Possibly. Any pet can be declined for surgery at the time of check in. There are multiple factors that could make your pet not suitable for surgery the day of, such as:
PRCKC wants to help our community with their pet care needs and to fulfill the mission of ending pet homelessness. However, it is far more important to PRCKC that your pet’s health and well-being are priority over the mission of spaying and neutering.
If you have any pet records that could help us to determine your pet’s current needs, yes please, bring those. However, they are not required. If you would like to bring a toy or blanket for your pet, that’s fine! However, please know that these items have a potential to become soiled and/or lost through the surgery process. Please don’t bring anything of high sentimental value.
We are located at the corner of 59th St and Troost Ave. This is where you’ll go for our curbside, drop off appointments for spay & neuter, and where we also have our vaccination clinic. Around the corner, at 5835 Troost Ave, is our urgent care department. Use the address 1116 E 59th St. Kansas City MO 64110 to find our fenced in parking lot. You will drive in and stay in your car, following the signage, to the left and check in with the white booth.
In order to maintain low-cost prices for services, PRCKC does not carry a wide range of pet health care preventions/ products. This keeps our overhead low, which then allows us to pass on the savings to you. Additionally, we do not provide a full one-on-one exam with a veterinarian, pet and client in an exam room. This also keeps our costs low. Without that one-on-one exam, we are unable to appropriately educate on the numerous products that are available on the market today, in relation to your pet’s specific needs. A full service vet clinic is better suited for this need, and are highly recommended if possible.
You can find which products we currently have here, or you can visit our online pharmacy, and have prevention shipped directly to your home. We must have seen your pet in the last year to approve these requests, and depending on the product, your pet may need an up-to-date heartworm test. At this time, we do not approve product requests from 3rd party sites like Chewy.
Possibly. Once a vaccine is administered, the antigens must be recognized, responded to and remembered by the immune system. Full protection from a vaccine usually takes up to two weeks. In some instances, two or more vaccinations several weeks apart must be given to achieve protection. Therefore, it is highly recommended that your pet is vaccinated two weeks prior to surgery, as they will be in a communal space with other pets. Your pet will be in its own kennel, but airborne diseases can still affect your pet if not properly immunized.
Additionally, preventative products for parasites can take up to 24-48 hours for your pet to be protected against fleas & ticks. We recommend only products that have been manufactured by pharmaceutical companies. Unfortunately, many off-brand products that are sold at discount stores are just not as effective as ones produced and backed by big companies. Furthermore, it can take up to 3-6 months to fully treat your environment against parasites, through your pet, as long as all pets in the household are given prevention, due to some life stages being tougher to kill.
PRCKC has proper air circulation, and utilizes special disinfectants in our facility to cut down on these risks. Also, we decline to operate on or vaccinate pets who are currently ill, to keep our facility clear of illness. However, without prior immunizations and preventions, your pet is still at risk. You are welcome to bring your pet to our wellness clinic, two or more weeks prior to surgery, to help prevent these risks. Click here for more information on our wellness clinic, and to set an appointment.
This depends on the specific pet, and your preferences as a pet owner. If your pet is sensitive, or currently very small and/or young, you may want to do these things at different times. We provide a vaccination clinic Tuesday- Friday at our 59th & Troost location. There are also various off-site mobile vaccination clinics, other days of the week, and sometimes Saturdays. You can find their schedule here. You can get all of these services at separate visits with us or elsewhere. However, we do have special packages at the time of surgery that can be very cost effective for you. Furthermore, many pets in rescues, shelters, and other low-cost facilities do receive these services at the same time, with optimal results.
Great question! We have compiled a FAQ for our post- operative care, and things to expect!
All pets spayed/neutered with PRCKC will receive a green-line tattoo on their abdomen. This is to identify the pet as ‘fixed’ (spayed/neutered) so that anyone can tell immediately that this surgery has been performed, and does not need to be repeated. Surgical glue will be put over the tattoo and the incision site. The glue will wear off, but the tattoo is permanent. There is no additional aftercare needed for the tattoo. This is a requirement to receive a spay/ neuter here at PRCKC. Scars on a pet’s abdomen can be a result of a cesarean section operation (pet is still able to reproduce); or an operation due to a stomach or intestine issue; ext. Therefore, they do not tell us truly if this pet has been previously spayed/neutered. The green line tattoo is a definite indicator that the pet is no longer able to reproduce.
We aren’t sure. Scares on a pet’s abdomen can be from many other things. If your pet is presented for a spay, and we see a scar but no tattoo, our veterinarians will decide, per their professional opinion, to proceed or not. If you are unable to be reached the day of surgery, and you have already signed for that service, we will likely proceed with the surgery. Our vets are unable to know if a pet is truly intact without going inside the abdomen to explore and/or seeing the green line indicator. Please be sure to discuss the scar you’ve seen with any of PRCKC’s representatives before or during check-in.
Not necessarily. Without examining your pet, we can’t inform you on this. Even though you aren’t seeing testicles in the scrotum, your pet could still be intact, and able to reproduce. There is a condition called cryptorchidism; a condition in which one or both of the testes fail to descend from the abdomen into the scrotum. Therefore, the testicles could still be present in the body, and your pet would still be able to reproduce. Additionally, your pet is still likely to want to roam due to the active testosterone in his system. Along with not having the other benefits of neutering, such as not being able to get prostate cancer later in life.
