92. Cat with fleas - to spay or not?

It is a hard decision. Some flea dirt on the face. An active flea seen clearly against the white hairs of the back of the leg speeding faster than sound and so was not caught.

If the cat is sent back to be defleaed, it costs the owner time and money. Few owners appreciate this procedure. The caterwauling cat continued to make lots of noises, offending neighbours in the HDB apartments and stopping the owner and family members from having a good sleep.

There was only one flea seen. About 4 mm long and very highly mobile. Singapore cats still have fleas but rarely are they seen in domestic cats housed at home. So, it was a puzzle to me why this cat had some fleas. It was possible that she was allowed freedom outside the house and had contacted fleas from other cats.

My decision was to spay her as Singaporeans are living in a time-pressed world where the cost of living shoots up every year. Another increase in the electronic road pricing rates. Some increase in bus fares. Of course, salaries of civil servants are also increased. The private sector employees in the lower ranks, such as cleaners, do not seem to benefit from the economic boom as there is massive underpricing of fees from contractors.

I don't know the earning power of the cat owner. The cat was brought in for spaying. If there are too many fleas, I would stop the spay. This would be negligent. What if one flea hop into the incision and contaminate the inside of the cat?

This was a clean cat, except for some flea dirt on the face and the only flea I saw at her backside. It was not possible to catch this flea as it had bolted inside the coat. Such a small cat yet it is not that easy to catch a single flea.

After spaying, the flea re-appeared and I caught it.



On camera.



I was taking picture of the swollen ovaries and uterine horns for research. The owner had got rid of most of the fleas before sending in the cat for spay.