Aftercare for spay

I'm probably being an over-worrying kitty mama, but oh well.

What kind of aftercare is typically needed after a spay - same day, next day, etc? Are pain meds usually advised? Are e-collars usually advised? Just trying to plan the paranoia ahead of time since I know myself too well in that respect.

I absolutely freaked out when my 13-year-old boys were neutered. Definitely freaking out over having my 3-year-old girl spayed.

I recommend that you have this conversation with your vet.  I always make a list of questions to ask my vet and make sure that they answer all of them so that I can understand my choices.  You pay for their services and should be able to expect this.  My vet is great and always seem happy to talk to me about my concerns. 

Anyways, personally, my cat did not wear an e-collar or get pain meds.  However, we went to a high-volume low cost place.  I have heard of others getting e-collars and pain meds however, so Idk what the norm is.  My cat did not seem to be in excessive pain and didn't lick her stitches.  You will probably be advised to make sure that your cat's activity level is low, so no play sessions, no stairs, etc.  Personally, I isolated my cat in my bedroom to give her some peace and quiet for a few days.  

Before spay, I would recommend getting a blood panel done to make sure that going under anesthesia will be safe for your kitty if she's older.  Don't let her eat the night before (not sure about water).  

Look out for puss and/or swelling on the wound sight and make sure kitty doesn't lick it.  Good luck!  It's a relatively safe and routine procedure, but I understand your nervousness.  Feel free to call your vet if you have any questions after the surgery.  

Oh, I'll be having the conversation with my vet as well. But a lot of times I have a lot more questions after having these discussions on here. Want to be prepared. Like the food and water - I'd totally forgotten about that part! Thank you for mentioning that. Adding that to the list.

She's getting spayed a week from tomorrow via the shelter I adopted her from, so dealing directly with the shelter, not the vet. I may call them directly anyway. My boys were fixed at a high volume/low cost clinic as well, but they offered pain meds and e-collars for extra if wanted.

No problem!  I'll send some positive vibes your way! 

for her! A lot depends on the vet. The shelter I work at often has several cats neutered a week - last week there were 5 of them. They're allowed water the night before, but no food, and generally come back from the vet's office the same day. They don't wear e-collars. We check their bellies/behinds every day for signs of inflammation, tearing or excessive licking. We've had just a few females "worry" their incisions, and they've had to wear "belly bands" for a few days. The vet prescribes pain medication, which the males usually get for 3 - 5 days and the females a week. The only time they're separated from their littermates or roommates is if play gets too rambunctious.

Other vets don't give pain meds at all, or only to females.

Our kitten didn't get pain meds upon her return.  I think she got some via IV while at the vet's.  Our vet stressed keeping her calm which we had a hard time doing because she is very active and likes to play fight with her brother.  She did get a stitch nicked but thankfully that had healed nicely right away.  We made sure she had a quiet spot to retreat to when necessary and I kept the kids away as much as possible.  I tried isolating her completely (as per the vet's recommendation) but she was so upset and lonely and I'm too big a softie so I let her out within a day.  

It's been 3 weeks and you can hardly see the scar and her fur is starting to grow in.  She's also back to her out self.  She had kind of been holding a grudge against me for a bit there.  lol

Thanks for all the feedback! I honestly don't remember the last time we had a kitty spayed. It was quite some time ago as until this year, we had a bunch of older kitties only. Definitely over 10 years though. Same thing for neutering, until this past August.

The place where the boys were done was a spay/neuter clinic. They were "free" kittens so I was footing the bill, and chose the clinic route. Would do it again in that situation, they were great. But as a protocol I remember they strongly suggested girls get pain meds, even in the paperwork. It was available for either if desired though, for $10. And can't remember all the pre-care rules for the boys, except for a teaspoon of food in the morning, but I think that was because they were 13-week-old kittens. Miss Pea Pea (she's already got a few nicknames lol) is 3 years so not sure that would apply to her.

Thankfully, even though she LOVES to play, she is extremely laid back. I will just have to make sure the kittens leave her alone for a couple days.

Spay day tomorrow! I'm trying to figure out how to hide the kibble and water from Penelopy without hiding it from all the other cats. The kibble they'll probably be ok going without, but feel bad about the water. And I don't want to crate her up all night long either. 

For a cat that age I recommend getting all the pain meds they'll let you have . I once had a 5-year-old cat spayed and she was in a lot of pain for at least a week. I had never had an older female spayed, and kittens recover a lot faster, so I wasn't expecting that. But that cat had had a lot of litters, I don't know about your girl. It might be easier on her if she hasn't.

I've never used e-collars, I feel like they stress the cat too much, and stress hinders healing. If she picks at her stitches, a belly band is better (I've only had one girl who picked, I just used a tube sock with the toe cut off, but for an adult you'd probably need something bigger than a tube sock).

What is a belly band exactly? If it's what my brain thinks it sounds like, I would think that would hurt!

I only know her history going back to June. They guessed her age based on her teeth, not sure how accurate that usually is though. She was pregnant and had a litter of six kittens in July. She was a with a foster till they weaned, and then she was in the shelter. And after that she had recurring colds which prevented them from giving her vax or spaying her. They only adopted her out in hopes that it would keep the cold from recurring as she'd just ended another treatment. It did seem to stop it. She was vaccinated a couple weeks ago, and now the spay tomorrow.

She's a pretty small kitty. I think my boys at 6 months were about the same size as her. A little over 7 lbs.

I'm sitting here trying to figure out the best way to give her pain meds if she needs them. She doesn't eat treats - at all. So pill pockets wouldn't work with her. Not even sure human food would work. She's super-picky!

A belly band is just a little fabric around her middle, it shouldn't be tight so it shouldn't hurt. Just something to keep her from picking at her stitches. A baby onesie works too. But most cats don't pick at their stitches so hopefully she doesn't need one.

I believe the usual pain med is a liquid you rub on their gums. No pills. You can ask the vet about different options.

I just had a little girl spayed. She's 7-8 months, and I waited too long so she went into heat :/. My vet gives the usual pain meds during surgery but nothing after. She was in more pain than I think she would have been if she had been spayed before going into heat, so I felt bad . She hasn't picked at her stitches or had any trouble at all, I've just been letting her do what she wants. She was spayed last Wednesday and by Saturday she was back to normal. Older cats do take longer to recover though.

Liquid meds would be nice! Will definitely ask them about that.

My poor little Pea-Pea Head! She is SO hungry! She was in and out of my room last night. She took one of my little Kit-Kat bars and was trying to open it. Then this morning, she gave me a love bite for the first time ever   Then she gave me a couple more enthusiastic ones that made me think she might be tasting me to see if I was edible   And then Oscar got into one of the places that none of us can reach and dislodged a dust bunny, and she tried to eat THAT! Ewww. 

My poor girl. I'm hungry too but not eating either. My other cats can't eat either right now but she's the one that is particularly hungry, so she must graze a lot at night.

Poor baby! She might be one of those cats that will come home after being neutered and want to eat the entire day. for her!

Healing vibes!  

how is your baby?

I dropped her off about 8am, got a call about 9:30am saying everything went great, and then I picked her up about a quarter to 1. And now she is home! She wanted out of the carrier so bad - she knew she was HOME - and headed straight for my bedroom and went under my bed. That's been her "safe spot" since the day she got here, she'll hopefully end up ON my bed in a little while, like she usually does.

They offered her some food at the vet to see if she'd eat. She apparently gobbled it up so fast.

Thanks so much to everyone for all the good vibes. And they did give me some pain medicine, although they are little chewable things. They also said e-collars stress them out more and they recommend belly bands if it does end up being needed. So good call!

Donutte said:

 
I dropped her off about 8am, got a call about 9:30am saying everything went great, and then I picked her up about a quarter to 1. And now she is home! She wanted out of the carrier so bad - she knew she was HOME - and headed straight for my bedroom and went under my bed. That's been her "safe spot" since the day she got here, she'll hopefully end up ON my bed in a little while, like she usually does.

They offered her some food at the vet to see if she'd eat. She apparently gobbled it up so fast.

Thanks so much to everyone for all the good vibes. And they did give me some pain medicine, although they are little chewable things. They also said e-collars stress them out more and they recommend belly bands if it does end up being needed. So good call!

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Great news!!

I don't know if she seems in pain, but definitely uncomfortable right now. Definitely in a "you can pet me for a few seconds but then leave me alone!" mood. I guess if my belly was cut open then I'd be the same way. She goes back and forth between being on and being under my bed.

Hopefully if she sleeps on my bed tonight I don't accidentally kick her or whack her while turning over. I can barely move without hitting a cat with some part of my body.

Well, I got her to eat a little bit of the wet food. I guess she's not too hungry this evening. She did come out of my room for awhile, albeit she was hanging out behind a chair. Trying to figure out how I'll go about checking her incision tomorrow. She's a lot like Sara in the "slippery eel" department and of course I don't want to hurt her.