Should she feel this bad after being spayed?

I had my adopted feral 10-month-old cat spayed two days ago, and I'm not sure how she's supposed to act, but she seems awfully depressed. She will eat the canned food, but leaves the dry, and is almost hiding behind things to sleep or exist, or whatever.

What's normal behavior for a spayed kitten? It's been over 20 years since I spayed a female, and I can't remember. It seems to pain her to sit down, which is probably normal. What's really strange is she constantly licks her gums, like my cats always do when they're going to throw up, but she hasn't thrown up. She also hasn't used her box nearly as much as usual, but she has gone a couple times. I brought her home over 24 hours ago. She just looks extremely uncomfortable and nervous, but again, she was just getting used to human beings after being brought in from outside, and she never has gotten used to my 2 male (neutered) cats. She is in her own room, and it's quiet, but she isn't acting right. I wondered if she thought I (the only person on earth she has tolerated at this point) abandoned her when she went to the vet, then she had to hear constant barking dogs, (I hear that feral cats despise dogs). Has anyone's cat out there acted this weird two days after being spayed?

i have a 5 month feral kitten who was spayed a week ago. she was quiet the following couple of days but was eating.

it is a major op but i know my other 2 girls that i've had spayed were back to normal almost within hours.

i would seek advice from your vet. if she has picked up an infection it needs to be treated as soon as possible.

good luck.

Pumpkin seemed sleepy, frightened and uncomfortable (physically) when she came home from being spayed. Our vets keep spay patients overnight for observation, so she was away for 24 hours, which is the longest she'd been away from us since before we'd adopted her. She was also about a week pregnant when they did the surgery, so it was a bit more of an operation than normal.

Her voice was all hoarse, apparently because she'd cried all night long, probably from separation anxiety. She took a few days to get back to her normal self... she didn't eat much for a while, and she slept a lot.

I hope your girl feels better soon! It bears remembering that spaying, unlike neutering, is actually a fairly major abdominal surgery.

Perhaps call your vet for advice. I do know that younger kittens seem to bounce back quickly after surgery. I've never had a kitten that old spayed.