Dr. Anne and Tippy

This post is about Dr. Anne and Tippy. Dr. Anne owns Crab Orchard Vet and is also a neighbor; she's Daddy John's sister and we all live in the same valley called Ward's Cove. This post has graphic photos of Dr. Anne spaying Tippy. I believe in spaying and neutering; it prevents a lot of illness, horrible deaths and cats, especially females, live longer, healthier lives. 
Kittens gain about one pound a month the first year of their life so when Tippy reached one four pound four ounces, that let me know she was old and strong enough to be spayed. About the graphic photos...if you're squeamish, it's best to leave now.
In the above photo, Tippy has received the beginning meds to cause drowsiness, then Ashley and Stephen insert a breathing tube down Tippy's throat.


She's placed on a clean towel, under which is a heating pad, and her legs are stretched out and tied. This prevents sudden movement which could result in something not so good happening. Note to self: never, ever have another operation!

A clean, sterilized paper drape is placed over Tippy and a hole cut over the uterus with sterilized tool at the ready.

Ashley, Daddy's John's wife, squeezes Tippy's bladder to drain it, after which the abdomen area will be cleaned and sterilized.

This is my favorite photo...the darkness surrounding Dr. Anne's hands, the first cut, the tools...it all makes for a fabulous photo...to my eye anyway. Here, Dr. Anne makes the first cut so she's then able to get to the fatty tissue. It surprised me to learn even a lean animal, human or otherwise, can have a lot of fatty tissue. Dr. Anne has to cut away the fatty tissue and then fish around don't you love my technical, medical term? for the uterus. Come to think of it, perhaps that's my situation...I'm lean and trim but all this fatty tissue hides my leaness and trimness. Ya think? HA! 

Dr. Anne has found the uterus and, prior to cutting and stitching, she's clamped it off to stem the flow of blood.

The point at the V is the uterus and the tubes on either side are where the kittens would grow. I was amazed at the small size!






Dr. Anne finishes suturing the wound, from the inside out, and the very last thing done before Tippy is removed from the table is 

Ashley, giving a squirt of superglue to close the wound and cover the sutures. We all know how animals like to pick at a wound and stitches, especially, are itchy when healing is taking place. Tippy can lick all she wants and the sutures won't be compromised. Dr. Anne uses dissolving suture material and in 120 days, that material will be no more. Amazing!
Tippy woke up on her own, on schedule and today, a week later, if you didn't know she'd been spayed, you'd be surprised. She's active, although I'm trying to keep her from rough housing too much, eating and drinking well and enjoying life. Tippy will enjoy life more, be happier and healthier because she won't be having litter after litter after litter of kittens every year.

Spaying reduces some types of cancer and there's no need for a cat to have a heat nor a littler of kittens ahem! prior to spaying. In fact, it's best if they don't. Yes, spaying is expensive, it costs about $100 to spay a feline, but it's part of the cost of having pets. There are some programs, such as Friends of Animals, that operate nationally, that provide financial assistance. Some vets will spay as young as eight weeks or two pounds of age but, thankfully, Dr. Anne waits until four pounds and four months of age. Generally, cats can have their first litter at around six months of age but some can be earlier.
Spaying and neutering is part of being a responsible pet owner. If people knew how many tax dollars went toward putting down animals, they would be shocked! Even when Dave and I would take barn cats to the shelter, we'd always hand them a donation of both food and money; it's the least we could do. We hated having someone else deal with our problems and with barn cats, it's always a problem of over-population. You might be surprised to know how feral cats are able to suss out where the food is located; that's how all of my barn cats came to live at the farm! At one time, I had only spayed or neutered barn cats, now I've got too many cats and am trying to catch them so I can take them to the county animal shelter. It's a sad fact of life but the good news is, Tippy was caught, brought to good health, spayed and will now live a longer, healthier, happier life.

~ Rural Thursday Blog Hop ~

Blessings ~ Dr. Anne ~ Ashley ~ Stephen ~ Tippy ~ Friends of Animals ~