A cat who is spayed can't have kittens, right?

[Daria]

A woman I know has a cat who disappeared.  It got let out and never came back. It was gone for several months.  Finally, after 7 months, she resigned herself to the fact that the cat wasn't coming home.  She went to the shelter on Christmas Eve to think about getting a new cat, and there was her cat!  It had been brought in hours earlier by someone who found it on the street.  

 

She just posted on FB that the cat had 5 kittens!  They are very cute, but her cat was spayed before it got lost. 

 

Am I right that there's no way that a spayed cat has kittens?  It's not like a vasectomy where sometimes it grows back.  They take the whole uterus, right?  

 

I'm thinking that she has a new cat, that looks a lot like the old cat.  Is there another possible explanation?

 

 

[happi duck]

A Christmas miracle!

[Slache]

They take it all out. Just let her be happy she got her cat back. :)

[Guest]

It's Jinxy with a spray-painted tail. (sorry. Movie reference. I hope you get it.:)) I think your "friend" is either mistaken that the cat was spayed, or dillusional about the cat she obtained. I am not a vet, but I am confident that a spayed cat would not possibly have kittens, because for one thing, she will never have a heat cycle and no males would attempt to mate with her otherwise. It's not like people who make tEa recreationally.

[Guest]

Unless she had it spayed at her vet, I wouldn't necessarily say so. Sometimes unscrupulous owners or rescues will say a cat was spayed when they're really not sure, or flat out know it wasn't. 

 

ETA: so if she got the cat from someone else, she could be mistaken. Our vet says they can't really tell just upon exam- because I've asked when we've been gifted barn cats. 

Edited May 26, 2016 by texasmom33

[Daria]

They take it all out. Just let her be happy she got her cat back. :)

 

That's why I'm asking here.  The only thing I'll say to her is "Congratulations Grandma!" as she calls the cat her baby.

[Audrey]

Spaying a cat is equivalent to a complete hysterectomy.  There are a few possible reasons why her cat had kittens:

 

1. She only thought the cat was spayed because she got it from someone who said it was spayed.

2. That's not her cat.

3. Those kittens are the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth comings of CatJesus.

[Alte Veste Academy]

Well....maybe? If the cat had only an ovariectomy, and then developed Ovarian Remnant Syndrome. One of our kitties had the latter and had to have a second spay surgery. When she went into heat after having been spayed (we knew because we had her spayed), we were shocked. A second surgery found that all tissue was not removed. On the bright side, that surgery was on the house. Poor kitty though.  

 

Edited May 26, 2016 by Alte Veste Academy

[EndOfOrdinary]

I was thinking KittenJesus. As people, we aren't handling this whole religion thing very well, so maybe God thought he would try another go around with cats?

[foxbridgeacademy]

Did her cat have a tattoo on her belly? Does the new cat have one?  Most animals when spayed, neutered, IME, get a little N or S tattooed on their bellies.  My boy dog has one even though it is absolutely obvious he's been neutered. 

[Guest]

Did her cat have a tattoo on her belly? Does the new cat have one? Most animals when spayed, neutered, IME, get a little N or S tattooed on their bellies. My boy dog has one even though it is absolutely obvious he's been neutered.

I wish they would do that, but I have never had any of our vets do that for dogs or cats. That's a great idea though.

[Guest]

Well....maybe? If the cat had only an ovariectomy, and then developed Ovarian Remnant Syndrome. One of our kitties had the latter and had to have a second spay surgery. When she went into heat after having been spayed (we knew because we had her spayed), we were shocked. A second surgery found that all tissue was not removed. On the bright side, that surgery was on the house. Poor kitty though.

I'm officially adding this to the ever growing list of weird things I learned from the hive.

[redsquirrel]

Did her cat have a tattoo on her belly? Does the new cat have one?  Most animals when spayed, neutered, IME, get a little N or S tattooed on their bellies.  My boy dog has one even though it is absolutely obvious he's been neutered. 

 

That might be a regional thing. My FIL is a vet and spayed and neutered probably thousands and thousands of animals and certainly isn't giving them tattoos.

 

I for one welcome our new immaculately conceived Kitten Overlords

[Okra]

Well, I agree that it is probably a different cat.  But, I wouldn't mention it, just let her be happy.

 

ALTHOUGH, I got a cat from a rescue operation that only adopted out spayed/neutered cats.  Well, she went into heat.   :huh:  At first, I didn't think it could be heat, because she came fixed.  BUT, nope, small mistake they made in not spaying her.  That was quite a surprise.

 

 

[Pawz4me]

Did her cat have a tattoo on her belly? Does the new cat have one?  Most animals when spayed, neutered, IME, get a little N or S tattooed on their bellies.  My boy dog has one even though it is absolutely obvious he's been neutered. 

 

Not here.

 

Sometimes you can see a spay scar.  Much easier on a dog than a cat, though.

[DawnM]

I'm going with the cat never got spayed.  

 

And if she is sure this IS her cat and it DID get spayed, I am strongly recommending she take it back to the Vet who performed this botched hysterectomy and handing HIM the litter of kittens to take care of as well as asking for a repeat neuter.

[gypsymama]

Our local spay neuter program does the tattoos when they perform the surgery. I don't think the vets do. I'm going with probably not her cat unless it was distinct in some way. If we're talking about a solid black cat or a tabby they can be hard to distinguish.

[zoobie]

Did her cat have a tattoo on her belly? Does the new cat have one? Most animals when spayed, neutered, IME, get a little N or S tattooed on their bellies. My boy dog has one even though it is absolutely obvious he's been neutered.

My rescued Golden has a small green line. She was picked up by animal control in SC, and I'm not sure where she was spayed. I had never seen it before nor had the Golden foster mom. We wondered if someone had messed with her, but my vet explained that some shelters and low cost programs do it to keep from repeating surgeries later. It makes sense!

[Amy in NH]

Around here, the clinics will notch the ear on a stray so others will know it has been fixed.

[Happy]

I was thinking KittenJesus. As people, we aren't handling this whole religion thing very well, so maybe God thought he would try another go around with cats?

this post is going to keep a smile on my face all day.

[Seasider]

Around here, the clinics will notch the ear on a stray so others will know it has been fixed.

I've heard of this done with feral cats that are brought in to be spayed/neutered.

[plansrme]

I was given a dog once that I was told had been spayed, and when I took her in to the vet for her first appointment, the vet assured me that she had not been spayed.  The giver was my mother, who knew perfectly well that her dog had not been spayed.  My mom later insisted she hadn't told me that, but she absolutely DID.  So, sometimes, people just lie.  (My dog thanks us daily for rescuing her from my mom by being the Best Dog Ever; seriously--this dog can never die.)

 

ETA:  I don't mean your friend (Grandma) lied; I am suggesting that whomever gave her the cat might have lied.

Edited May 26, 2016 by plansrme

[Cinder]

I'm going with not spayed.

 

Well, whatever it was, at least your friend is happy to have her cat back.

[Daria]

The cat was a stray, and had kittens when Grandma found it. Grandma took her in to be spayed.  The cat is, indeed, very generic looking.  Of course I would not say that to Grandma either.

 

So, the possibilities are

 

1) Vet lied, pocketed the money, did not spay the cat

 

2) Vet just took the ovaries and did a bad job.

 

3) This is a different cat.

 

4) God has decided to intercede, miraculously in the life the cat.  These are very special kittens.

 

 

[Tanaqui]

Our cats got tattooed when fixed (both male and female), but we had them done at the ASPCA van. I don't know if private vets do that. I know that TNR programs have the ears clipped, probably because it's really hard to convince a feral cat to show you its belly :)

 

It's extremely likely that this cat has been spayed. Either it's not her original cat, or the vet did a super awful job (or even lied to her). However, if she's happy, I wouldn't bring it up.

[redsquirrel]

Just curious, how long did she have said cat before it ran away. Because if she had it for a year, there is No WAY she could miss the signs of it being in heat. Cats go into heat at different intervals, I know the stray we took in went into heat every 6 weeks!!! but some go longer, but if she owned it for 6 months or longer she would have absolutely seen it go into heat. 

 

If she only owned it 2 months or so, it is possible she was told it was spayed but it really wasn't.  But if she owned it for any length of time and it never went into heat...that is just not the same cat. 

 

 

[redsquirrel]

I was thinking KittenJesus. As people, we aren't handling this whole religion thing very well, so maybe God thought he would try another go around with cats?

 

Kittenjesus would be all, "Believe in my divinity, or don't. I really don't care. I'm going to go take a nap now."

 

[Daria]

Just curious, how long did she have said cat before it ran away. Because if she had it for a year, there is No WAY she could miss the signs of it being in heat. Cats go into heat at different intervals, I know the stray we took in went into heat every 6 weeks!!! but some go longer, but if she owned it for 6 months or longer she would have absolutely seen it go into heat. 

 

If she only owned it 2 months or so, it is possible she was told it was spayed but it really wasn't.  But if she owned it for any length of time and it never went into heat...that is just not the same cat. 

 

I think she owned it for years.  It had kittens when she first took it in as a stray, but I think that was years ago.

 

I talked to her today.  I said "Congratulations Grandma" and she told me that she had heard that sometimes the tubes grow back, because they just snip them they don't "tie" them like people.

 

Is it possible the cat had some kind of other surgery to "fix" her, rather than a full spay? 

 

I am not sure why I'm so curious about this.  It's not like I'm going to do anything with my new knowledge.  I only have a dog. 

 

I kind of like the idea of a group of 5 KittenJesuses (Jesi? What is the plural there?).  It would make me happier if some of the KJ's turn out to be female. 

[poppy]

This reminds me of a joke on Weekend Update on SNL by Michael Che:  "A Florida woman found a missing cat from Wisconsin which had wandered nearly 1,500 miles over two months. Or, and hear me out, sometimes cats look like other cats.â€

[maize]

My grandma had a cat that had supposedly been spayed by the animal shelter, she went on to have three or four litters of kittens before grandma took her back to be re-spayed. The litters were only one or two kittens, don't know how common that is.

 

We have one of those kittens (all grown up now and the spitting image of her mama) :)

[Alte Veste Academy]

Is it possible the cat had some kind of other surgery to "fix" her, rather than a full spay?

Well....maybe? If the cat had only an ovariectomy, and then developed Ovarian Remnant Syndrome. One of our kitties had the latter and had to have a second spay surgery. When she went into heat after having been spayed (we knew because we had her spayed), we were shocked. A second surgery found that all tissue was not removed. On the bright side, that surgery was on the house. Poor kitty though.

 

I do not remember how long it was between kitty being spayed and going into heat again, but it was quite a while.

Edited May 26, 2016 by Alte Veste Academy

[Little Nyssa]

Double uterus?

[GailV]

NEWS FLASH:  

 

After one of dd's friends left last night dd commented that he had 10 cats.  "He had 2 cats and they were spayed, but then one had kittens."  WAIT A MINUTE!  I KNOW ALL ABOUT THIS!  So of course we had to discuss this thread.

 

This friend is a really great guy, but he's an acting student, and sometimes I wonder about some of the things he says.  For example, he says he's at his university on a Women's Tennis Scholarship ... given the school it sounds somewhat plausible, but, then again, like I say, acting student.

[Laura Corin]

Kittenjesus would be all, "Believe in my divinity, or don't. I really don't care. I'm going to go take a nap now."

 

 

http://www.clivebanks.co.uk/THHGTTG/THHGTTGradio12.htm

 

ZARNIWOOP:

No, Listen. People come to you, yes? 

 

MAN IN SHACK:

I think so. 

 

ZARNIWOOP:

And they ask you to take decisions about wars, about economies, about people, about everything going on out there in the Universe? 

 

MAN IN SHACK:

I only decide about my universe. My universe is what happens to my eyes and ears - anything else is surmise and hearsay: for all I know these people may not exist. You may not exist. I say what it occurs to me to say. 

 

ZARNIWOOP:

But don’t you see! What you decide affects the fate of millions of people! 

 

MAN IN SHACK:

I don’t know them! I’ve never met them! They only exist in words I think I hear! 

.............

 

MAN IN SHACK:

But it’s folly to say you know what is happening to other people. Only they know if they exist. 

 

ZARNIWOOP:

Do you think they do? 

 

MAN IN SHACK:

I have no opinion. How can I have? 

 

..........

 

ZARNIWOOP:

Look, don’t you see that people live or die on your word? 

 

MAN IN SHACK:

It’s nothing to do with me, I’m not involved with people. The Lord knows I am not a cruel man. 

 

ZARNIWOOP:

W-ahhhh! You say, “The Lord.†So you believe in - 

 

MAN IN SHACK:

My cat. I call him “The Lordâ€. I am kind to him. 

 

ZARNIWOOP:

All right. How do you know he exists? How do you know he knows you to be kind or enjoys what you think of as your kindness? 

 

MAN IN SHACK:

I don’t. I have no idea. It merely pleases me to behave in a certain way to what appears to be a cat. What else do you do? Please, I am tired.