feeding before spay

Hey folks. I'm dropping my cat at the vet tomorrow morning for her spay (woohoo!). The person I spoke to said that she can't have any dinner tonight, but I was wondering if it would be alright to give her a bit of a snack at this point (4:30 in the afternoon). Basically, what's the latest that she can eat?

The last thing I want to do is complicate the surgery in any way, but I'd also like to make Audrey as comfortable as possible until then.

Thanks!

It depends on what time the surgery is scheduled for. For Ginger, it was nothing after 11 p.m., for Ferris, it was nothing after 8 p.m.

They need to have empty bellies so they don't vomit and aspirate while intubated during surgery.

I'd call the vet's office to double-check.

for mine its nothing after 9 pm, but i agree check with the vets office to make sure.

You were right about calling the vet. They said that until 10pm should be fine.

My last pets were rats, who are physically incapable of vomiting, so I never had to worry about this.

Thanks!

Just in case they didn't mention it... No water either.

no water ? wow my vets always say to leave water out for them ???

Different vets have different opinions about leaving out water. I have older cats, so they always get water--they get fluids during surgery too.

my anne is going in for her spay tomorrow morning and the vet said no food after 9 pm but water is fine to leave out .

As another poster said, different vets have different schedules. Mine is OK for the cat to eat up until midnight. The water can be left out right up until we leave for the vet. This is because when cats drink, it's only a little at a time. The usual thing is no food for at least 8 hours before surgery.

We were told no food after 10pm, but water can be left out overnight but removed first thing in the morning.

I was told the same thing as Bruce&Sheila. No food after ten, water taken away first thing in the morning.

We actually just picked Audrey up from the vet. She came through the spay very well, so we're happy. She's presently zonked out on the chair next to me. We're continually amazed by how good-natured she s. We expected that she would hide and keep her distance when she first got home, but she's been happy to see both of us.

The weirdest thing? Apparently she had tapeworms! She'd been dewormed after we got her, and had a fecal test that came up negative, but apparently tapeworms can fly under the radar. Even weirder, she hasn't been outside since we got her, so she must have had tapeworms for well over three months. Ugh. Poor baby.

One question: her torso, right below her hipbones on either side, looks noticeably more concave than it did before. Could this be from the surgery? The deworming? I was under the impression that the female reproductive organs were very small.

Thanks for all the help!

12 hours before surgery.... I'm glad she made it through without problems. I'm not sure what the caving is from though. Our kitty was tiny when we saved her from animal control so she was already super skinny, 3 lbs!!!!