sick kitties after spaying and neutering

I have 5 spayed ferals and 1 neutered feral in a room. They have all been sneezing, red eyes and watery eyes. All but 2 of them are doing much better. I have been giving them antibiotics. I closed off my heater vent in that room, but it is still warmer than outside. Do you think it is the operation dragging down their system or is it because the temperature change? I want to keep them in until they take the antibiotics, but I don't want to make them sicker. It is hard to give meds to cats when you have almost 30 eating the food with meds in it. Some I can corner and hand them a dish and make sure they get the right food. I am not sure if they would have survived if I had just released them after surgery without meds. 2 look really run-down. They are eating and drinking. The other 4 like being in here though, playing and running. The other 2 seem to be disgusted at me for bringing them in. Probably for the operation too. They are confused I think at what happened to them.

Is it possible they could have picked something up at the vets???? are they vaccinated???? They might have caught a URI at the vet, and now its spreading I hope they get better soon!!!!!!!!!!!

Darla...sometimes stress brings on the symptoms of a URI...it's not uncommon and I wouldn't say it was related to the spay/neuter surgery itself. It could have shown up when you trapped these kittens. The point is that now..they can no longer have any unhealthy litters themselves and you are treating their URIs.

Katie

They are much better. Almost every time I take my cats to the vet they catch a cold.Even if it is just for grooming. So that is possible. Their eyes are clearing up and the sneezing is gone. I think the sneezing might be from cat litter, since they are outside cats they are not used to it and kick it everywhere, so basically I am scooping and cleaning all day long. I have 5 cats and I am trying to keep them from getting sick. They try to play with the ferals under the door. It is kind of cute, but 2 of my cats are diabetic and it is really hard to get them over illnesses.

Glad to hear they are better!!!!! Hopefully it won't be long before they are back to themselves!!!!!Do you live out in the country?? I ask because you said you have atotal of 6 ferals? WoW! I am glad you took the time to care about them, spay/neuter, administer uri medicine etc... God bless you, you are a kind person

I would talk to the vet about your concerns. Do *not* blame the vet for the problem, just say that it is something you have noticed and ask if there is anything you can do to reduce their stress level before a vet visit to make them less susceptible to upper respiratory infections. It is possible that the staff is not observing proper hand-washing and disinfecting procedures between handling cats and just mentioning that you have encountered this situation might be enough to get the vet to check up on what his staff is up to.

At this point they may recover faster if you return them to their outdoor habitat, because they will be much less stressed if they are outdoors and in a familiar situation. Obviously use common sense and don't release anyone who is really not doing well, but those who are sneezy and goopy but acting fine might be a different story. You could still give them the antibiotics in their food outdoors.