Is it safe to deworm my cat before neutering surgery or should I wait?

In general yes. Make sure to alert the veterinarian of her recent medication and of the worms. If the doctor has any concerns, they will likely postpone the procedure. Please feel free to post any additional questions.

Personal preference, but it may be because the vet does not want to house a contagious cat. Ringworm is a very hardy fungus, and it can live on surfaces for an incredible amount of time. A kennel where they keep a cat before and after surgery would be contaminated with the fungus and could possibly spread it to the next patients to use it, even after a thorough cleaning and disinfectant. Also, some infections can delay healing of the skin. Since neutering isn't a medically necessary procedure, your vet likely would prefer him to be in tip-top shape before undergoing anesthesia and surgery.

We do sometimes end up vaccinating pets the same day of surgery if necessary though it isn’t ideal. Most cases we will perform surgery first and then vaccinate the pet once they have recovered from anesthesia because we do not want to risk them having an adverse/allergic reaction to the vaccine (a rare occurrence) while under anesthesia. Ideally a vaccine would be given prior to surgery but not on the day of, but sometimes this isn’t possible.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I think this would be ok. In general, it is better to space it out just because both of these procedures (neuter surgery and vaccines) can result in complications or side effects, often times we do them close to each other or at the same time due to logistics and most cats do just fine. Good luck and have a great night!

Unless your vet gave you specific instructions, the dewormers are different medications and do not interact, so they can be given at the same time. The only reason to separate the dewormers would be if there is a large worm infestation and the deworming is likely to cause diarrhea. To be on the safe side, you could wait 2 days after the roundworm medication to give the tapeworm medication. I have included links below to the most common roundworm and tapeworm dewormers. http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=1862 http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=531 Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It would be safe to proceed as long as they are doing well based on the assessment of the veterinarian. I would keep the appointment and have your veterinarian proceed with an examination and determine if it would be safe to proceed with the procedure or not. I would say that if they are improving and doing well for the most part then it should be ok to proceed with the procedure. Good luck and have a great day!

Yes you can most certainly use a Capstar this close to surgery because this medication usually works within 1 hr, lasts only 24 hrs and has no affect on the cardiovascular or respiratory system, so its safe to use same day of surgery if needed. In fact, in practice we often give this medication to surgery pets right before their surgery if they have fleas to prevent the spread of fleas to other hospitalized pets. So no worries. It wouldn't hurt to let them know you gave the medication. However you should consider putting Darcy on a flea preventative as well to prevent re-infestation, because chances are that the fleas have laid eggs in the environment as well, and since Capstar is not a preventative, it will be out of her system after 24 hrs has passed.