Cat Castrating Information

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Castrating your cat is one way of contributing to the good health and long life of your pet, as well as preventing increases in the population of unwanted pets. The customary age for neutering a cat is 5 to 6 months of age, but the procedure can be performed on older cats as well. Neutering at a young age may help prevent the development of territorial urine marking behaviors and inter-cat aggression.
In order to protect your pet and other pets in the hospital, we require that all cats be current on vaccinations for Rabies and Feline Distemper. They also need to have had a negative fecal exam, feline leukemia test, and FIV test. We require pre-anesthetic blood screening to check for anemia, liver disease, and kidney disease. These diseases can affect the amount and type of anesthesia used. A physical exam will be performed prior to anesthesia for the procedure. If fleas or ear mites are noted your cat will be treated to prevent spread to other patients or contamination of the surgical site.
Feline castration involves removal of the testicles through two scrotal incisions. No sutures are needed for this procedure, which is performed under general anesthesia in the hospital treatment room. If your cat is being castrated only, a pre-anesthetic and a short-acting intravenous anesthetic are used, and he will probably be able to go home the evening of the surgery. With any general anesthesia there is a small chance of complications. Anesthesia may cause a decrease in body temperature, so the use of a warm water heating pad is used to
temperature and speed recovery time. Injectable pain relief medications are administered so that your cat can rest comfortably through the afternoon following surgery.