How to know if a cat is castrated?

Due to the abundant fertility of the cats, the control of their reproductive cycle is one of the priorities of all the caregivers. its castration or sterilization It is, therefore, a common intervention in veterinary clinics, as it is very requested by caregivers.

This operation is usually done from the 5-6 months, therefore, if we find a cat older we can have doubts about whether or not it is already operated. Therefore, in this article we will explain, in a simple way, how to know if a cat is castrated.

What is the castration of a cat?

Before detailing how to know if a cat is castrated we must know what is and what is a castration, also known as sterilization or, more specifically, ovariohysterectomy, if the ovaries and uterus are removed, or ovariectomy, if the intervention is restricted to the ovaries.

As we say, to sterilize a cat, the veterinarian is going to have to make an incision of a few centimeters, usually in the abdomen, where to extract the uterus and the ovaries. With this operation the cat will not have the heat, that is, its behavior will not be altered periodically with meows, restlessness or nervousness, it will not attract male cats or, of course, will be able to have offspring. These data will give us clues to know if our cat is castrated or not, as we will see in the next section.

Signs of castration in a cat

Therefore, as we have said, we can pay attention to both physical and behavioral aspects when determining if a cat is castrated or not. In summary, they would be the following:

• Physical elements: the sterilization will leave a scar, usually on the abdomen of the cat or on the side. That area is going to be shaved before making the incision, so if the operation is recent, we may observe the area with less hair and / or we can appreciate the scar.
• Elements of behavior: a sterilized cat will not go into heat at no time (if it does, it would be a known problem with the name of remnant or ovarian remnant), so we can assume that we will not find any alteration of his behavior typical of this period. Thus, its behavior will not suffer alterations during the year.

Therefore, if we identify an abdominal scar in our cat and do not show symptoms of heat, we may think that it has been castrated. But these signs are not going to be enough, since they show the following disadvantages:

• The scar caused by a sterilization is usually not perceptible, as its color becomes clear and the area will be covered with hair, therefore, it will be difficult to determine if a cat is castrated or not with this method.
• Regarding the typical symptoms of heat, such as meowing in a very high tone, there are cats that, even without sterilization, do not show any agitation during this period, therefore, the absence of these signals is not a direct indication that That cat is castrated.
• It is necessary to add that in some protective or sterilization programs of cats of colonies of the street developed by city councils the custom of practicing a small cut on the ear of the cats to mark that animal has already been intervened. But it is not always done and not all cuts are produced for this reason, therefore, it is not a completely reliable criterion either.

Then, How to know if a cat is castrated with total security? We discovered it in the last section.

The diagnosis of definitive castration

Although we can pay attention to a series of relevant indications when it comes to finding out if a cat is sterilized or not, how to know if a cat is castrated or not will only be able to be done by performing a ultrasound in a veterinary clinic. With this simple, nothing painful and little invasive technique we will be able to determine if our cat has a uterus and / or ovaries or, on the contrary, they have been removed.

More and more clinics have an ultrasound machine and, likewise, a greater number of veterinarians are trained in the use of this technique. To find if a cat is sterilized or not, the veterinarian will shave the belly and apply a conductive gel that will serve so that, by passing the ultrasound through the area, we get the image of the inside of your body. If there is no uterus or ovaries we can assure that the cat has already been sterilized.

This article is merely informative, in .com we do not have the faculty to prescribe veterinary treatments or make any kind of diagnosis. We invite you to take your pet to the veterinarian in case of any type of condition or discomfort.

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