Spay and Neuter Day At the Cat Clinic
Operation in progress
In November I was fortunate to be invited to photograph a Spay and Neuter Day done by the Feral Cat Coalition in San Diego. Over the course of several hours, FCC staff and volunteers spayed, neutered and treated about 25 cats that had been trapped from feral cat colonies in the San Diego area. Lucky for me it was a slow day, only 25 instead of 60 or more cats, so I could get easy access and it wasn’t too hectic. It was a highly educational day because everyone was teaching everyone else, including me. I’ve made this photo documentary to show what I learned.
WARNING! This document contains graphic images of cat operations being performed. If you’re squeamish about blood, perhaps these photos aren’t for you.
The process takes place in stages, each with its own station. I’ve broken this down by each of the stages.
Intake and Preparation
All the cats are brought to the clinic in cages and most are too wild to be handled. They must be knocked out, bladders drained, initial health checks made, scanned for a chip and generally prepared for the procedure.
Shaving Station
Each cat must be shaved before their operation. The shaver also checks for signs of (previous) pregnancy and makes sure the cat hasn’t already been spayed or neutered, either by finding a tattoo or operation scar.
Clean Ears, Initial Measurements
After shaving, each cat gets further inspected, including having its baseline temperature taken. Ears are cleaned, dental health is checked, other inspections prior to the upcoming operation.
Males Get Neutered
This is a relatively simple, non-invasive process. They get placed in the harness and the vet makes a little slit, pulls out and ties off each testicle.
Females Get Spayed
Spaying seems to me a little more like surgery than neutering is. The vet makes an incision in the abdomen, then fishes around with a hook until she hooks the uterus, which she pulls out, stitches off, then removes. Then the abdomen gets stitched up.
Dental Work
As part of the evaluation, the team identifies cats who have teeth that need to be removed. On the day I was there, we only found one animal who needed a tooth removed. After all the spay and neuter operations had been completed, the vet worked on the dental patient.
Shots and Ear Docking
Part of the care package includes docking the ear and giving a full range of vaccinations.
The Recovery Station
After all the procedures are finished, the cats are laid on heating pads and kept warm until they start to wake up. Their temperatures are monitored and they get rotated to keep both sides warm. If they start getting too cold, they are moved to a “Bair Hugger”, a wraparound convection heating pad. Only when they start waking up will they be moved back into their cages.
