A microchip is the single most important way that you can get your dog back. Tags on collars and GPS tags, all those things can get lost or can be hung up on a fence or a tree. They can be taken off by someone who maliciously wants to keep the dog from being identified. But a microchip is permanent. It's under the skin and will be the best way of getting your dog back to you should they get lost or stolen.

If we're dealing with a cat who is in heat and gets spayed, the hormones will linger for a little while. I wouldn't expect the vocalizing to go away immediately, but it will decrease over a few weeks. We shouldn't see any more of the vocalization that's very well-known for feline cats in heat after those hormones subside. We don't see a lot of that vocalization in male cats unless that's just them. Some cats are more talkative than others, especially our Siamese friends. They're known for being talkative, and they like to chat. I have two Siamese cats of my own at home. They have lots of things to say on a daily basis. From morning to night, my cats will have a running conversation about what they have going on in their lives and how they feel about it.

It is surgery. They're under anesthesia when this happens, so do they feel pain during the surgery? No, of course not. They're asleep just like we would be asleep. Here at Four Paws, I take pain control seriously, and I do a lot more than a lot of regular veterinarians, which means our costs will be slightly higher, but I know my patients are much more comfortable. They get pre-op pain injections, intra-op pain injections, and local incisional blocks, and they get cold laser when they wake up, cold packing, and medications to go home for pain, inflammation, and straight pain. We do a really good job here making sure our patients recover, and we have fewer complications because you can't heal when you're in pain. As much as we don't like to have to medicate our animals, studies have shown both humans and animals will heal better if you have pain control post-op.

It definitely can. Spraying can be site marking. In male cats, if they're young enough and we catch them before they're about six months of age, if they are starting to spray, or if we neuter them before that starts to happen, the chances of them spraying will decrease. Sometimes when we take away that high-drive testosterone that makes a male want to mark his territory, the urge to spray can decrease. Is it a hundred percent guaranteed that if you neuter your cat, the spraying will go away? No. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees in medicine. I wish there were. I would be a millionaire if there were, but it can help reduce the behavior, and the hope would be that it would stop completely. It definitely helps the smell because tomcat urine is the worst smell on the entire face of the planet.

That's really a personal question. You can, but it's a big responsibility because then you're not only responsible for your cat, you're responsible for finding homes for these kittens, or you may have to keep all the kittens. Cats can have litters upwards of eight to 12, so you have to be prepared and do your research. It's not beneficial to them to have a litter. It's not going to change their outlook on life. You do have the risks associated with pregnancy and with childbirth because the kittens could get stuck, and the cat could end up needing a c-section. So there are a lot of things to consider. If you do want your cat to have kittens, you need to be prepared for it because it is an added responsibility and an added financial responsibility on top of that, especially if you have trouble keeping or finding homes for these new kittens.

It's really important to help decrease the amount of roaming that your pet may do. Their hormones drive them to roam and seek out a mate. This is often how cats can get hit by cars and attacked by dogs, coyotes, et cetera. When we spay and neuter them, that hormonal drive will decrease, so they're more likely to stay closer to your house. The other reason why it's so very important is that there are health risks associated with leaving them intact. In female cats, after they have a heat cycle, their uterus can get infected, and it can become a term called pyometra, which is a fancy word for saying that the uterus can fill with infection and pus and nastiness. Think of it like a giant abscess inside your belly. That's a pretty big emergency. It is life-threatening. It does have to be handled surgically in a very quick manner. It always seems to happen on the weekends, and people will end up at the emergency clinic having to spend quite a lot of dollars trying to make sure that cat survives versus having a routine spay done at your regular veterinary clinic where the conditions are controlled and obviously is a lot less expensive.

Fading kitten syndrome is a failure to thrive. If you adopt or take care of an orphan kitten and nothing you're doing is working, and they just seem like they're not doing well, number one, you need to get them to a veterinarian. This means if they won't eat, if they're eating and they're not gaining weight, or if they're not talking and they're just very lethargic or quiet. Fading kitten syndrome can happen from infection. It can happen if they are born with something wrong inside them, like a congenital defect. Just like humans can have cleft palates, so can baby kittens. There can be other changes internally that are preventing them from thriving. But fading kitten syndrome is a failure to thrive. The best way to help that kitten is to get it to a veterinarian so they can administer supportive care and give them a chance.

Most of the kittens found outside will be talking if they're healthy. If their eyes aren't open, they still should be fairly vocal. They should be mobile, like moving around. We should also not see any nasal discharge, wheezing, or gasping for breath. Their tongue should be nice and pink, and they should have coats with no sores. I think their activity is your biggest thing here to distinguish if they're healthy or not.

With newborn kittens that are with their mother, you can just support the mom. As long as the weather is nice outside, you can put a box outside with blankets, and you can produce food and water. Then, once the kittens' eyes are open and they're about five to six weeks of age, you can remove them from the mom and rehome them if the mother is feral. If the mother is not feral, you can bring all of them into the home and put them in a kennel or get them to a rescue where they can grow up and find new homes.