Our family vet was closed Wednesday, but first thing Thursday morning I called and they were able to get us in that afternoon. We scheduled a pregnancy test and vaccinations.
When we got there, I explained the saga of Tabby to Dr. Singleton: how I found her, how she’s wormed her way into our family, and how we plan to keep her. But I also expressed my concerns about her change in behavior towards our other cat, Mr. Meow. I admitted I feared she might be expecting, but I wasn’t sure because the first vet I had taken her to when I very first found her said he thought she was spayed.
So Dr. Singleton proceeded to do a pregnancy test. I had no idea how they did such a test on cats, but there are three ways:
1) They feel the cat’s belly, or
2) run blood tests, or
3) take x-rays.
Dr. Singleton started with the first way, feeling Tabby’s belly. She didn’t just touch or poke a little here and there, she used both hands and really squeezed into her belly. It didn’t look very comfortable, but Tabby didn’t seem to mind very much.
She said she couldn’t really feel anything, but she also couldn’t say with 100% certainty she wasn’t. She then asked if the other vet had shaved Tabby to look for a spay scar and that’s how he’d come to his verdict.
I said, “No, he said something about her nipples and how they should feel differently. Which is what got me worried because in the last week her nipples have really started to protrude and they weren’t doing that before.”
“Well, let’s shave her and see. If we see a scar we know she’s not pregnant.”
There was no scar.
Dr. Singleton advised we could try the blood tests, but warned they’re not as accurate as those devised for humans. Or we could do an x-ray, which would for sure tell us but it would cost $50.
Since I was planning on having her spayed anyway, I decided to forego the x-ray. But I was curious…
“If she is pregnant when you go in to do the procedure, what will happen then?”
Dr. Singleton informed me they’d continue with the operation and terminate the pregnancy.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about all that, I’m still not, but I’m just hoping she’s not pregnant and her surgery goes fine. It’s set up for Monday.
Related Articles: