At Burford Veterinary Hospital, we offer traditional spay and neuter services. These are both day procedures, in which your pet spends the morning and afternoon in the clinic for surgery and recovery and is discharged to go home in the late afternoon that day. These procedures are routinely performed on a weekly basis. For both spay and neuter procedures, your pet will be under general anesthesia, monitored closely by a Registered Veterinary Technician. Your pet will receive a pre-medication injection of a pain medication and sedative, then induced into anesthesia and intubated, hooked up to general anesthesia, clipped and prepped for the procedure, and then moved into the surgery suite for the surgeon to begin. While under anesthesia, your pet will be given IV fluids, given more pain management and an antibiotic injection. Upon recovery, your pet will continue to be closely monitored with their vitals being checked routinely.

You will be given comprehensive post-operative care instructions and pain medication by one of our Registered Veterinary Technician upon your pet being discharged from the hospital. Before and after the procedure, we are happy to address any questions you may have.

Spay:

A feline spay procedure includes the surgical removal of the uterus and ovaries (ovariohysterectomy).

We recommend that all non-breeding female cats get spayed. There are several benefits associated. These include:

• Eliminating the risk of ovarian and uterine cancers.
• Reducing the risk of mammary cancer, which is the number one type of cancer diagnosed in intact (unspayed) female cats. Cats spayed before their first heat cycle have less than 0.5% chance of developing mammary cancer.
• Prevents fatal uterine infection called pyometra.

The recommended age for spaying your cat is 6 months of age, before they come into their first heat cycle. Please discuss spaying your cat with one of our veterinarians at any of your pets’ examinations!

Neuter:

A feline neuter procedure includes the surgical removal of both of your cat’s testicles (orchidectomy).

We recommend that all non-breeding male cat’s get neutered. There are several benefits associated. These include:

• Totally eliminates the risk of testicular cancer (rare in cats but possible if left intact)
• Reduce and possibly eliminate hormonal behaviours such as marking
• Can reduce certain types of aggression
• Can reduce the tendency to wander and roam

The recommended age for neutering your cat is 6 months of age. Please discuss neutering your cat with one of our veterinarians at any of your pets’ examinations!