I'm feeling awful, and I suppose I'm wondering how much I should have
expected myself or the vet to know.
We've been fostering cats since December. On Feb 5 this year, we took
a cat -- perhaps 2 years old -- not much was known about her, except
that her 91-year-old owner had died and that the house was full of
unspayed/unneutered cats and dogs. Someone had said that she might be
pregnant.
About a month later, she was at the vet for a checkup, and the vet
said that she didn't seem to be pregnant, unless the pregnancy was
early along. So on Monday (March 22) she went in to be spayed.
When the volunteer brought her home last night, she said that the vet
discovered when he opened her that she was indeed pregnant, and that
he'd had to terminate the pregnancy.
Now, adding up 22 + 23 + an unknown number of days before she arrived,
and we're getting rather close to the 60-63 day gestation period. The
only thing that I noticed was that she had a voracious appetite. I've
felt her tummy, but never noticed anything unusual.
Was this vet really careless in starting a spaying operation without
checking, or is it an easy mistake to make?
I could cry -- I feel that I've let this pleasant little cat down.
Marion

Don't feel bad. I agree that if the cat was in the latter stages of pregnancy,
the vet really should have noticed it, but again, it's not that unusual,
especially if you took her to a vet that does a high volume of spays.
Don't start dwelling on it as a moral issue, either. It's not that unusual to
spay a pregnant cat--it's not right, but neither is killing healthy kittens
already born, which is exactly what we do in this country. The cat really
doesn't know the difference, and after her hormones settle down, she'll be a
much happier cat. Hope she gets a good home.

Sherry