I got an email at 4:30 telling me they were all set and ready to go.  The kitten formerly known as Blue Eye that is now Penelope had a slight complication.  She was missing the uterine horn on one side. The vet had to expand the incision to find the ovary, so she has a much larger incision and was probably under a bit longer to make sure it was done right.

Image from Pet Informed.
Well done page with lots of info on spaying, may be TMI for a casual pet owner

I went and got them after work and brought them home. I cleaned up the room, put some food down, then opened up the carrier and took them out one by one to give them a once over so I would know how things looked like when they were done. This way I would know where we started from to be able to tell if things were healing or having problems. Penelope was first.

The incision for a normal kitten spay is often 1/3 this long..

I was able to check over the boys next.  no photos of those because they were squirmy and the area is much smaller and it is really hard to get good photos so I didn't even try.  They looked great though.  Lion was nicked with the shaver when they shaved his back and rear end when he was turned into the shelter, and I could tell it healed up very nicely; you can't even tell it happened.

I then reached in and pulled out the little long haired black girl.

Her incision looks great.  It is in the bottom 1/3 of the photo and is a little hard to see. Unfortunately this is the best photo, as she was also squirmy and not very happy about being held.  She also had something on her back feet that looked like a pinkish beige. I took a sniff of it and it didn't smell like diarrhea, but I looked at her rear end anyway and there was nothing there.  I put her down and let her run off because I knew that was what she REALLY wanted, and investigated the padding she was on.  It looks and smells a bit like she urinated, and it looks like there might have been a little blood in the urine.  I am concerned, but not panicked. She walked around just fine, was very interested in food and was eating well.  I will report it to the shelter just as an FYI unless something changes.

But I will be keeping a very close eye on her much to her dismay. At this point she has no where to go so sitting around at Casa de Gato is the only thing on her to-do list.  Penelope has found herself a home and Mr. Crazy Pants (they are thinking Norman) has also called out to someone and has himself a home.

Wouldn't it be nice if our little Lion would call to someone as well??

My first photoshop cloning experiment