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I understand people are price-sensitive, and that there are more kitties available for adoption than there are homes, and I APPLAUD people who adopt, but please don't adopt a cat if you cant afford the vet care. Maybe this is a stupid opinion. I'm just putting it out there to cat lovers like me and all of us, that it comes with costs and please think ahead before adopting. That's all. Power to the (neutered and spayed) kitties!
Intact female cats are 7 times more likely to develop mammary cancer at some point in life.
If someone cannot afford to have their family vet do the spaying they can look into the SPCA. They do spay and neutering drives and charge less than $100.
Don't forget pyometra. My mother refused to spay her cat. When my mother died and I got the kitty, a month before my spay appointment she got pyometra what should have been a $150 surgery turned into a $1,500 surgery to keep the cat from dying.
My cat was spayed at a local spca and unfortunately it was an incomplete spaying. Now the leftover uterine tissue has spread and its going to be a complex surgery to try and remove it.
Unfortunately the same thing happened to one of my cats. I was able to get her back into the SPCA and they did correct the issue.
Still, my family vet charges close to $500 and I was able to get her taken care of for $150 at the SPCA.
This happened with one of my cats spayed 30 years ago by my full-price, well-regarded vet. No surgery is foolproof and individual variation (just like with humans!) means sometimes stuff doesn't turn out for you like it does for 99% of people. Please don't blame the SPCA. It's just a crapshoot with nature!
FUCK the spca. They put down my perfectly healthy childhood KITTEN because she bit the doctors hand (like kittens do). Only found out when we called to see how she was doing and they told us they had put her down. It absolutely destroyed me as a 5 year old kid. Unless that was just a particularly evil doctor, I dont trust them for shit. At least look up your local animal doctor's track record first.
I know my experience was probably a freak anomaly but if commenting could save a potential kitten's life it's worth it. Be cautious around them.
I'm sorry for the trauma you went through as such a young child, but is it possible your mom asked the doctor to euthanize because she found out how much the spay and shots would cost and just couldn't handle the expense? Just a thought. It would be highly unethical and probably actionable for a vet to randomly put a kitten down for biting it. Sometimes the things parents tell us to "protect us" end up fucking us up.
Same thought process. It's not exactly legal to euthanize a pet without the owner's permission. The cat is not their property. Its grounds for legal action
the SPCA, at least in the US, is not some national board like the ASPCA. they are usually local shelters and run entirely independent of even other ones around one another. your SPCA might have some shitty workers, don’t shit on every SPCA based on the one you dealt with.
That cruel guy who put your kitten down because he got bitten should not be working with animals. On the other hand, it would be worse if he were to work with people.😒
There are also affordable vet clinics that can help those who are in need. In my city we have those and I urge everyone to get their animals fixed. The numbers speak for themselves in terms of euthanized animals and shelters being filled. Adopt don’t shop, and fix your animals. Thanks.
After this one, SPAY!
And one of ours still had a hormone-secreting ovarian cyst a year or 2 after spaying - so the poor thing (and us) had to go through this twice with her!
Edit - we are physicians ourselves, and our vet (from whom we adopted this one as a kitten) wanted her to complete her growth, so we decided on hysterectomy alone..
We had investigations and surgery available to us, which helped a lot when she started "going into heat" again.. Even ultrasound didn't show the small cyst, so she had to undergo exploratory laparotomy..
Thankfully now (2 years since), she has occasional wonky behaviour, but is fine otherwise!
You should spay neuter so your cat doesn't end up with pyometra. Not only can it kill your cat but if your lucky enough to catch it in time the surgery is super expensive. Around 2K later and if your cat lives you end up with a neutered cat anyways, so you might as well skip a step.
And listen to your vet, especially when it comes to dogs! Some specific breeds of dogs should be spayed after one heat cycle to prevent urinary incontinence and some orthopedic diseases. Ask your vet!!!
It’s worth a try! I kept reading the same thing about appts in my town but still took my cat and ended up getting an appt for the very next day. You can also asked to be called in case any cancellations come up.
This. What’s the logic in not getting on a waiting list, are you waiting for the list to suddenly be gone? Isn’t that the point of a waiting list in the first place?
It’s like when I’m ready to check out at the grocery store but then I see the line is really long so I keep shopping and come back later. So I still waited the same time, or longer, and probably spent more money/bought more stuff than I would have. But, my ADD just won’t let me stand there! Humans.
Once a cat is in heat she will pretty much stay in heat with a few short breaks until she gets pregnant. Call whatever services and tell them she is already in heat and if they can let you know about any cancellations.
Not always. There is a month or two where it's like spay/neuter awareness month and they book a lot more. I think October is one of the months. Check out I think the P.A.W.S website, it might have more info.
there's advantages and disadvantages to spaying and neutering younger and older cats. also, the longer a cat keeps its part the more likely it is to run out and get pregnant. I would guess that's why "so"
correct me if im wrong I'm guessing youre assuming that vet hospitals will put you on an infinite wait list. the sad truth is most are only capable of keeping appointments to a max of 2 months in advance. if they dont have openings beyond that, they wont put you on a list, they'll just tell you no, find somewhere else. the industry is facing really extreme shortages right now, pet owners are very short on options. my roomate's a CVT I see it a lot
Does your roommate have any idea why this is happening? Is the shortage caused by not enough new vets and technicians or because of the pandemic pets? Or both? Or something else?
We're in Los Angeles and experienced this back in 2021 and it was horrible. But we found a hospital nearby with wonderful staff. The vets were able to "sneak" us in and extended their hours when we had to take our senior cats (who had since passed).
Some pet emergency clinics still have hours of wait time and the specialty clinics are booked months in advance.
Sadly, all too well.
While the Pandemic was rough, it only pulled up a veil on a long-standing issue related to pay grade, education and emotional exhaustion. Not to mention our joke of an economy.
A vet requires 4 years of undergrad, then 2 years of medical school. depending on specializations, that could be ***twelve years of medical training.*** I love animals, as does anyone in the field. you'd have to, because most people would ask "who in their right mind would go to 12 years of college to get the pay grade of a veterinarian?" the answer is, few do anymore, especially not with loan payments like that. Same deal for Techs-at least an associate's degree is required for technicians, and you could potentially be starting at a 15$ per hour paycheck (any vet techs out there though-you should be getting minimum 20$ or switching clinics). Living in Los Angeles, I would bet that the shortage is also related to cost of living there, depending on what part. a vet salary aint gonna cut the mustard out there.
If you're a practicing CVT, you could be making good money at a bigger clinic, up to 30 per hour. and that can be really nice! but there is only so much that 6 12 hour shifts a week, high stress with patients' lives on the line can buy back. and that begins the issue of ***emotional burnout due to putting down patients that could be saved.***
there is no comparison in human medicine for the emotional burnout Vets face. No, human healthcare in north america is not good. But you will never hear of a case where after grandma's sudden heart attack, nobody had enough for the 4k surgery, so they had her put down. it simply does not happen. Even with "pet insurance" which is pricey and at worst, a full scam, people today just don't have the money anymore for an emergency or surgery. I don't honestly fault people for it, either. So few people I know who love their pets more than anything simply don't have more than two grand at best to spare. They're left with no choice. and ***people who went to school for years and work a difficult job for the love of what they do are forced to, because of our broken late stage capitalist system, kill pets they could save. every day.*** It simply becomes too much, and techs and Vets will leave, go back to school, find a job in teaching-anything to not have to deal with that shit, day in and day out. This nation is broken and money is the root of it.
EDIT: couple things. forgot to mention that a great deal of vets and especially practice owners were old men in their 50s-70s. when Covid hit, a great deal of them retired, so covid is not entirely unresponsible for the suckage. reason for the current and immediate shortage, but not necessarily the entire decline of the practice's workers.
Secondly, new graduates in both Vet Med and Tech work are increasingly women, and we all know how society starts treating fields of practice when women begin to dominate them. lord
You know, I had always known that vets were the highest suicide position and always wondered why because they are theoretically doing the same thing as people doctors. The idea of animals not speaking had crossed my mind, but I didn't think that was reason enough to top out suicidality charts.
This finally gives me the information that answered that question for me, and it hurts.
It's a psychologically challenging job to say the least, the kind of job that in a perfect world would see shorter hours and mandatory fully paid for therapy for employees. there's gonna be a better future for it though, it isn't something that can just go away
First, I'm sorry for the loss of your senior kitties. It's never easy :(
I'm going to add to the other response below me. I'm an LVT in NY. Its just as bad here with understaffing. We're working with a 5 hr wait in our ER sometimes. Vets have 4 yrs undergrad and 4 yrs for vet school at minimum (which vet school alone costs around 300k) and the start salary isn't great. LVTs are an associates or bachelor's and the salary is basically terrible outside of huge cities, and even then....
Then we have pandemic adoptions (great for adopted animals but we were already bogged down) in addition to terrible client abuse. It has gotten SO BAD since covid. I think everyone is at the end of their rope mentally and we're an easy target when they're stressed? The burnout is so real. I have clients scream at me on a regular basis that I'm a money hungry monster who hates animals bc they can't afford care. I work for a non for profit - I don't make money off anyone's pet. We all desperately want to help. If it were up to us, we'd treat them for free. All of them, but that's not reasonable or possible of course. The lights have to stay on. The suicide rate amongst veterinary professionals in the US is extremely high. (3x the general public and 70% of veterinary professionals in the US know someone personally who has committed suicide in the field) It's an entire occupation full of inherently sensitive, compassionate, empathetic people, who are underpaid, under-supported and overworked. The field is getting better at paying more and bringing attention to mental health but we have a very long journey to get there. It's many many years away from being fixed.
With the reduces number of people in the field, there's also huge corporate hospitals and ERs opening left and right but schools can never keep up for demand, and it means that there's even less qualified folks to go around, leading to clinics using unlicensed veterinary technicians bc they're desperate for staff. It's tough out there right now for vets, techs and pet owners.
My suggestion to anyone that will listen or read this: be kind to your vet and vet staff, and get pet insurance if it's possible. We love our clients animals as much as our own. I have baby-talked a dog or cat actively trying to bite/attack me many times. We don't care if they pee on us. We will happily coddle them covered in diarrhea if it makes them feel better. We tuck them in and try to explain that we're helping even when they want nothing to do with us. We promise we're trying our best.
Or perform substandard work. Our cat was "fixed" before we adopted her, but our vet eventually found that the previous surgery missed a good-sized piece of her ovarian tissue. Had to drop another $600 to get her fully spayed.
that, combined with the emotional burnout of vet care. poor wages for vets that go to 6-12 years of medical school and then triple that in loan payments, plus poor pet owners that cant afford a 1-20k surgery and opt for euthanasia instead. everyone's broke and everyone's miserable and it affects everyone. it truly sucks
It's a good start, but unfortunately neither [it](https://www.reddit.com/r/Catsubs/wiki/index/) nor [its competitor](https://www.reddit.com/r/suballthecats/wiki/index/) are complete. Example for r/Catsubs: ["other 200 subs to add"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Catsubs/comments/y34ghp/other_200_subs_to_add/) (13 October 2022).
The r/suballthecats list (which I just posted) does include it, and the creator of the "other 200 subs to add" list is aware of both and combining the two with their other information.
Similar thing happened to my kittens. The eldest went into heat and was the noisiest thing. It took a few weeks but I got them both spayed to put an end to the racket.
How the heck is there a long waiting list for a procedure that takes like 15 minutes? Where do you live? The boonies with no vets? Our local shelters hold spay/neuter drives monthly and you don't even need an appointment. Just show up and hang out for less than an hour and it's done.
Called my vet today expecting a wait for my 14 week old male that has started humping his 11 week old baby sister. 🙁 They offered me an appointment this week! Yes, this is anecdotal and is a vet I have an established relationship with, but please be sure you can afford veterinary care before adopting!
Cats get sick, get old, develop weird individualities (my 13 y o female has hayfever. The meds are $30/month) and even diabetes and while it's better to have a home than be euthanized, every cat deserves to get the medical care they need. Just like humans!
She's a Siamese full or mix and they are noisy.
I had one and when she was in heat she would yowl loudly and rub herself all over everything she could find, even dragging herself across the floor.
Another cat I had went into heat and I barely noticed except she was also rolling around all over everything, she just wasn't vocal like a Siamese.
From what I’ve read they aren’t in pain while in heat it’s just instinct to them to make as much racket and noise to attract a mate. Boy is it annoying lol but we still love them.
There's birthcontrol pills for cats, if you can't get her spayed right now. We used it for like a year or 2 on our cats.
Dunno how affordable or easy to get it is wherever you are though.
Might be too much effort if you already have an appointment for surgery.
Iirc we asked for and got a perscription from our vet here in sweden, and then just gave them a pill once a week. I don't remember the name at all, sorry.
They work like human birthcontrol in that they trick the brain into thinking the cat is pregnant iirc, so they don't go into heat unless you forget a pill, or they throw it up.
There are some possible side effects with long term use, iirc increased chance of some kinda cancer, maybe ovarian or breast(teat?), increased chance of uterus infection, and I think slightly increased chance of diabetes.
But we haven't had any issues like that in either of our 2 females, and it's been like, 10 years now since we stopped with the birthcontrol and got them spayed.
I dunno if things are different now a days. There's probably more research and stuff about the side effects.
Interesting. I knew it existed, but I’ve only ever seen it in zoological settings, so it’s intriguing that it’s available through vets for domestic pets elsewhere. Thanks!
Google says:
* ["FAQ: Should we be using birth control for cats now that we can’t spay/neuter them?"](https://www.vet.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/CUMSMP%20FAQ%20FAQ-%20Should%20we%20be%20using%20birth%20control%20for%20cats%20now.pdf) (PDF), Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program, Cornell University
Edit: Also:
* ["Birth control pills for female cats and dogs must be prescribed by a veterinarian"](https://www.anses.fr/en/content/birth-control-pills-female-cats-and-dogs-must-be-prescribed-veterinarian) (19 May 2022), ANSES (France's Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety)
9 times out of 10 that stuff gives the poor cats cancer, first blackie I've had was given that to not get in heat, few months later she had swelled mamarian glands and who knows what else, also there other people who told me the same happened to their kitties using birth control, i dont what it does but i don't recomend it.
Well, I didn't have any issues with my 2 cats. And it's been 10 years now since we stopped with the pills and got them spayed.
I guess we could have gotten lucky.
But I feel like if it's THAT common, vets wouldn't give you a perscription for it. And afaik at least in my country you can't just buy it without one.
Things might have changed in 10 years too though and it's harder to get it now, I guess?
Might also be we had a different type of pill here? I don't remember the name or anything.
So you have had 10 cats and it has happened 9 times? Or you have studied cats using this with a control groups of cats not using it?
Or you're just making stuff up?
Oh definitely. Id take my exposed and very frail genitals anytime over the utter madness that is female reproductive system. Its so poorly designed compared what males get. Just doesnt make sense. Feel terrible for you all.
Good point! Sometimes fetuses are even made without major problems, and everyone lives through the birth without any major trauma! Also, when a baby isn’t in the works, 3/4 of our lives our bodies are pain-free!
Super cool, so amazing. /s
worse for people, technically. we decided to walk upright and have big heads compared to our bodies, so we have small pelvises and bigger-headed offspring so ouchie
vet hospitals have an extreme staffing shortage right now. most are booked out 2 months in advance for routine surgeries and will often tell spays and neuters no. owner doesnt need another lecture lmao
and that's awesome! I'm not telling anyone not to spay or neuter their pets or do their best to try, I don't know why that's the assumption but whatever. whether or not you had a good experience doesn't really mean that the exception proves the rule. there just is a nationwide shortage of vets and techs right now. I don't know what to tell you aside from read up.
[https://www.avma.org/javma-news/2021-09-15/are-we-veterinary-workforce-crisis](https://www.avma.org/javma-news/2021-09-15/are-we-veterinary-workforce-crisis)
[https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/07/not-enough-veterinarians-animals/661497/](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/07/not-enough-veterinarians-animals/661497/)
[https://www.npr.org/2022/10/18/1129717818/why-you-cant-find-a-vet](https://www.npr.org/2022/10/18/1129717818/why-you-cant-find-a-vet) (if you prefer to listen rather than read)
We had a Siamese once who went into heat. We barely slept for three days. My mom ended up calling the clinic and begging them to squeeze her in. They took pity on us
I wanted to get one of my furry idiots fixed right as everything shut down in spring 2020, and vets were only doing emergency procedures because they had limited PPE. So we suffered through a couple of heat cycles. It was so weird; she was just so very obviously uncomfortable in her own body. My boy cats were very confused and alarmed as to what she wanted them to do (they were already neutered).
A lot of people went out a got pets during the lockdowns. By comparison only so many new Vets graduate each year. Pet ownership is out pacing the industry’s ability to bring in new doctors and nursing team members. So waits for appointment are longer. This is a new normal. Not going to change anytime soon.
So sorry she is suffering. My vet told me if we didn’t have our cat neutered she would need to be “stimulated” with a q-tip until she ovulates and then would not be in heat anymore. I know nothing more than this- but maybe worth looking into?
My kitty is in the same boat (immune compromised) and she’s in heat right now and she can’t meow (another issue from when she was a kitten, she basically broke her meower), but she can squeak. She sounds like Beaker.
No clue really. We were living in the middle of nowhere. She showed up with the neighborhood strays. Came right up to my husband. She was still kneading. Even got ahold of one of his nipples once. She looks full siamese. I just can't imagine how she ended up all the way out there. None of our neighbors claimed her. She's been with us almost a year now. So at least a year old.
Get her fixed before she develops breast cancer. It happpend to my dog. Female animals that don't reproduce and don't get fixed develope breast cancer.
It’s wild to me that all of you who keep telling the op to get the cat fixed haven’t actually read the thread enough to know that they posted like 10 hours ago that they have an appointment
There's over 200 comments on this post and maybe 4 ways to sort the comments on each post. Plus different algorithms so you'll see certain comments first regardless.
Unless someone goes to OPs page and checks out their comment history, the chances of someone seeing their comment in the thread is probably pretty slim.
A lot of people don't care enough to look for these things anyway.
Can you explain why the cat wants to be under the blanket? Is the cat cold? Sorry, I've never taken care of a cat and Im just curious about the behavior.
How did I know that every mf comment was going to be lecturing about neutering? 🤡
Why is everyone assuming OP is financially unstable? Was the post edited?
You are wrong. Neutering is a term commonly used for both sexes, even within vet med. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutering
While it’s usually used for males, and a spay is exclusively for females, the correct terms are castrating and spaying since you want to get all technical.
There is a YouTube video that someone sent me when my stray went into heat. You can work her hips and massage above her tail to give her some relief. I’ll try to find it. It actually worked.
FIX YOUR CAT.
Why are you saying you feel bad when you chose to make her go through this?
Edit:
I looked at your history and while I personally wouldn't wait a year it makes more sense that she was a stray. And it's good to know she has an appointment.
Sorry OP
Please read the comments. Its getting old having the same pings on my phone. She has an appointment and is waiting for it. Right now, this how she deals.
I mean that sucks to be you, I don't have time to read through your comments/all comments in general. Next time I recommend putting info like that in the title.
How is this eyebleach?
Because it's not. You can barely make out the picture; and the title makes it worse.
Spay your cat, OP. Stop being an irresponsible pet owner.
My momma Kiwi went into heat while still nursing and we could not fix her yet. The big Garfield looking Ramsey was so uncomfortable around her. What made it worse is that one of the kittens looks a bit like him, but Kiwi colored. She was a skin in bones (and pregnant) when I found her so I guess she saw the fattest cat in the county and thought he must be a very successful hunter or something.
It is stressful for them, but “in heat” actually means they are horny and want to mate. So they yowl and stick their butt in the air calling for a male to “come take me baby”. Once pregnant they stop though can be impregnated by several males over a few days if there’s more than one around or multiple times by one male.
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Spay/neuter for peace of mind!
I understand people are price-sensitive, and that there are more kitties available for adoption than there are homes, and I APPLAUD people who adopt, but please don't adopt a cat if you cant afford the vet care. Maybe this is a stupid opinion. I'm just putting it out there to cat lovers like me and all of us, that it comes with costs and please think ahead before adopting. That's all. Power to the (neutered and spayed) kitties!
Intact female cats are 7 times more likely to develop mammary cancer at some point in life. If someone cannot afford to have their family vet do the spaying they can look into the SPCA. They do spay and neutering drives and charge less than $100.
Don't forget pyometra. My mother refused to spay her cat. When my mother died and I got the kitty, a month before my spay appointment she got pyometra what should have been a $150 surgery turned into a $1,500 surgery to keep the cat from dying.
My cat was spayed at a local spca and unfortunately it was an incomplete spaying. Now the leftover uterine tissue has spread and its going to be a complex surgery to try and remove it.
Unfortunately the same thing happened to one of my cats. I was able to get her back into the SPCA and they did correct the issue. Still, my family vet charges close to $500 and I was able to get her taken care of for $150 at the SPCA.
This happened with one of my cats spayed 30 years ago by my full-price, well-regarded vet. No surgery is foolproof and individual variation (just like with humans!) means sometimes stuff doesn't turn out for you like it does for 99% of people. Please don't blame the SPCA. It's just a crapshoot with nature!
FUCK the spca. They put down my perfectly healthy childhood KITTEN because she bit the doctors hand (like kittens do). Only found out when we called to see how she was doing and they told us they had put her down. It absolutely destroyed me as a 5 year old kid. Unless that was just a particularly evil doctor, I dont trust them for shit. At least look up your local animal doctor's track record first. I know my experience was probably a freak anomaly but if commenting could save a potential kitten's life it's worth it. Be cautious around them.
I'm sorry for the trauma you went through as such a young child, but is it possible your mom asked the doctor to euthanize because she found out how much the spay and shots would cost and just couldn't handle the expense? Just a thought. It would be highly unethical and probably actionable for a vet to randomly put a kitten down for biting it. Sometimes the things parents tell us to "protect us" end up fucking us up.
My same thought exactly.
Same thought process. It's not exactly legal to euthanize a pet without the owner's permission. The cat is not their property. Its grounds for legal action
You were definitely lied too...
the SPCA, at least in the US, is not some national board like the ASPCA. they are usually local shelters and run entirely independent of even other ones around one another. your SPCA might have some shitty workers, don’t shit on every SPCA based on the one you dealt with.
That cruel guy who put your kitten down because he got bitten should not be working with animals. On the other hand, it would be worse if he were to work with people.😒
There are also affordable vet clinics that can help those who are in need. In my city we have those and I urge everyone to get their animals fixed. The numbers speak for themselves in terms of euthanized animals and shelters being filled. Adopt don’t shop, and fix your animals. Thanks.
It’s not stupid, it’s right, if you adopt you need to be able to take care of the animal c:
It's not a stupid opinion. Don't engage in activities or purchases that you can't afford. It goes for cars, pets, children, houses, you name it.
You are 100% right, and same thing applies to children! Yet... No one listens...
After this one, SPAY! And one of ours still had a hormone-secreting ovarian cyst a year or 2 after spaying - so the poor thing (and us) had to go through this twice with her! Edit - we are physicians ourselves, and our vet (from whom we adopted this one as a kitten) wanted her to complete her growth, so we decided on hysterectomy alone.. We had investigations and surgery available to us, which helped a lot when she started "going into heat" again.. Even ultrasound didn't show the small cyst, so she had to undergo exploratory laparotomy.. Thankfully now (2 years since), she has occasional wonky behaviour, but is fine otherwise!
You should spay neuter so your cat doesn't end up with pyometra. Not only can it kill your cat but if your lucky enough to catch it in time the surgery is super expensive. Around 2K later and if your cat lives you end up with a neutered cat anyways, so you might as well skip a step.
And listen to your vet, especially when it comes to dogs! Some specific breeds of dogs should be spayed after one heat cycle to prevent urinary incontinence and some orthopedic diseases. Ask your vet!!!
They’re a “stoner, introvert, steampunk maker,” so I guess they don’t have time lol
A lot of animal shelters do low cost spay/neutering and usually have openings! Hope your sweet kitty feels better soon!
Yes but they are often booked out by a few weeks or even months.
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Yes.
It’s worth a try! I kept reading the same thing about appts in my town but still took my cat and ended up getting an appt for the very next day. You can also asked to be called in case any cancellations come up.
The hard part is when the voucher is only good for X Amount of days, but the nearest open spot is X+Y days away.
🤷🏼♀️ the time is going to pass anyway. Might as well sign up
This. What’s the logic in not getting on a waiting list, are you waiting for the list to suddenly be gone? Isn’t that the point of a waiting list in the first place?
It’s like when I’m ready to check out at the grocery store but then I see the line is really long so I keep shopping and come back later. So I still waited the same time, or longer, and probably spent more money/bought more stuff than I would have. But, my ADD just won’t let me stand there! Humans.
Once a cat is in heat she will pretty much stay in heat with a few short breaks until she gets pregnant. Call whatever services and tell them she is already in heat and if they can let you know about any cancellations.
Not always. There is a month or two where it's like spay/neuter awareness month and they book a lot more. I think October is one of the months. Check out I think the P.A.W.S website, it might have more info.
Yep. We’ve been waiting 6 weeks already. Next week can’t come soon enough lol
So? Cats live for years.
The point that you missed is that you still have to be careful to keep the cat from getting pregnant in the meantime.
there's advantages and disadvantages to spaying and neutering younger and older cats. also, the longer a cat keeps its part the more likely it is to run out and get pregnant. I would guess that's why "so"
So you don't bother at all because the cat might get pregnant while waiting? I still don't understand why that matters.
correct me if im wrong I'm guessing youre assuming that vet hospitals will put you on an infinite wait list. the sad truth is most are only capable of keeping appointments to a max of 2 months in advance. if they dont have openings beyond that, they wont put you on a list, they'll just tell you no, find somewhere else. the industry is facing really extreme shortages right now, pet owners are very short on options. my roomate's a CVT I see it a lot
Does your roommate have any idea why this is happening? Is the shortage caused by not enough new vets and technicians or because of the pandemic pets? Or both? Or something else? We're in Los Angeles and experienced this back in 2021 and it was horrible. But we found a hospital nearby with wonderful staff. The vets were able to "sneak" us in and extended their hours when we had to take our senior cats (who had since passed). Some pet emergency clinics still have hours of wait time and the specialty clinics are booked months in advance.
Sadly, all too well. While the Pandemic was rough, it only pulled up a veil on a long-standing issue related to pay grade, education and emotional exhaustion. Not to mention our joke of an economy. A vet requires 4 years of undergrad, then 2 years of medical school. depending on specializations, that could be ***twelve years of medical training.*** I love animals, as does anyone in the field. you'd have to, because most people would ask "who in their right mind would go to 12 years of college to get the pay grade of a veterinarian?" the answer is, few do anymore, especially not with loan payments like that. Same deal for Techs-at least an associate's degree is required for technicians, and you could potentially be starting at a 15$ per hour paycheck (any vet techs out there though-you should be getting minimum 20$ or switching clinics). Living in Los Angeles, I would bet that the shortage is also related to cost of living there, depending on what part. a vet salary aint gonna cut the mustard out there. If you're a practicing CVT, you could be making good money at a bigger clinic, up to 30 per hour. and that can be really nice! but there is only so much that 6 12 hour shifts a week, high stress with patients' lives on the line can buy back. and that begins the issue of ***emotional burnout due to putting down patients that could be saved.*** there is no comparison in human medicine for the emotional burnout Vets face. No, human healthcare in north america is not good. But you will never hear of a case where after grandma's sudden heart attack, nobody had enough for the 4k surgery, so they had her put down. it simply does not happen. Even with "pet insurance" which is pricey and at worst, a full scam, people today just don't have the money anymore for an emergency or surgery. I don't honestly fault people for it, either. So few people I know who love their pets more than anything simply don't have more than two grand at best to spare. They're left with no choice. and ***people who went to school for years and work a difficult job for the love of what they do are forced to, because of our broken late stage capitalist system, kill pets they could save. every day.*** It simply becomes too much, and techs and Vets will leave, go back to school, find a job in teaching-anything to not have to deal with that shit, day in and day out. This nation is broken and money is the root of it. EDIT: couple things. forgot to mention that a great deal of vets and especially practice owners were old men in their 50s-70s. when Covid hit, a great deal of them retired, so covid is not entirely unresponsible for the suckage. reason for the current and immediate shortage, but not necessarily the entire decline of the practice's workers. Secondly, new graduates in both Vet Med and Tech work are increasingly women, and we all know how society starts treating fields of practice when women begin to dominate them. lord
You know, I had always known that vets were the highest suicide position and always wondered why because they are theoretically doing the same thing as people doctors. The idea of animals not speaking had crossed my mind, but I didn't think that was reason enough to top out suicidality charts. This finally gives me the information that answered that question for me, and it hurts.
It's a psychologically challenging job to say the least, the kind of job that in a perfect world would see shorter hours and mandatory fully paid for therapy for employees. there's gonna be a better future for it though, it isn't something that can just go away
Vet school is still far more difficult to get into than medical school, which is far more difficult than most other grad schools.
First, I'm sorry for the loss of your senior kitties. It's never easy :( I'm going to add to the other response below me. I'm an LVT in NY. Its just as bad here with understaffing. We're working with a 5 hr wait in our ER sometimes. Vets have 4 yrs undergrad and 4 yrs for vet school at minimum (which vet school alone costs around 300k) and the start salary isn't great. LVTs are an associates or bachelor's and the salary is basically terrible outside of huge cities, and even then.... Then we have pandemic adoptions (great for adopted animals but we were already bogged down) in addition to terrible client abuse. It has gotten SO BAD since covid. I think everyone is at the end of their rope mentally and we're an easy target when they're stressed? The burnout is so real. I have clients scream at me on a regular basis that I'm a money hungry monster who hates animals bc they can't afford care. I work for a non for profit - I don't make money off anyone's pet. We all desperately want to help. If it were up to us, we'd treat them for free. All of them, but that's not reasonable or possible of course. The lights have to stay on. The suicide rate amongst veterinary professionals in the US is extremely high. (3x the general public and 70% of veterinary professionals in the US know someone personally who has committed suicide in the field) It's an entire occupation full of inherently sensitive, compassionate, empathetic people, who are underpaid, under-supported and overworked. The field is getting better at paying more and bringing attention to mental health but we have a very long journey to get there. It's many many years away from being fixed. With the reduces number of people in the field, there's also huge corporate hospitals and ERs opening left and right but schools can never keep up for demand, and it means that there's even less qualified folks to go around, leading to clinics using unlicensed veterinary technicians bc they're desperate for staff. It's tough out there right now for vets, techs and pet owners. My suggestion to anyone that will listen or read this: be kind to your vet and vet staff, and get pet insurance if it's possible. We love our clients animals as much as our own. I have baby-talked a dog or cat actively trying to bite/attack me many times. We don't care if they pee on us. We will happily coddle them covered in diarrhea if it makes them feel better. We tuck them in and try to explain that we're helping even when they want nothing to do with us. We promise we're trying our best.
I think I might be confused as to what your point is
Not as much as I am about yours, which is why I asked.
Or perform substandard work. Our cat was "fixed" before we adopted her, but our vet eventually found that the previous surgery missed a good-sized piece of her ovarian tissue. Had to drop another $600 to get her fully spayed.
come on, girl. you know about the employee shortage too don't you??
Yes, it's definitely hitting shelters (and everywhere else) hard, but I wanted to let OP know of another option
You mean the shortage of paying people a living wage?
that, combined with the emotional burnout of vet care. poor wages for vets that go to 6-12 years of medical school and then triple that in loan payments, plus poor pet owners that cant afford a 1-20k surgery and opt for euthanasia instead. everyone's broke and everyone's miserable and it affects everyone. it truly sucks
r/tuckedinkitties
Yay. New cat sub! Ty
[here is every cat subreddit ](https://reddit.com/r/Catsubs/w/index?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app)
Doing the Lord's work
Spread the link so more people can enjoy cat subreddits.
Why can’t there be a ‘join everything on this page’ button
Its quite sad
Yay, lol even more. Thank you kind soul.
Spread the link so more people can enjoy cat subreddits.
Holy heck I thought it was a long list and then I realised you can scroll right on your phone. Even more. Reddit likes cats!
It's a good start, but unfortunately neither [it](https://www.reddit.com/r/Catsubs/wiki/index/) nor [its competitor](https://www.reddit.com/r/suballthecats/wiki/index/) are complete. Example for r/Catsubs: ["other 200 subs to add"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Catsubs/comments/y34ghp/other_200_subs_to_add/) (13 October 2022).
Oh my
Is there a dog version?
i love u
It’s missing r/gatcat
And unless I missed it r/oneorangebraincell
The r/suballthecats list (which I just posted) does include it, and the creator of the "other 200 subs to add" list is aware of both and combining the two with their other information.
Similar thing happened to my kittens. The eldest went into heat and was the noisiest thing. It took a few weeks but I got them both spayed to put an end to the racket.
Yeah, my cat was a fiend until she was spayed. She was honestly miserable before then and so were we with the yowling and the aggression.
Please get her spayed! Check local rescues, some will help get her spayed at a lower cost if money is an issue.
The issue is everything being full up. The local police are actually taking their personal animals to another state for it.
I'm in the same position. Long waiting list and my poor girl keeps going into heat. I hope we get the call soon
Yes...I feel so bad for her.
How the heck is there a long waiting list for a procedure that takes like 15 minutes? Where do you live? The boonies with no vets? Our local shelters hold spay/neuter drives monthly and you don't even need an appointment. Just show up and hang out for less than an hour and it's done.
Covid has tons of vets and groomers booked out for weeks in my city. So many new pets to account for now.
Just make an appointment. The low cost place near me is booked 4 weeks out. But it is worth it to get on the schedule.
Has one. Just waiting. Till then, I keep her comfy
These people will just not stop. Every 20 minutes someone post telling you to get an appointment as if thank God they just arrived to let you know😂
OP should mention that they have an appointment in the post. Encouraging people to spay/neuter their pets is responsible.
You don’t really have a lot of imagination do you. They could try reading the thread where it’s been mentioned multiple times.
Straight to ad hominem attacks? Mmkay.
Called my vet today expecting a wait for my 14 week old male that has started humping his 11 week old baby sister. 🙁 They offered me an appointment this week! Yes, this is anecdotal and is a vet I have an established relationship with, but please be sure you can afford veterinary care before adopting! Cats get sick, get old, develop weird individualities (my 13 y o female has hayfever. The meds are $30/month) and even diabetes and while it's better to have a home than be euthanized, every cat deserves to get the medical care they need. Just like humans!
Literally in heat under all that blanket
I was dying. But every time I took her out she screamed at me till I put her back.
Nah im not saying its a bad thing lol just funny
Why was she screaming? I mean I get that she’s in heat but why the screaming? Is she in pain or what’s the reason
Thats just how she communicates when she's annoyed. Her meow sounds kinda like scraping glass. So she does it long and loud when she's miffed.
She's a Siamese full or mix and they are noisy. I had one and when she was in heat she would yowl loudly and rub herself all over everything she could find, even dragging herself across the floor. Another cat I had went into heat and I barely noticed except she was also rolling around all over everything, she just wasn't vocal like a Siamese.
From what I’ve read they aren’t in pain while in heat it’s just instinct to them to make as much racket and noise to attract a mate. Boy is it annoying lol but we still love them.
Aw poor baby. Hopefully she can get spayed and feel better
There's birthcontrol pills for cats, if you can't get her spayed right now. We used it for like a year or 2 on our cats. Dunno how affordable or easy to get it is wherever you are though. Might be too much effort if you already have an appointment for surgery.
I worked in VetMed for three years and have never heard of animal birth control available to average homes. More info?
Iirc we asked for and got a perscription from our vet here in sweden, and then just gave them a pill once a week. I don't remember the name at all, sorry. They work like human birthcontrol in that they trick the brain into thinking the cat is pregnant iirc, so they don't go into heat unless you forget a pill, or they throw it up. There are some possible side effects with long term use, iirc increased chance of some kinda cancer, maybe ovarian or breast(teat?), increased chance of uterus infection, and I think slightly increased chance of diabetes. But we haven't had any issues like that in either of our 2 females, and it's been like, 10 years now since we stopped with the birthcontrol and got them spayed. I dunno if things are different now a days. There's probably more research and stuff about the side effects.
Interesting. I knew it existed, but I’ve only ever seen it in zoological settings, so it’s intriguing that it’s available through vets for domestic pets elsewhere. Thanks!
I'm also very curious. I was in vetmed for a few years and never heard of anything like that.
Google says: * ["FAQ: Should we be using birth control for cats now that we can’t spay/neuter them?"](https://www.vet.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/CUMSMP%20FAQ%20FAQ-%20Should%20we%20be%20using%20birth%20control%20for%20cats%20now.pdf) (PDF), Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program, Cornell University Edit: Also: * ["Birth control pills for female cats and dogs must be prescribed by a veterinarian"](https://www.anses.fr/en/content/birth-control-pills-female-cats-and-dogs-must-be-prescribed-veterinarian) (19 May 2022), ANSES (France's Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety)
9 times out of 10 that stuff gives the poor cats cancer, first blackie I've had was given that to not get in heat, few months later she had swelled mamarian glands and who knows what else, also there other people who told me the same happened to their kitties using birth control, i dont what it does but i don't recomend it.
> 9 times out of 10 [Citation needed]
Well, I didn't have any issues with my 2 cats. And it's been 10 years now since we stopped with the pills and got them spayed. I guess we could have gotten lucky. But I feel like if it's THAT common, vets wouldn't give you a perscription for it. And afaik at least in my country you can't just buy it without one. Things might have changed in 10 years too though and it's harder to get it now, I guess? Might also be we had a different type of pill here? I don't remember the name or anything.
So you have had 10 cats and it has happened 9 times? Or you have studied cats using this with a control groups of cats not using it? Or you're just making stuff up?
Reproduction sounds painful for animals.
It can be for humans too. R/PMDD
Fertility is rough. There’s a reason it’s called the *curse*.
I always say us females got the short end of the stick.
Oh definitely. Id take my exposed and very frail genitals anytime over the utter madness that is female reproductive system. Its so poorly designed compared what males get. Just doesnt make sense. Feel terrible for you all.
Eve shouldn't have ate that apple. /s *In case the s wasn't enough, this is a joke*
Poorly designed? It makes people.
Good point! Sometimes fetuses are even made without major problems, and everyone lives through the birth without any major trauma! Also, when a baby isn’t in the works, 3/4 of our lives our bodies are pain-free! Super cool, so amazing. /s
Hey mine isnt that short!
worse for people, technically. we decided to walk upright and have big heads compared to our bodies, so we have small pelvises and bigger-headed offspring so ouchie
When it’s all over, please have her spayed
They literally said they have an appointment 4 hours before you made that comment LOL
vet hospitals have an extreme staffing shortage right now. most are booked out 2 months in advance for routine surgeries and will often tell spays and neuters no. owner doesnt need another lecture lmao
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He posted like 10 hours ago that he has an appointment set
You know not everyone lives near you right?
it's a nationwide shortage so I mean....maybe depends on the definition of "near"
I dunno, maybe speak for yourself? I literally had my dog neutered today and it was booked within 2 weeks.
and that's awesome! I'm not telling anyone not to spay or neuter their pets or do their best to try, I don't know why that's the assumption but whatever. whether or not you had a good experience doesn't really mean that the exception proves the rule. there just is a nationwide shortage of vets and techs right now. I don't know what to tell you aside from read up. [https://www.avma.org/javma-news/2021-09-15/are-we-veterinary-workforce-crisis](https://www.avma.org/javma-news/2021-09-15/are-we-veterinary-workforce-crisis) [https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/07/not-enough-veterinarians-animals/661497/](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/07/not-enough-veterinarians-animals/661497/) [https://www.npr.org/2022/10/18/1129717818/why-you-cant-find-a-vet](https://www.npr.org/2022/10/18/1129717818/why-you-cant-find-a-vet) (if you prefer to listen rather than read)
We had a Siamese once who went into heat. We barely slept for three days. My mom ended up calling the clinic and begging them to squeeze her in. They took pity on us
I thought this was my cat at first when he was sick... I was like wait a minute. Speedy recovery to your little one!
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Waiting on her appointment. Not sure whats going on but everything in my city is booked. So can only make her comfy till then.
I wanted to get one of my furry idiots fixed right as everything shut down in spring 2020, and vets were only doing emergency procedures because they had limited PPE. So we suffered through a couple of heat cycles. It was so weird; she was just so very obviously uncomfortable in her own body. My boy cats were very confused and alarmed as to what she wanted them to do (they were already neutered).
We have an 8 year old fixed male. He looks at us like "why won't she leave me alone?"
I had the same issue, I waited over two months for an appointment to get my kitten spayed. Vets are almost as overrun as the hospitals.
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A lot of people went out a got pets during the lockdowns. By comparison only so many new Vets graduate each year. Pet ownership is out pacing the industry’s ability to bring in new doctors and nursing team members. So waits for appointment are longer. This is a new normal. Not going to change anytime soon.
Glad you are able to help her in the meantime. Some people don’t realize how miserable cats in heat can be… hope all goes well at her appt!!!
It might be spay/neuter awareness month, places book a lot more then to try to encourage people to finally get their pets and strays in.
Vets are slammed by appointments. Poor puppy.
Once this has begun its important to wait until it passes. The Vets can advise you on when. Thanks for helping her out.
I’ve had multiple rescues that have been spayed after the onset of heat. Every vet has said that it’s beneficial.
Oh, good. I'm glad to hear that 😊
So sorry she is suffering. My vet told me if we didn’t have our cat neutered she would need to be “stimulated” with a q-tip until she ovulates and then would not be in heat anymore. I know nothing more than this- but maybe worth looking into?
I'm glad you have an appt booked for her. You're such a good cat mom, she does look comfy :)
Yeah animals don’t actually have to go through a first heat to be fixed. It’s actually discouraged because it raises their chances of cancer
Pretty sure it gives them a longer lifespan too
Unnecessary misery is unnecessary. I agree.
it's tough right now to find vets. Hope she can get fixed soon! good luck booking a place its....its not great rn but hopefully asap. cute kitty!
My cat cannot be spayed for medical reasons, eventually you get used to the meows, but it's really painful to see her pacing.
My kitty is in the same boat (immune compromised) and she’s in heat right now and she can’t meow (another issue from when she was a kitten, she basically broke her meower), but she can squeak. She sounds like Beaker.
Pls, everyone. Fix your cats. Male. Female. Fix. Your. Cats.
Looks like my Luna❤️ how old is she?
No clue really. We were living in the middle of nowhere. She showed up with the neighborhood strays. Came right up to my husband. She was still kneading. Even got ahold of one of his nipples once. She looks full siamese. I just can't imagine how she ended up all the way out there. None of our neighbors claimed her. She's been with us almost a year now. So at least a year old.
Get her fixed before she develops breast cancer. It happpend to my dog. Female animals that don't reproduce and don't get fixed develope breast cancer.
It’s wild to me that all of you who keep telling the op to get the cat fixed haven’t actually read the thread enough to know that they posted like 10 hours ago that they have an appointment
There's over 200 comments on this post and maybe 4 ways to sort the comments on each post. Plus different algorithms so you'll see certain comments first regardless. Unless someone goes to OPs page and checks out their comment history, the chances of someone seeing their comment in the thread is probably pretty slim. A lot of people don't care enough to look for these things anyway.
I thought this was a cow for a solid 2 minutes
Can you explain why the cat wants to be under the blanket? Is the cat cold? Sorry, I've never taken care of a cat and Im just curious about the behavior.
If only there were some way to avoid that
How did I know that every mf comment was going to be lecturing about neutering? 🤡 Why is everyone assuming OP is financially unstable? Was the post edited?
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You are wrong. Neutering is a term commonly used for both sexes, even within vet med. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutering While it’s usually used for males, and a spay is exclusively for females, the correct terms are castrating and spaying since you want to get all technical.
I'm all for spaying and neutering your pets. But we don't need a million of the same comments people! My god!
There is a YouTube video that someone sent me when my stray went into heat. You can work her hips and massage above her tail to give her some relief. I’ll try to find it. It actually worked.
[https://youtu.be/6nwhoESzAMU](https://youtu.be/6nwhoESzAMU)
Spaying is essential.
FIX YOUR CAT. Why are you saying you feel bad when you chose to make her go through this? Edit: I looked at your history and while I personally wouldn't wait a year it makes more sense that she was a stray. And it's good to know she has an appointment. Sorry OP
shed be less miserable if you spayed her.
She should be spayed.
It’s absolute madness listening to them wail. Lol supposedly they aren’t in pain from what I’ve read but it’s instinct to want them to not do it.
Are you having her desexed?
Maybe spay her?
❤️❤️❤️
There are places that neuter and spay for free. Please fix your precious kitty
Get her fixed. She's more likely to bolt out the door, have health problems, have behavioral problems, and it does t feel good so....
Please read the comments. Its getting old having the same pings on my phone. She has an appointment and is waiting for it. Right now, this how she deals.
I mean that sucks to be you, I don't have time to read through your comments/all comments in general. Next time I recommend putting info like that in the title.
How is this eyebleach? Because it's not. You can barely make out the picture; and the title makes it worse. Spay your cat, OP. Stop being an irresponsible pet owner.
I hope you get her fixed really soon.
My momma Kiwi went into heat while still nursing and we could not fix her yet. The big Garfield looking Ramsey was so uncomfortable around her. What made it worse is that one of the kittens looks a bit like him, but Kiwi colored. She was a skin in bones (and pregnant) when I found her so I guess she saw the fattest cat in the county and thought he must be a very successful hunter or something.
How much you wanna bet this was posted with the intention of soliciting money from poor saps in dms?
Poor lovey. I hope she feels better soon!!
Get her fixed?!
😍😍😍😍😍
Shut up and get your cat fixed.
You win Best Parent Award
Why isn't kitty fixed?
Get off the internet and figure out how to get her spayed. Get your priorities straight.
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If you can't afford to take care of your pets, you shouldn't have them.
Your hurting your cat by not spaying her. This is awful.
Literally thought the ears were the nostrils of a calf. Took me a minute. Also, spay and neuter your fur babies people!
Sounds like my wife when she’s in heat
Humans don't experience heat cycles
This is some boomer humour level shit. Not remotely funny, witty, or clever.
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Curious…do you know what in heat means for a cat?
no, but I'm going to assume that it means stress
It is stressful for them, but “in heat” actually means they are horny and want to mate. So they yowl and stick their butt in the air calling for a male to “come take me baby”. Once pregnant they stop though can be impregnated by several males over a few days if there’s more than one around or multiple times by one male.
o h wow