Pre-neutering advice

feralsrule

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My cat, Mith will probably be neutered the day after tomorrow. I'd like to know if you people have any advice prior to the procedure that may help.

I'd welcome any advice for before, during or after the proccedure

So far I know I should withhold food and water for several hours before he goes under anaesthesia. Any other things I should know or that might help?
 

di and bob

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Make sure you pick up all water and food bowls, it is very important. I've found that when you put him in the carrier, if he doesn't walk right in out of curiosity when you open the door, put it gate side up resting on the back side and lower him into it, it is a lot easier, he can't get a grip on the floor like trying to get him in from the front  in a normal position. He's going to cry, so be ready, just talk soothingly to him and know it is much better for him in the long run, no urges to fight and roam, to spray, etc.II have had MANY cats neutered and I'm always a nervous wreck before all of them, but in just one day he will be back to normal, running around like nothing has happened. I've never used a collar on them to prevent them from licking and have never had any problems. Spaying a female is much more involved, and they take longer to recover. He may be wobbly when he gets home, so try to get him to rest and take it easy, but I've had several that don't slow down at all. Watch for infection, if you see any discharge ar swelling after that first day, call your vet, you could send him a picture on your phone if you are worried. The stitches are usually self absorbing or they use glue, so you shouldn't have to return soon. I'll pray for him to have a speedy recovery, all teh luck!
 
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feralsrule

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Thanks, my Mith is a former feral so he'll have to enter the cage on his own because making him feel threatened is a sure way to need surgery myself :p
I'll entice him in with food and perhaps some shoving (wearing heavy duty work gloves of course)

I'm afraid he'll need an e-collar since he's getting his eye fixed in addition to his neutering surgery and I wouldn't want him to mess with his eye.
 
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feralsrule

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Mith is gonna be neutered today! I hope everything goes OK. I'm really anxious.He's gonna have his eye fixed as well. From what I understood the vet wants to lower the skin under his eye thus lowering the eyelid to prevent the hair from touching his eyeball and irritating it
 

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I'll entice him in with food.
Do not use food. You want him to have fasted (no food) for at least 8 hours prior to anesthesia. Certain anesthesias can make a cat nauseated. If they vomit while groggy they can aspirate and develop aspirate pneumonia. This is why it is so important to withhold food.

If this is the *only* way you think you would be able to get him into a carrier, talk with your vet prior to day of surgery. A single treat may be allowed, but you need to talk with them first.

Since Mith is also having a proceedure done on his eye, yes, I would fully expect him to need an e-collar.
 
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feralsrule

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Oh I wasn't gonna trap him with food the very same day. I trapped him yesterday so he had a chance to calm down in the cage.
 
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feralsrule

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He's currently undergoing surgery for his eye. Please, please pray for him :'(
 
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feralsrule

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It's over, he's now in his cage recovering. Vet said he'll probably wake up tomorrow (since the last time he took a while to come out of sedation). I'll put my baby in a warm place and give him water and liquid food first thing tomorrow.

Any post-op advice is welcome
 

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I don't have much advice, but I can tell you what I just did after I had my former feral neutered in February.  He also stayed overnight at the vets (at my request) and I picked him up the next day.  He was a former (very) feral, and this was a forced "come to live inside" kind of thing.  He was almost ready to do it on his own, but he was injured badly in a fight, so, I just said enough is enough, you're coming in!  I took him for antibiotics, neutering, vaccinations, tests of all sorts, and brought him in to live, for better or for worse.

I picked him up on a Saturday morning and as soon as I got home I almost cried...I let him out of the carrier and he hissed at me, looked around scared to death like he'd never seen the place (although he had been coming in for meals for quite some time).  I broke down and gave him some milk (he is one of the lucky ones not lactose intolerant!) and he settled down quickly.  He's a chunky boy and is very food motivated, so I had to do what I had to do in a pinch.  I kept him isolated in a bedroom with his food and water and litter box (they told me to use shredded paper, but I didn't, it scared him badly, he's a big ole scaredy-puss).  I didn't let him out until later that night after he had rested.  My hubby and I both spent time holding him and talking to him, I carried him through the house showing him things, and then we put him to bed in "his" room.  I was going to have to slowly introduce him to my other cat anyway, so separation was necessary from day 1 (and they are still separated and site swapping with supervised time only together).

He honestly was just very hungry that first day home, and he slept a LOT for the next few days.  I fed him as many cans of food as he wanted.  He slept so much that I was worried and called the vet, but he said that could also be from whatever he had been doing before while he was out, plus he had gotten his butt whooped by another cat, so it could have just been that and not from having been anesthetized.  I could see his incision line where he was neutered, but it was only a little bloody--mainly looked like a long scratch, and I didn't see any stitches, they must have either used internal stitches or glue.  They told me it was ok for him to lick it.  He really acted like he didn't know anything was missing


If I was to give you any advice, I would say first and foremost let him have a peaceful, quiet area to rest all he wants, and feed him good stuff.  Hey, it's what I've always wanted after surgeries I've had!  It was obvious with my baby when he was feeling better and more like himself.  He never sprayed in the house, and his pee stopped having an odor after about a week and a half, for which I was pleasantly surprised.  I've heard sometimes it takes up to six weeks for it to lose the tomcatty smell.
 
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feralsrule

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Wow, hbunny that is a top quality post. Thank you SO much for helping. Your experience has greatly helped me decide how to treat my kitty post-op.

He is resting now, I've put him in a warm room with a dish of cold water since he hasn't eaten since morning. I've also covered half his cage, in case strong light disturbs him.
 

hbunny

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You're welcome!  I'm no expert AT ALL, haha, by no means.... I'm learning as I go.  I haven't had one neutered that became an inside kitty in about 11 years, and before that, it was even longer.  I've always been a one cat household, and suddenly we were a 3 cat household, now back to 2 as we lost our Fuzziecat a few weeks ago (she was 19 and it was her time, still rough). 

Shortstack was absolutely starving when I got him home, but like I said, he is umm...a chunky butt LOL....and food is apparently his comfort thing.  I used it to my advantage, however poorly.  He weighed 12.8 lbs when he was neutered on Feb 5th, now he has reached a grand 17 lbs.  He's on a strict controlled-portion diet now!  I did have an outside female that didn't eat for 2 days after her spay, I was getting spastic, but I think once she realized I wasn't gonna scoop her up and take her back to the vet she relaxed, rested, and ate.  I was keeping her inside until she healed, and I'm sure that freaked her out more too.

I think just patience, love and time is the best!.  Shortstack still, to this day, I don't think has realized he lost his jewels haha.  He still has a poofball back there because he was about 2 and fully grown.  He never really licked back there a lot or anything after he came home at all, so my worries there were unfounded.  He has now lost his big fat chubby tomcat cheeks--I hated to see those go, but it's part of it.  

Poor dude with his eye!  I feel for him, I had a dog that had to have eyelid surgery for almost that same reason, I think they called it entropion? it was really worth it in the end though.  Stopped the eye irritation completely.  I just kind of compare them to little children--they don't understand why people are doing things to them that scare them and feel bad, and don't realize it's for their own good at the time, so I treat them kinda the same!  Lots of healing vibes to him from over our way, and keep posting updates I will be waiting to see how he does! 
 

hbunny

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BTW, there are some awesome advisors on here....they can probably tell you a lot more about the possible side effects and physical aspects than I can so if you see anything odd post about it!!  And if your gut tells you something isn't right, go to the vet right then.  I've learned to trust my gut when it comes to my babies!

I was lucky we had smooth sailing!  I've had some great advisors helping on integrating him into my household, my other cat is a butthead (absolute asshat is what I call him) and I've followed their advice, the articles, and it's working slowly but surely!
 
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feralsrule

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We're all learning as we go. Thankfully the Internet and modern medicine help a lot in teaching us and making us better cat parents.

Indeed it was entropion. I had visited the vet twice previously for his eyes but he didn't consider entropion until I observed the hair inside his eyelid during our last visit (thankfully my vet he lets me stay in and help when he's examining). I realise it's quite rare in cats, especially in mixed breeds (my Mith is a feral mixed breed). Yesterday he told me he had only seen cat entropion once in his career and never operated for it on a cat before.

The lesson I learned is that paying attention to your cat can be of immense help in helping diagnose problems. I've been extra vigilant ever since.

I'll be feeding him blended wet food for a couple of days. I don't think he'd like to start chewing today with all the swelling on his eye area and this gives me the chance to put some extra vitamin paste in his food. He's awake now but unusually quiet.
 
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feralsrule

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He won't eat :-(

And since he won't eat he can't take his antibiotics :-(
 
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feralsrule

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He wouldn't eat his usual meal or his favourite treat (parizaki) so I went to the supermarket and got every kind of premium (wet) cat food they had (over 8 brands). I come home, try the cheap store brand first and he starts eating right away


Anyway, he ate half a tin (50gr or 1.76 ounces for those of you in the States) and stops. I guess I can't complain, at least he ate something. He's also drinking a little bit of water which is unusual for him because he usually doesn't drink at all.

He's being unusually quiet too. He hasn't meowed or hissed once since I got him home. Can I attribute this to being neutered?
 

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Everything you describe is fairly normal behavior after getting anesthesia. Anesthesia filters thru the kidneys and, unless the vet administers *adequate* (meaning a full day's worth, which varies depending on the cat's body weight) fluids during surgery (either SubQ or IV), the body gets dehydrated and it takes a few days to compensate. I've found very few vets that give what I would deem adequate fluids. So, increased drinking is completely normal.

If he's on pain medication (which he should be for the eye), this can make him groggy/sleepy too and can affect his appetite.
 
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feralsrule

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Everything you describe is fairly normal behavior after getting anesthesia. Anesthesia filters thru the kidneys and, unless the vet administers *adequate* (meaning a full day's worth, which varies depending on the cat's body weight) fluids during surgery (either SubQ or IV), the body gets dehydrated and it takes a few days to compensate. I've found very few vets that give what I would deem adequate fluids. So, increased drinking is completely normal.

If he's on pain medication (which he should be for the eye), this can make him groggy/sleepy too and can affect his appetite.
He wasn't given any fluids and because he had to fast for a while before the surgery he was already a bit dehydrated. However he did pee while he was asleep after the surgery.

AFAIK, unless the vet injected any painkillers during the procedure, he's not on painkillers either.
 

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I haven't read thru all of your other thread posts, but I believe Mith had Entropion (where the eyelid rolls in ward)?

We have a cat in the rescue that had this with both eyes when we rescued him. Surgery was done on both eyes and our vet stated she didn't think he would need additional pain medication, aside from what they gave him post-op. Oakley felt very different about this and did in fact need additional pain meds for about 5 days. We did Onsior for 3 days and Buprenex for 5. The pain meds made a huge difference for him.

If Mith appears to be uncomfortable or doesn't start eating normally by in the morning, I would request pain medication.
 
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feralsrule

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Yes, it was entropion on his left eye. He had a combined operation where he was both neutered and had his entropion treated (the bottom eyelid, which was where the problem was located, was cut, pulled down and stitched with dissolvable stitches)

I was instructed to put Tobrex eye drops in his eye three times per day and supplement his food with antibiotics twice daily. I'd be glad to if only he ate enough.

Meanwhile I've left a plate of food in his recovery cage and hope he eats it through the night. Unless his eating improves by tomorrow I may have to ask the vet for painkillers.
 
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feralsrule

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I'm so relieved
 

Today he ate a whole small tray of food (90g, or 3.15oz) in one go and he didn't seen to mind the antibiotics in it at all. I think his mood is also greatly improved as he hissed when I approached the cage (he always did in the past, he's a former feral after all).

I'll try to feed him three such cans today to get close to his normal maintenance intake, he normally eats around 350g (or 12.34oz) per day.
 
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