Desexing (Spay/Neuter)

Esta página también disponible en castellano

why desex your cat(s)?

All Gatalunya cats must be desexed, either before or after their adoption. This is not only a legal requirement, it’s also crucial to our mission to reduce the street cat population in Spain! We want to avoid more kittens born in the streets and more suffering for these animals. There are also horrible implications of repeated pregnancies and birthing risks for female cats, and injuries and illness faced by males in fights for dominance.

There are also many reasons why indoor cats should be desexed, including the risk of escape, unpleasant spraying/marking behaviours, higher risks of certain types of cancers, and how horrible it is to live with a female cat in heat 😅 If you have any doubts about the benefits of desexing, we encourage you to seek out the many online resources available on this topic.

when will this surgery be performed?

Most of our adult cats and older kittens are already desexed when you adopt them. Kittens need to be desexed by six months old (this is the legally mandated age).

Vets in Spain often will not desex kittens before the age of 6 months which is not the case in some other countries. If there is a reason why you’d like your kitten desexed earlier, please feel free to ask us. Under some circumstances we may request an exception from our vet clinics. The most common reason for this is when you’ve adopted a mixed sex pair. If your male kitten starts attempting to mount your female kitten or otherwise changes his behaviour towards her, or your female kitten goes into her first heat particularly early (see these links for some signs), we will often desex the male kitten before his sister.

what is involved?

For a male cat, the neuter surgery is a very quick and simple procedure. It involves the removal of the testicles. Hormones do not leave the body immediately and there is some chance that a male cat could still impregnate a female cat up to approximately 10 days post-surgery.

For a female cat, the spay surgery is more invasive. The abdomen is opened and the uterus and ovaries are removed. This procedure takes immediate effect.

how do we organise for our cat to be desexed?

Gatalunya will book the surgery on your behalf with one of our trusted vet clinics, you are not able to do it directly yourself. We will contact you as it gets close to the right time for your kitten’(s) surgery, approximately two weeks before they reach the six month mark. If you are seeing concerning behaviour before this, feel free to please reach your Gatalunya contact. If not, please wait for us to reach you: we typically have high numbers of kittens ready to be desexed in the same timeframes each year, so are often coordinating with a number of families in parallel.

When we reach you, we will ask for your availability. The surgeries are only scheduled on week days, not weekends or public holidays. To make this process easier, please give at least two date options, and the more flexible you can be with dates the better: it is common that multiple families choose the same dates and the clinics can only accommodate so many surgeries each day. You are welcome to ask for a particular date as a preference! Please just ensure that you provide back-up options as well to make the coordination easier for our volunteers.

The most likely clinic where the surgery will be performed is:

Clínica Veterinària Vetmar

Carrer de Pujades, 229, 08005, Barcelona

We occasionally use one of our other clinics: your Gatalunya contact will confirm the location of the surgery for you once it is booked.

pre-surgery

Your cat needs to fast before the surgery; they need an empty stomach for at least 8 hours prior. Please remove all food the night before when you head to bed. They should still have water available.

If your female cat will wear a soft collar or onesie after surgery, we suggest you get her used to this in the weeks prior.

the day of the surgery

You will make two trips to the vet clinic on the day of the surgery, so please take this into consideration when you share your availability with us. This isn’t a typical vet appointment where you stay with the cat(s) and return home together. Thankfully, it is only one (big!) day in their life.

You will leave your cat(s) at the clinic in the morning, typically around 10:00: this varies by clinic. You will be asked to sign forms giving permission for the surgery. You may be asked if you would like to do an additional blood test prior to the surgery: this is your choose and would be paid separately by you.

The vet clinic will contact you to come and collect your cat when they are awake and ready to go home. The time varies, and is typically from around 16:00/17:00 onwards.

The surgical bill will come directly to Gatalunya (it is covered by the adoption fee). There will be some antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication to give them in the days post-surgery which will be paid by you in the clinic. This is usually around 6€ for boys and 20€ for female cats. It varies depending on which medication option you select and the weight of your cat(s).

post-surgery

The boys don't need to wear anything after surgery. The girls will have had their belly shaved and need to wear a cone for around 7-10 days after the surgery so that they can’t lick at the injury site. You can purchase a simple plastic cone at the vet clinic. If you prefer a softer fabric one, you’ll find many options on Amazon and other places. Take care with sizing!

Another option is a onesie. You can also modify human baby onesies (you would need the size for premature babies, if you have a kitten). Or you can create one of your own from an old t-shirt. We love seeing pics of our kittens in their little outfits! 😻

Your cat(s) will be fine very quickly after surgery, though the anesthesia can take a while to fully wear off and it may be the next morning before it’s completely out of their system. Some cats are very chill or wobbly, others try and run around like they’re high on the drugs. Try and keep your cat as chilled as possible in the days after surgery, to help their recovery!

They will be hungry, and the vets will advise you to go carefully with food initially, feeding small portions every 15 minute initially and seeing if they can digest them without throwing up, before adding more food and then giving them a full meal. This is because the anesthesia can make them nauseous.

If you have two or more cats at home, be aware that the one(s) staying home may not recognise the cat who has just left the vet. The clinic has some distinctive smells and with the anesthesia still in their system, your recently-operated cat(s) smell(s) different. If there is growling, hissing or other negative behaviors among your cats, this is normal and disappears within a day in most cases. If you observe more worrisome or long-lasting negative reactions among your cats, you may need to temporarily separate them and work on a reintroduction.

For the girls, keep an eye over the next days on the wound. Sometimes solid lumps form at the surgery site and this is quite common. They go down by themselves over the following weeks. If you see bleeding or any discharge, it is best to check with the vet.

Thank you for getting your cat desexed!

There is always a small risk with any surgery and we understand that you may be nervous about this day. We’ve all been through it ❤️ We have had many cats desexed and work closely with our trusted clinics; they are in the best possible hands.

We wish your cat a quick recovery and happy healing.