New family member

Okay, I'm in a quandary. When I adopted my neighbor's
abandoned, declawed cat, I assumed anyone who'd pay for a
declawing would certainly have had the animal neutered.
Now I'm not so sure.

My new little girl has begun behaving suspiciously like a
female cat in heat! Last night she began yowling in that
characteristic manner. The first time, I promptly went to
see what kind of trouble she'd gotten herself into. She
seemed perfectly fine, the other cat was nowhere near, and
she promptly began weaving around my ankles and rolling
around on the floor showing her tummy. The howling continued
off-and on through the night (my poor neighbors!), but her
behaviour ohterwise showed no signs of distress - if
anything she was friendlier than she'd been so far.

Obviously, I plan to take her to the vet ASAP, but is there
any way to be sure whether a cat has been spayed? (Short of

Enfilade...

I really don't know. Nocturne's scar is huge, so her spayage is pretty
obvious. A vet might be able to tell, if they knew where to probe to
feel for scar tissue even if they couldn't see it.

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)...

Well, it looks like that's my first stop tomorrow morning!
I called the vet's office today - if there's a scar, they
can probably see it, if they shave the hair on her tummy
abot. They can also feel her tummy to see if they detect
the organs still in place. Also, the receptionist said if
the cat is in heat, the vet can certainly tell, os I'd
better get her in there while the behaviour continues.
However, the way she's acting this evening leaves me with
little doubt - no sound a cat makes is QUITE like a female
in heat, and she's certainly not sick! But WHY would anyone
pay for surgery to remove a cat's claws, but be too cheap to
have it neutered at the same time? (Quite apart from the
fact I look upon declawing as immoral, the neutering seems
far more essential!)

Monique Y. Mudama...

Because they didn't want the inconvenience of a fully functional cat,
but did want to breed the poor creature?

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)...

Whatever the reason, she is DEFINITELY in heat! If the
particular sound of her yowls and her rolling about on the
floor and frequently licking her rear weren't enough clues,
this morning Melisande sniffed Cendrillon's hind quarters,
at which point Cendi assumed that unmistakable crouch and
began "pedalling" with her back feet. We have an
appointment with the vet tomorrow for the routine exam they
require for all new patients, and surgery the following
Friday (by which time she should no longer be in heat).

I'm a bit ticked off at the neighbor who abandoned her (as
though I weren't already)! I was willing to adopt an
unfortunate abandonee, but I hadn't planned on paying for
surgery that should have been performed before he got her!

Steve Touchstone...

If you check around you may have something like we have here - a non
profit clinic which does low cost neutering. This is where I took
Rocky, and the neuter was only something like $18. Of course his shots
had to be brought up to date, he needed de-worming, and I got a year's
worth of Revolution for everyone, so the final bill was over a
hundred, but still that's a lot less than my regular TED would have
charged.

an ultra-sound, which would be rather exepensive.) The
incisions nowadays are practically non-existent - I remember
Melisande's just looked like a pimple on her tummy - so
would even a vet be able to detect the scar?

New family member - Part 4