Post-spaying/neuter advice

Hello All,

Cooper & Io are getting the snip on Wednesday. I have yet to talk to the vet about what we'll need to do after we bring them home, but I wanted to know if there's anything I can learn in advance, or if you could share some experiences with me so I can have a heads up!

The vet's told us not to feed them after 8pm the night before - I'm guessing this is so they don't have a false bodyweight when they measure them for anaesthetic, and so they don't throw up (that'd be pretty stressful I'd imagine). Also that their water bowl should only be given to them to drink, and kept away from them so they don't pass out in it as they'll still be a bit woozy for the rest of the day.

I'm mainly concerned about Io, as being a girl, she'll have stitches, and they've recommended that she avoid jumping so she doesn't knock them out or hurt herself. The problem is, she's so hyperactive and into everything... I've seen people keep Siamese cats in cages after surgery, and I don't know if that's ideal or if there are other options, I'm open though.

I've got that day off, and Chris is also off Wed & a few days afterwards, so he'll be holding fort to monitor them once they're home.

Thanks & cuddles to your kitties ^_^

Originally Posted by DemstarAus

Hello All,

Cooper & Io are getting the snip on Wednesday. I have yet to talk to the vet about what we'll need to do after we bring them home, but I wanted to know if there's anything I can learn in advance, or if you could share some experiences with me so I can have a heads up!

The vet's told us not to feed them after 8pm the night before - I'm guessing this is so they don't have a false bodyweight when they measure them for anaesthetic, and so they don't throw up (that'd be pretty stressful I'd imagine). Also that their water bowl should only be given to them to drink, and kept away from them so they don't pass out in it as they'll still be a bit woozy for the rest of the day.

I'm mainly concerned about Io, as being a girl, she'll have stitches, and they've recommended that she avoid jumping so she doesn't knock them out or hurt herself. The problem is, she's so hyperactive and into everything... I've seen people keep Siamese cats in cages after surgery, and I don't know if that's ideal or if there are other options, I'm open though.

I've got that day off, and Chris is also off Wed & a few days afterwards, so he'll be holding fort to monitor them once they're home.

Thanks & cuddles to your kitties ^_^

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Don't worry about her jumping. When mine got fixed, she didn't do anything for about 5 days, and even after that, she didn't really start running for about 2 weeks, and the boy cat left her alone. The only thing we really had to stop her from doing when we could was keep her from licking the incision. Obviously you can't watch them 24/7 but when possible, do that. My vet told me NOT to cage either cat as they would hate us and could change their disposition about us and people in general.

There's really not much care needed except to watch for a fairly normal return to their normal perky selves and no infection at the incision site. Generally, they won't require any pain meds, just to take it easy until they're back on their feet.

I had my girl fable spayed a few weeks back, she was back to her normal self within 12 hours or so of the surgery and insisted on jumping around and play fighting and we had no problems with her stitches coming out or anything, i was worried at the time but the vet did a very good job. A few hours after the surgery she went a bit loopy and was biting at the stitches, it must have been irritating her. If this happens with you i would suggest trying to occupy her mind somehow, thats what i did. Im sure everything will go just fine!

I have had indoor cats and feral cats spayed. Some so feral that I knew that once I caught them to get them into the vet, that I would never be able to touch them again. (when that was the case, my vet used dissovable sticthes) All of the cats that I have had spayed tolerated the surgery well. The cats that did not like me, but trusted me long enough for me to grab them, have faired well after surgery. And they are still with me... but I can not pick them up. I think that they know what is right, and, after the 'trauma' of surgery they are going to do what is right for them. I do not think that you have to worry about an inside cat doing something that will hurt them.

I am not a vet, I am only someone who has has many inside, inside/outside, and outside (their choice) cats. Our feline friends are much smarter that we regarding their bodies....n

(Now I feel like I need to put a disclaimer here.... but, hopefully you all know that I am not talking about severe, life threatening trauma to a cat.... )

Attitude was bouncing off the walls the second I let her out of the carrier. When the vet called the next day I told them there was nothing I could do to prevent her from running and jumping and they laughed and said they knew it was impossible with a kitten(she was 5 or 6 months old.) Nuts was done at 12- 13 months old and he moved gingerly and slowly for a little while before getting back to normal. Goldie, one of the ferals, was climbing trees the day after her spay.

The biggest 'complication' I have had was Attitude had a stitch that didn't dissolve so she had to have the vet snip it. It wasn't any big deal, she was at the vet anyways(her never ending eye infection) and they just removed it.

Taryn

When Lynxx was neutered he was perfectly fine. He was just a little wobbly because of being put under. But he had no pain. Of course this was done to him, right after we saved him from a plastic bag. Then we brought him to his new home with us, he had a kitchen to explore, and us to get to know. So the neutering was the last thing on his mind that night

When Luna was spayed she went through the surgery, and came out fine. She did come home with pain medicine. Which we did give her. She slept most of the time. She stayed very quiet, wasn't all that active. She didn't bite her stitches or anything. And spaying her calmed her right down.

When Midnight was neutered he did come home in pain. He had a hard time walking. He had a hard time peeing. But that went away over a couple of hours. He was fine later that night. We did have to watch him, because he kept biting, and licking. And no neutering him didn't calm him down.

Sometimes the vet will send your cats home with cone collars, but none of mine needed a cone collar for that.

There isn't much you can do to prepare for the surgery. What I would do though before they come home from the vet is to make up a nice, soft bed on the floor with the litterbox nearby. If you have an x-pen it may be a good idea to put it up around them to keep them contained for a while. You want to make sure that they don't try to jump the first day since they will be groggy and will likely fall if they try to jump. Keep them confined to one room the first day while they are still groggy.
If you want to you can put a heating pad, on low, under their bed to give them warmth when they are recovering. It's comfortable for them and can help keep their body temp up. Just make sure that you have several layers over the pad.
Keeping a close eye on them is the most important thing though.

Many vets say that pain meds is not necessary after a spay or neuter but I'm sceptical about that, at least for females. A spay is a fairly major surgery. They cut up the stomach and remove an organ. It's pretty much like a hysterectomy in humans and I know that women recovering from a hysterectomy are in pain. I can't imagine that a cat does not feel pain after a spay. They don't show it but we all know how good cats are at hiding their pain and illness.
Because of this I always ask for pain meds for females to give to them the first day and maybe the second day. The males just have a tiny incision that don't even require stiches so in their case I don't think pain meds is needed.

I don't think I'll need to worry too much about heating at the moment... We're in the sub-tropics and it's summer at the moment (ugh!). If anything they've been trying to find cool places to sleep, like the bathroom tiles.
I'll definitely see what we can put together as far as a cat-cave for them to be comfortable in. I did think about pain meds, it's not just a surface type wound, she'll have had part of her insides taken out so yeah, don't know if that'd be totally painless! I'll have a chat to the vet, she's works at the shelter and at our local vet so she may be able to arrange something for us to pick up once we get home.
Chris came off his motorcycle today and tore a ligament in his wrist, so he's off work for at least 5 days until he can work out what insurance & the doctors say he can do. At least he can still use his writing hand (lefty), so Man-Nanny is still on.
Io has been acting strangely the last couple of days, I think she knows what's in store. She's been meowing whenever we're out of sight, and being extra cuddly at night, not complaining about that one!
They have a box with some of our old clothes in it that they like to sleep on, and I'll move the scarf they've been sleeping on out of the drawer so they don't have to jump, but still have something familiar to rest on. We only have a small house and there's not really anywhere we can close them up apart from our bedroom that doesn't have a lot of furniture, and the laundry; the bedroom isn't really where I want to be keeping the litter, and the laundry's so small, I'd be worried about them not wanting to sleep in there with their litter box. The only other thing I can think of is the bathroom, but it's also pretty small, and Io has just in the last couple of days been able to jump from the windowsill to the top of the shower, which is nearly 7 foot above tiles so no thank you. I think we may just have to monitor them closely and give them lots of TLC.

Hey,

Just got home after picking them up from surgery. Cooper is way more active than Io, to be expected. She's being super adorable and she must be in a lot of pain. In less than 5mins of getting through the door she was a little sick on the floor, after a phone call I found out that's fairly normal, as long as it doesn't happen too much.
Not getting any food until at least 7pm tonight, so the anaesthetic has time to wear off.
Cooper won't stop licking his incisions, so that's something we'll have to look out for. Io's walking around very slowly, she seems to be very drunk!
Seems all good though, found out that the shelter has a 24hr emergency sister clinic less than 15mins away from where we live so that's good to know.

I'm glad they are both out of surgery and doing well. Just keep a very close eye in them while they are groggy to make sure they don't try to jump up on anything. My cat tried to jump over a babygate after she was spayed but her legs weren't sturdy enough that she ended up falling backwards and hit the floor. I Just turned by back for a second and she was there trying to jump over. It looked pretty funny, I have to admit, but I'm sure it wasn't too nice for her.

I didn't realize you were in Australia. I'm jealous. We currently have all of a half degree (farenheit) and about 3 feet of snow. I'd do anything for some Australia weather right now.

Mr. Poe and Domino were neutered yesterday. I got to watch, very interesting. Picked them up in late afternoon, about 3 1/2 hours later. Domino was fine, Mr. Poe a little wobbly.

He went upstairs and was looking for a litter pan. Quick brought one up to him. He climbed in and it looked like he was laying down - wobbly hind legs. Urinated like a champion!

They were both very hungry. Each one gobbled down 3/4 of a small can of wet food plus a Tablespoon of dry. Understandable since they'd had nothing since the night before.

Today - just same as always, no difference in behavior. It was definitely time - Domino, the younger kitten at guesstimated 4 1/2 months and 4.2 pounds - was trying to mount Mr. Poe who we guesstimate at a month older.

Catapult, did you feed them straight away after they got home? I was just curious if maybe vets say different things for different animals?
Surgery started at 8:30, picked them up at around 1:45, then we were told not to feed them until 7pm. I was especially worried about feeding as Io had been sick, but after we fed them they wolfed it all down without hassle. They're playing normally now, but we do have to break it up a little when they get too rough, I'm worried about Io's stitches! She's getting back to normal nicely, and you wouldn't know Cooper had anything done to him.

The reason they tell you to wait to feed them for a few hours after you get home is because some cats can get a bit nauseus from the anethesia and will vomit if they are fed. It's best to wait a few hours and feed them several small portions to make sure they keep it all down. In my experience most cats do handle food just fine a few hours after being fixed. I've only had a couple that had vomiting issues. I guess it's a rather safe than sorry issue.

Domino's surgery was at 12:45 p.m. and Mr. Poe right afterward. Only takes minutes after they were anesthetized. Picked them up at 4:00 p.m. Domiono was fine, Mr. Poe slightly wobbly in his hind end. Fed them about 5:00 p.m. so 4 hours after surgery.

By that time both were walking fine.

Remember these were neuters, no spay. (BTW - my vet says when she does a normal spay the incision is about an inch.)

Buzz off the fur, clean area with Betadine. Tiny - and I mean tiny - incision with the scalpel. Pop out the testes, looking like a little pink pea. Separate the blood vessel and vas defrens. Rather than knot my vet prefers to use a minute little metal clamp/ staple-looking thing which remains in the cat to close the vessel - less dead tissue than knotting, she said. Cut vas and remove testes. Slide blood vessel back into scrotum. Repeat on other side. Clean surgical area. Put cat back in cage and repeat on second one. Very quick, a pleasure to watch her operate - so steady and while focused, was able to converse with me and explain what she was doing. Did not think to ask how many she's done but I bet the numbers are well up there.

So the issue with feeding is not the surgery but the anesthetic. Cat will be under longer for a spay than a neuter, don't you think? And it would also depend on how well the animal comes out of the anesthetic. Some "clear" very well, as did my two boys. I've seen others that are very wobbly / falling over for longer. Mine had an injected anesthetic, didn't ask what it was.

This is probably longer post / more info than wanted. Sorry 'bout that. I do tend to write a book when a short story would do . . . .

Just had my little one fixed today. She came out of the anesthetic with flying colors, wants to jump on everything just like nothing happened. But she has yet to poop. She peed twice, but nothing else. Is this normal?