contraception: is hysterectomy preferable to spaying in certain cases

Hello,
We have a two year old cat called Charla who has been nursing her third
litter for the past eight weeks. There are six kittens this time, and
neither us nor her want any further babies! People are saying she looks
a little old cat, even though shes been well looked after - will having
her spayed take any opportunity away from her to regain health and
youthfulness? Would leaving her ovaries in, but having the uterus
removed, even if just until she builds herself back up before having
her fully spade, be recommended by anyone in the group? Our neighbour
has a heaIthy tomcat, and she never goes far or wonders off during
heats. I presume she would still go into false pregnacies though.
We'd hate seeing her have any kind of operation, especially
spaying, after spending eight hard weeks nursing kittens, when she
isn't 100% fit, and would rather postpone any operation if we could for
at least another month. We don't want to confine her inside during
heats or use hormones such as suppress to quell the heats in the
interim though- having a hysterectomy would be much less minor an
operation, perhaps, which could be done fairly soon, to avoid all these
other nasty intermediate options. Does anyone have any further
suggestions? Charla will be coming onto heat again soon, we've already
kept her inside once during heats and would never try to confine her
like that again; its the worst thing for a cat on heat and she loses
her appetite and condition quickly this way. We are also keeping
another kitten from the litter as company for her, so using hormones
such as suppress may cause behaviour problems among our cats here
.....all the cats will be affected if we muck up and make bad decisions!
Thanks,
Rhys

- having a hysterectomy would be much less minor an
operation, perhaps, which could be done fairly soon, to avoid all these
other nasty intermediate options. Does anyone have any further
suggestions?

A hysterectomy is part of spaying. If she still has her ovaries she
will go into heat. Get both done at once rather than making her go
through anaesthesia and surgery twice! It isn't a major operation and
she'll recover from it a lot quicker than she will from endless
litters.

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

wrote:
Hello,
We have a two year old cat called Charla who has been nursing her third
litter for the past eight weeks. There are six kittens this time, and
neither us nor her want any further babies! People are saying she looks
a little old cat, even though shes been well looked after

That's because she's had 3 litters. That takes a lot of ouf a cat, and
puts them at risk for all sorts of things.

- will having
her spayed take any opportunity away from her to regain health and
youthfulness? Would leaving her ovaries in, but having the uterus
removed, even if just until she builds herself back up before having
her fully spade, be recommended by anyone in the group? Our neighbour
has a heaIthy tomcat, and she never goes far or wonders off during
heats. I presume she would still go into false pregnacies though.
We'd hate seeing her have any kind of operation, especially
spaying, after spending eight hard weeks nursing kittens, when she
isn't 100% fit, and would rather postpone any operation if we could for
at least another month. We don't want to confine her inside during
heats or use hormones such as suppress to quell the heats in the
interim though- having a hysterectomy would be much less minor an
operation, perhaps, which could be done fairly soon, to avoid all these
other nasty intermediate options.

Makes absolutley no sense at all. Have her spayed asap (with the vet's
approval) - the kittens are old enough to wean at 8 weeks. Make sure
the vet does a clotting test to be sure her blood clots properly before
the procedure. If you want to beef her up for a couple of weeks prior
to the surgery, feed her high-protein food (pure chicken, turkey,
liver, etc.) and make sure she is geting enough calcium in her diet.

-L.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello,
We have a two year old cat called Charla who has been nursing her third
litter for the past eight weeks.

Why did you do this to your cat?? Responsible pet owners spay and neuter.
Poor girl, no wonder she looks old. Just get her spayed. Jesus. Were you
thinking there are not enough unwanted kittens in the world?

a little old cat, even though shes been well looked after - will having
her spayed take any opportunity away from her to regain health and
youthfulness? Would leaving her ovaries in, but having the uterus
removed, even if just until she builds herself back up before having
her fully spade, be recommended by anyone in the group? Our neighbour

Definitely not recommended; that's two operations instead of just one. You
would be hard pressed to find a vet that would want to do this. Getting her
spayed will help her regain health and youthfulness due to the fact that she
won't be exhausted from nursing babies constantly. It also helps prevents
against tumours of the mammary, overies and uterus and pyometra (serious and
potentially fatal uterine infection). The stress of constantly going into
heat can cause her to become more susceptable to disease too.

We'd hate seeing her have any kind of operation, especially
spaying, after spending eight hard weeks nursing kittens, when she
isn't 100% fit, and would rather postpone any operation if we could for
at least another month. We don't want to confine her inside during
heats or use hormones such as suppress to quell the heats in the

She should have it done right away. The spay is a lot kinder to do to her
than to let her outside to get pregnant again.

suggestions? Charla will be coming onto heat again soon, we've already
kept her inside once during heats and would never try to confine her
like that again; its the worst thing for a cat on heat and she loses
her appetite and condition quickly this way. We are also keeping

No, the worst thing for her when she's in heat is to let her out again so she
can get pregant once again.

another kitten from the litter as company for her, so using hormones
such as suppress may cause behaviour problems among our cats here
....all the cats will be affected if we muck up and make bad decisions!

Cats going into heat can cause behaviour problems.

NanCe

--
Message posted via http://www.catkb.com

wrote in message
oups.com...
Charla will be coming onto heat again soon, we've already
kept her inside once during heats and would never try to confine her
like that again; its the worst thing for a cat on heat and she loses
her appetite and condition quickly this way. We are also keeping
another kitten from the litter as company for her, so using hormones
such as suppress may cause behaviour problems among our cats here
....all the cats will be affected if we muck up and make bad decisions!
Thanks,
Rhys

One of my cats at work was adopted as a young adult (1 1/2 years old) and
was not spayed by her original owner. She came into heat once while we had
her, before her scheduled operation. There was nothing horrible about
keeping her indoors (not that she could have gone out if she wanted to - big
city). Keeping her indoors while she's in heat one time is not going to
kill her or mess her up. Letting her keep having unwanted kittens will.
She's a CAT, not a human. Don't put so much thought into it. She needs to
be spayed ASAP, as well as any of her kittens you plan on keeping.

--
Liz