Vocabulary Lesson

[draggonlaady]

"Shotted" is not, the best of my knowledge, a word in English. Your pet was not "shotted". It was vaccinated, immunized, or given it's shots.

"Spade" is a small tool for the moving of dirt. It is not, unless things go horribly wrong, used in the context of an ovariohysterectomy, or spay. The only way in which your cat was "spaded" is if you hit it with a shovel. I will not be hitting your pet with a shovel, so do not present her to me to be "spaded".
Also, since by definition a spay is the removal of ovaries and uterus, I will not be able to spay your male pet. I can probably, however, arrange a castration.

I most certainly will not be "spading" and "shotting" your tom cat.

Comments

[miss-swamp.livejournal.com]

Those sound like things my students would say.

But they're nine, and Vietnamese.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

Well, they can be excused for the mistakes then. I'm sure I'd make worse mistakes attempting to speak any of the Asian languages. These things most commonly are asked of me by people who are older than I am, and (I presume) have been speaking English (or at least American) their entire lives.

[kresentia.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For stating those things that I keep wanting to yell at people. I want to print this out and hang it at every clinic I'm near, in my training area. At every shelter. Sigh. At least they are making their animals stop reproducing and reducing sickness, I can forgive the language for that cause. Maybe we should spade them all too?

[evil-egg.livejournal.com]

Aahh, the English language receives more than its fair share of punishment.

[sphynx-again.livejournal.com]

Yes, I hear these things things on a nearly daily basis as well. And about once a week someone asks me if they can get a cat that hasn't been spaded. Or if it's cheaper to "buy" one that's not spaded.

And for the record, the answer is no. Our adoption fee is the same for all cats and kittens, and every animal that is adopted from us is already fixed and vaccinated, and microchipped if it is a dog, before it leaves the shelter. No exceptions.

[shadowerealm.livejournal.com]

"I can probably, however, arrange a castration."

For the cat or the human? Sometimes both are called for. :-P

[dindrane.livejournal.com]

I confess to still, after all these years, being very bad at remembering which sex gets spayed and which gets neutered. This post should help me remember, though. :D

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

technically, neuter works for either sex. so does desex.
Castration (orchiectomy) is male only, and spay (ovariohysterectomy or ovariectomy) is female only.