This post is gross...

So if you are eating something while you read at the moment, you might just want to leave this web page and come back much later.

When adopting a new pet, you might find yourself faced with the question of whether you should spay your female cat.  I've known some people that decide against it, and they don't realize that sometimes a big issue can develop down the road.  It is possible that the reproductive tract will have an infection develop within the uterus - this is called a pyometra.  When a pyometra is starting, the body is sending white blood cells to the uterus as quickly as possible to control a bacterial infection.  These cells are killing bacteria, dying all the while, and as this continues, more and more pus accumulates.  The organ distends as a result, and bad things start to happen.

This first image was taken a few weeks back during surgery. The cat's head is to the left of the picture.  The two tubes going to the right are the uterine horns.  In the center of the image, there is a clamp on the cat's cervix. 

This second image is of the pus draining from the organ.  The goal is to not have the pus drain into the belly - had this cat fallen off a counter, that uterus could have burst and killed the cat in short order.

Before we shot that photo, we placed the organ on the scale and got a reading of two pounds.  Appropriately, the 8 pound cat that entered the surgical suite left the clinic weighing 6 pounds.