There can be a complication anytime we put a pet under anesthesia. And that's why we recommend doing pre-anesthetic blood work just to make sure organs are functioning appropriately, but that's why every dog or cat that goes under anesthesia gets an exam by a doctor here at Advanced Animal Care, Berea. Some complications can't be predicted, and some will be during the surgery, and some could potentially be after the surgery. Sometimes a suture may break, or there can be a bit of swelling. An infection can develop, so we do our best to prevent any of these from happening, but there is always that possibility.

Cat neuters are very similar to cat spays. They receive the same doctor exam. They get the same sedation and pain medications so that they were made comfortable. They go under inhalant anesthesia as well. The most significant difference is there's not as much to do with the neuters. And, so what we do is instead of closing their skin incisions, we leave those open to drain. There are no sutures back there, but their skin heals together quite nicely in about four to seven days, and you can hardly see a scar.

Here at Advanced Animal Care and Advanced Animal Care Berea, we have a pretty comprehensive plan for your cat. The reason is we want to make sure that there's no pain involved and that we keep them as comfortable and keep the stress levels down as much as possible.

All of our cats receive an exam before they go under general anesthesia and have their surgical procedure performed, and a veterinarian performs that exam. They all receive some sedation medications so that we help reduce their stress while they're in the clinic because it's not a normal place for them to be. We make sure we get pain management on board to keep them as comfortable as possible while they're here and after the surgery.

Then, once they've got all of those on board, depending on the procedure that your pet is going to be having, we'll place an IUD catheter to give them fluids to keep them hydrated throughout the procedure. We put a breathing tube in to deliver inhalant anesthesia to keep them asleep during the procedure. And then, the veterinarian will perform the procedure. They use sterile materials, sterile drapes, sterile gloves—the whole kit and caboodle.

The procedure itself doesn't take long. The average cat neuter is over and done with in under 15 minutes. And the average cat spaying can be anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. And then here, I like to put buried sutures in my spays so that you don't have to bring your cat back to stress them out so that we have to take those sutures out later. Those sutures dissolve under the skin in about two to three months. And there's generally a minimal scar there.

Some things to think about changing would be if they have an elevated food or water dish, like on a counter and having difficulty getting up there, bringing those down to floor level, or maybe provide some stairs or a ramp or something so they can get up there. Make sure that you're providing some comfy places for them to nap or lay or sleep, as well as making sure that if you notice they're having any issues getting in and out of the litter box if the sides of the litter box are too tall or things like that, they need a bigger one to help them posture. Those are some adjustments to make to help out your senior cat.

Once they get to that senior age, I let them choose their own speed and their own pace. So if they're showing that they want to play or are interacting with you, I say go for it, but just be sure to tune into when they're ready to stop so that you stop too. If they're feeling like having a lazy day, I say let them have a lazy day. It's kind of your cat's preference to tune into.

That’s a conversation to have with your veterinarian. Depending on some of my patient's lifestyles, we'll do a rabies vaccine because that one's required by law. And, of course, rabies can be transmitted to humans from pets. If they have a very active outdoor lifestyle, sometimes we'll keep them going on all of their core vaccines. It's a case-by-case situation, but you can have that conversation with your veterinarian.

Bringing them to the vet every year or even every six months is recommended. I like to run annual blood work on senior cats to screen for anything that could develop or are more common in senior cats. The next two things are going to be taking care of their teeth as they get older because they can sometimes run into some issues there and make sure that we're taking care of their joints the best that we can.

Well, that's a good question. For the most part, my rule of thumb is any pet who kind of hits that seven to eight-year-old mark is a senior pet. Of course, cats tend to live longer, but I still generally put them in that senior category at seven to eight years of age.

I'm sure some chew toys are out there, but I know many cats are not big chewers. However, if you have a cat that’s a chewer, I'm sure you can find a chew toy out on the internet through Amazon or other places like that. But I like to feed my cat dental treats because it’s kind of like a reward and dental care all in one.