My niece’s neighbor got evicted & left the cat behind. We’re trying to find a home for her - she is so sweet! Meanwhile I want to get her vaccinated & spayed. Is there a way to tell if she is spayed - if I shave her belly, will I see a scar? My cats are fixed, but I figured I would ask before I torture them with the clippers. This kitty has a bit of a pouch & I really hope she isn’t preggers.
Yep, shave her belly and look for a scar.
Sometimes you can actually feel the scar, if you can get up close and personal with the kitty.
don’t count on it though. One of my barn cats got opened up twice. sometimes the scar is so small it doesn’t show.
Sometimes you can get lucky and see a scar! Shave away and cross your fingers 
FWIW, intact females usually dont have a paunch unless they are pregnant. Its usually the spayed ones that get fat.
I was able to feel the scar on one spayed female that showed up, but took her to the vet to be sure. They were prepared to spay, but found the scar after she was shaved. 
ultrasound for a uterus
Shave away! If you don’t find a scar in the expected place, be sure to shave down further. When we got our kitty last year (asshole moved out and left their pets) the vet didn’t find a scar. But, she said that in cats spayed at really young ages (ie shelter kitties) the scar can be really far down. Sure enough, it was very faint and very far down, but it was there!
Our vet actually said she thought the cat may have been from our local shelter because the scar showed she had been spayed when she was tiny. They microchip al cats and dogs, so she rescanned for a chip and really searched around. The chip had migrated pretty far, so we wouldn’t have found it if the vet hadn’t searched so thoroughly. Turns out our new kitty was from a litter fostered by one of the women my mom volunteers with at the shelter! The woman was very upset her foster kitty had been abandoned after just 1 year, but she says she never knows where her foster kitties end up and was so happy to get updates from us. Plus, she gave us baby pictures!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=256274797763249&l=378b005b67
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=256274727763256&l=ce3d97e7f5
One year later
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=193661067357956&l=8dbe00a8ed
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=193661124024617&l=9c062b3f84
[QUOTE=GraceLikeRain;6570560]
ultrasound for a uterus[/QUOTE]
Not always easy if they arent in heat or have a few babies sitting in the belly! But yes…if you have a vet with a good background in ultrasonography they may be able to confirm a uterus (or not). Not always cheap though, ultrasounds can be $$.
Not sure if this is the norm but when I took the three kittens that a feral mama had in my barn to a Spay/Neuter clinic they told me the females would be given a small blue tatoo that would signify that they had been spayed.
I’d heard of notching the ears of altered ferals but never the tatoo!
Our calico rescue has a blue tattoo on her underbelly, so does our dog, who is also a female rescue (not from the same shelter, or even state). I’ve heard from our groomer that that is pretty common as well?
I didn’t bother to check Queen cat, but the princess has a small green stripe on her belly, now that I had her fixed.
Big Grey- how could someone possibly abandon that adorable critter??? I don’t get people sometimes.:no::no:
Glad she ended up in a good home with you.
Two places in my area have started giving females a tattoo when they are spayed. It is really helpful for the kind of situation you have. Sometimes you can feel the scar, sometimes you can see it if the belly is shaved, but unfortunately sometimes the cat is opened up and is already spayed.
[QUOTE=Herbie19;6570715]
Not sure if this is the norm but when I took the three kittens that a feral mama had in my barn to a Spay/Neuter clinic they told me the females would be given a small blue tatoo that would signify that they had been spayed.
I’d heard of notching the ears of altered ferals but never the tatoo![/QUOTE]
I wish they would tatoo all of the spays as part of the surgery. I worked with a rescue up north had a few dogs go through a second surgery because no scar could be found. Boys are easy to tell if they have been fixed, girls not so much.
My vets have always just palpated. Not looking for a scar (which is decidedly NOT reliable), but they can apparently quite easily feel from the “innards” what’s what. I certainly wouldn’t rely on a possible scar (or lack of) to make a decision re: this.
My feral kitty has both a clipped ear and a blue tattoo on her belly - I got her from the feral cat rescue at about 4.5 months old. You can’t see her scar.
My shelter kitty has a scar - and had a poochy belly when I got her - but no tattoo. Now that she’s out in the barn and crazy active her poochy belly has gone away and she’s one super solid 7# cat.
[QUOTE=Bacardi1;6571347]
My vets have always just palpated. Not looking for a scar (which is decidedly NOT reliable), but they can apparently quite easily feel from the “innards” what’s what. I certainly wouldn’t rely on a possible scar (or lack of) to make a decision re: this.[/QUOTE]
If they are pregnant they can often palpate…but its not so easy to palpate a uterus.
[QUOTE=SquishTheBunny;6571446]
If they are pregnant they can often palpate…but its not so easy to palpate a uterus.[/QUOTE]
Well, neither is looking for & depending some obscure “scar”. Not to mention scaring the sh*t out of the cat by shaving it & depending on your own scar search. If the cat is going to the vet anyway, let the vet figure it out.
When we adopted our beagle/rat terrier from the local shelter, the “shelter vet” declared her already spayed because there was an “abdominal scar”. The shelter told us this while she was blood-spotting on the floor of the adoption area, had a swollen vulva, & was SO obviously IN SEASON. She wasn’t pregnant, & our own vet got a good laugh out of that one. So much for “Scar Search” - lol!
[QUOTE=Bacardi1;6571473]
Well, neither is looking for & depending some obscure “scar”. Not to mention scaring the sh*t out of the cat by shaving it & depending on your own scar search. If the cat is going to the vet anyway, let the vet figure it out.
When we adopted our beagle/rat terrier from the local shelter, the “shelter vet” declared her already spayed because there was an “abdominal scar”. The shelter told us this while she was blood-spotting on the floor of the adoption area, had a swollen vulva, & was SO obviously IN SEASON. She wasn’t pregnant, & our own vet got a good laugh out of that one. So much for “Scar Search” - lol![/QUOTE]
For sure, seeing a scar doesnt guarantee anything. However, there is a good chance that its a spay scar if its in the caudal ventral abdomen.
I dont know many cats who are afraid of clippers, but if they are just wait until they have premed on board before clipping.
The only surefire way to know is to open them up. Even spayed cats can show signs of heat if a uterine stump was left.
