How To Find A Qualified Cat Vet That Know How To Locate & Confirm Remaining Reproductive Tissue

[Misty's Guardian]

As most of you already know my cat Misty has been spayed twice. She still has " in-heat" episodes that are now full blown and happening more frequently now.

Her previous vet who performed the two spaying said after the last one, that he could not see any remaining reproductive tissue. And then basically indicated he was at a loss to know what else to do.

There was a post on my previous thread some months ago from a member whose "handle' was "1 cat over the line". I would like to get in touch with him or her as that person had a vast knowledge of my cat's type problem. I really need some advice as noted above and what I should look for, and the proper questions to ask to determine the real qualifications before doing any tests or procedures. I welcome advice from any member who may have been through this kind of issue before. I ask for this help because I was reading on a site discussing what to do to eliminate this issue with my cat and the solution seems to by another spaying. I do not want to subject my cat to that unless I can be pretty much assured it will work and she will be relived of this problem.

 

[Furballsmom]

1CatOverTheLine your knowledge and expertise is being requested

 

[Daisy6]

What did the vet do the second time he spayed her?

 

[Misty's Guardian]

What did the vet do the second time he spayed her?

He just did another spay procedure to look for remaining tissue and said he "looked around" and found none. He and the "office manager" suggested I go to a cat behaviorist to get their opinion on what may be causing Misty's "in heat" episodes.

As I posted months ago the vet I saw at that clinic was not the senior vet and didn't seem to be very informed on these behaviors. The only suggestion was a couple of blood tests on the order of $400-$500, to see what they showed. I did not do them, as it just seemed to be throwing something against the wall to see what sticks!
Maybe I should ask if anyone has had good experiences with any vets in the South Florida area, Miami-Dade County or Broward and would give them high marks.

 

[Daisy6]

How close are you to the University of Miami? I don't know if UM has a vet school, but if it does, I would call them.

 

[silkenpaw]

No vet school at UM. The closest one is in Gainsville, over four hours away. I can recommend my vet, Dr. Herrington, at Hollywood Animal Hospital. He can think out of the box.

Good luck with Misty. It can’t be any fun being in heat repeatedly, poor thing.

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

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M Misty's Guardian - I'm afraid I'm not much help here. Short of another spay operation, here in the U.S. the FDA hasn't yet approved GonaCon™ - the contraceptive vaccine centered on gonadotropin-releasing hormones - for cats. If you can, perhaps a local veterinarian might look into Misty taking part in one of the studies, since this would seem the only non-invasive solution as far as I'm aware. Here's a very brief overview of the contraceptive vaccine:

Long-term fertility control in female cats with GonaCon™, a GnRH immunocontraceptive. - PubMed - NCBI

Best of luck!
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[Misty's Guardian]

Thank you Silkenpaw and 1catovertheline. I have spoken to the University of Florida Vet school before and they could only suggest I come there so they could examine Misty, You are correct it's maybe 5 or 6 hours away, can't do that. Perhaps 1catovertheline can suggest the questions I should ask to understand if a given vet really has the skill level to perform a third spay and solve Misty's problem. Sorry for posting a reply so late but I was out most of the day and am late getting back.

 

[Furballsmom]

What about talking to @silkenpaws Dr Herrington?

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

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M Misty's Guardian - Did your current veterinarian determine with certainty that there were cornified epithelial cells present in Misty's vaginal cytological examination, or was he suggesting a GnRH Hormone Stimulation test to look for a progesterone spike to confirm an ovarian remnant?
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[Misty's Guardian]

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M Misty's Guardian - Did your current veterinarian determine with certainty that there were cornified epithelial cells present in Misty's vaginal cytological examination, or was he suggesting a GnRH Hormone Stimulation test to look for a progesterone spike to confirm an ovarian remnant?
.

He did not tell me anything using those terminologies. However, he may well be that knowledgeable, but he just told me "he looked all around during the second operation, and did not see any remaining tissue". I don't know if he did any pre-opt examinations. As I said before, he did not suggest any other /more tests, just that I should take Misty to a cat behavior specialist vet. I did take her to one, but as previously noted, I did not get to see the actual behavior vet, but apparently a "new" vet who "had just read her book that morning" to get some idea as to what to look for. That made me VERY unhappy!! Paid for a "special" vet, and got nothing.

Anyway, is there a step by step procedure including tests to determine if she does have any existing tissue that could be the cause of her "in-heat" episodes? Are there designations to indicate that a vet has superior skill levels and experience, such as human Doctors that are Board Certified? I would really like to find a very experienced vet that can solve her problem. BTW, Misty usually licks her vaginal area after one of these episodes. Don't know if that is helpful to try to pin down causal factors. Would it be helpful for me to initiate a private conversation with you as to this subject? I will be checking out Silkenpaws suggested vet. At this point I am nearly at a loss as to what to do to help my cat.

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

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Before anything else is done surgically, you and a veterinarian need to determine if, in fact, there is an ovarian remnant present, and (as far as I'm aware) the most reliable test to determine this is the GnRH Hormone Stimulation test.

Here's a quick rundown of how the test is performed, and how results are examined:

NationWide Specialist Laboratories – Ovarian Tissue Detection

If it's determined that there's an ovarian remnant, then and only then is surgery for removal indicated.

Given that your veterinarian suggested a behaviour specialist after attempting to spay her a second time suggests very strongly that no effort was made to determine whether or not there was an ovarian remnant present.

Personal opinion: if it were I, I'd find a new veterinarian with all haste, and would transmit everything that's transpired up to this point - while your memory is clear on dates and events - to my legal counsel, to be held in abeyance, against the eventuality that legal redress might later become an issue.

@Geoffrey - I know that you're a cardiologist, but is there anything that you might be able to add here, please?
.

 

[Misty's Guardian]

1catovertheline, thank you so much for your information. I will check out the Ovarian Tissue Detection approach so I can become more knowledgeable on this subject. I have been looking for a qualified vet for some time. That's why I mentioned above how to determine the qualifications of a given vet. I doubt any legal action would be beneficial in that it would likely become a "he said she said" situation. And I agree, I don't want to put Misty through another surgery unless I knew it would be successful and cure her problem.