Going home same day as spay surgery???

Some of you may remember the story Mama Cat which my mother and I trapped and brought in to the shelter for spaying back last October. Well, she had 3 wonderful kittens within 2 weeks after arrival at the shelter. I did think she looked like she swallowed a basket ball but we were hoping that she just got a little chunky. Well, all the kittens 1 girl (Peekaboo) 2 boys (Might Joe & Buddy) were adopted out to great and I mean great homes within the past 2 weeks and now it's Mama Cat's turn for the works. She is going in 2/17 (we have to wait about 2 weeks for all her milk to dry up) for deworming, shots (distemper/rabies), testing for Feline Aids and Leukemia as well as spaying. Unless there is a problem I was told I could pick her that evening. Is this normal? I always thought they stay for the night.

Just for FYI - My mother is taking her in - Mama Cat is on the shy side but once she gets to know you she is such a love. She head butts and pushes her face into your hand for rubbs. :0)))

If vets have the space, they usually keep spays overnight to make sure there is not complications. But, most clinics don't have the room to keep them.

What you want to watch out for is the cat getting at her stitches. So request an e-collar if necessary. Also, make sure the cat has no problems going to the litterbox.

You can check the stitches in the following days and make sure there is no major swelling or discharge coming from the area. I'm sure the vet will tell you all this when you go pick her up.

all the vets i have known have kept them overnight. Why dont you call the vet and ask him/her why she dosent? i would like to know too.

My vet isn't keeping Oreo over night either, but his resoning for it makes sense to me. He says, the clinic closes at 5pm, and there's no one there til 8am the next morning anyway, so Oreo should be home with me, so I can watch her, cuz he's only a phone call away should something happen. If anything happens to her while staying at the clinic over night, no one will know til 8am the next morning, and that could be to late. When he put it to me that way, I'm ALL in favor for her coming home with me.

My kittens all came how the same day as their surgeries (the 3 boys went in together, the 3 girls the following week). All recovered nicely with no problems.

Just make sure that you ask the vet about pain meds for her. I have discovered that not all vets think it is necessary to give a cat pain meds after spay/neuter surgery. But if you ask, they generally will make them available. Can you imagine getting a hysterectomy or a tubal ligation with no anesthesia or pain medicine???

Mom- Good point! I'll ask about a pain patch!

Thanks everyone.


Helen

I think it depends on the vet, and as another poster mentioned, staffing. My first 3 cats stayed overnight, but their vet was attached to the Humane Society and had people there 24 hours a day. We moved across the city recently and took the new kitten for her spay at a local vet - we picked her up at 6PM on the same day after dropping her off at 7AM. I don't know about the staffing there, but it is a smaller office, so maybe they didn't have anyone overnight. All the operations turned out fine, with no complications.

When our cat (male) was neutered, I dropped him off at 7 a.m. and picked him up around 6:30 p.m.. He was just fine - didn't seem to be in any pain, was very relieved to be home again, and, in his opinion, starving. I would be careful about the stitches with a female, though, provided that they are exposed (some vets close the incision in such a way that the cat can't rip the stitches out).

Some vets are now using superglue (they have a medical name for it, but it is identical to the stuff you buy at the store) to "suture" the incision on boy kitties. It holds long enough for the skin to bond, and there are no stitches to remove or pull out. That's what they did for our three boys when they were fixed about a year and a half ago.

sergical glue.....

(Just like super glue, but this is non-toxic to animal/humans)

My Cooper had it on her belly too!

We're "homies". I was born in NE Philadelphia, and grew up in the SE suburbs - the "Tristate Area". What a small world. How do you manage with ten cats? I have enough trouble keeping up with one (a hyperactive loner who makes long-distance phone calls (his record is New Zealand), turns lights on and off, steals faxes out of the machine, etc., etc.)