After spaying behavior?

[thebugsmomma]

Hi! We had our 5 mon old kittens spayed Wednesday and physically they seem to be doing quite well, but one of them has been being mean to the other. I have never seen this in them before. We rescued them, they were living in our car engine, we think they were feral, back in the summertime. They were afraid of us, but showed it differently. Anna is a hider, we barely saw her the first few weeks we had her. She still tends to disappear for hours on end. Elsa would hiss at us when we would go near her, but she's actually always been more cuddly and sweet than her sister. But the reason we kept them both is that they were always loving to each other and I was afraid they wouldn't fair as well split up. Now the strangest thing as soon as we brought them home we let them out of their bags and Elsa has been following Anna around and hissing at her. They had never fought before ever! Only play wrestling. Elsa is just constantly being mean to Anna. She won't let her eat, hisses at her when she's playing. I don't get it. We've never had cats before so I'm hoping maybe this is just drugs wearing off? I don't know what to do. Has anyone seen this before?

Also Anna always had a lot of belly skin, not fat. They were starving when we got them so they are both still pretty little. But now her belly hangs really low. Twice as low as before. Will it go back to how is was? Her sister doesn't have this at all.

Thank you!

 

[Kieka]

How long has it been since the spay? It can take a day or two for the medications to wear off. Some cats get extremely irritable after a surgery and others want to just sleep. It could also be that they smell a little off from their time at the vet. I wouldn't worry unless the behavior has been going on for more than a week. 

The belly hanging.... ummm do you have a picture? Some cats naturally have a little bit of hanging skin down there, it doesn't mean they are fat or anything. It could be that she is just swollen so give it a little time to go down. However, if you notice any signs of illness (vomiting, diarrhea, lethargic, fever, pus at her incision, swollen and red at the incision more than it is right now, etc) call your vet because it may be serious.  

 

[Kieka]

I forgot to mention, my cat is one who gets hissy after surgery. He is equally hissy on pain medications. I tend to not give him pain meds after a day or two.

Firstly, because he gets hissy and everyone is irritable because he is loud and mad.

Secondly, I personally am not a believer in giving pets pain meds unless its absolutly needed (I don't take them myself unless neccessary so not being mean). Part of the reason is because our pets don't know why or what is happening. They went to sleep and woke up. If they don't feel the pain they don't know to limit their behaviors and can cause more harm. Its a personal choice and I don't knock anyone who does use them. I always get them and use them if I can tell my cat is in pain. I just usually only end up doing a day or two right after and then stopping.

 

[thebugsmomma]

We're 2 days post op so still definitely new. It's just weird because she's acting totally normal with us. Just mean to the other cat. They haven't had anything since we picked them up. Totally agree with you in pain meds. I hate even taking Tylenol and only do if pain is unbearable. So I didn't even ask about that actually. Both their incisions look perfect. Elsa just doesn't have a pouch at all. She's super skinny. Anna has a crazy amount of skin. Before I could only tell when she would lay on her side, she looks like a chub when she lays down. But now when she is standing she looks like a cow it's that low.

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• thebugsmomma
• Nov 4, 2016

Sorry for the terrible lighting

 

[Kieka]

Since its been 2 days, I'd give them a week to feel better and the drugs to be out of their system before being worried about behavior. Link usually takes 3 days for meds to be fully gone plus he's irritable in general until he feels better. Her not being grumpy towards humans isn't suprising. Its probably the scent from the surgery and ,if her sister feels better, being pestered by sister. But humans haven't changed and are being really nice so they are good.

The pouch is likely some swelling and it was already developing it sounds like. So the surgery could have made it more apparent. Likely, it will shrink back down some but she will probably always have one. It has nothing to do with weight, you can kinda see Links in the below picture. But he is a very lean and muscled cat.... with a pouch. Some people think it is an evolutionary thing to allow fast running or stomach expansion when there is a lot of food around. I don't have a better picture of his and he is currently in the same swollen abdomen boat so I can't take a new photo. He got a bite/infectio there and two weeks later broke his leg and ended up with a (litterally) black and blue abdomen. The bruising is finally gone but he's still swollen. It probably doesn't help that she has a bit of light colored fur there so it stands out more and seems exaggerated.

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• Kieka
• Nov 4, 2016

As long as you don't see any signs of pain or illness there isn't much to do but wait. Did you go to a clinic or your personal vet?

 

[thebugsmomma]

Sorry about your kitty[emoji]128546[/emoji] That's terrible. Poor thing. I think the light skin does exaggerate it. Plus shaved it just looks differently.
Glad to hear they will probably be back to normal soon. I always hate having to spay neuter even though I know it's for the best. It's just so nerve racking.
We took them to a clinic since they were kind of unplanned additions to our family. We are failed foster parents. Lol
But the clinic is really amazing. They neutered our dog a few months ago and did amazing and my mil has sent all their dogs and cats to them and have always done great. So I'm not too worried about infection or anything. My mom took my dog to the spca to get neutered when I was a teenager and they did such a terrible job is was apparent pretty much immediately. It was just awful. I have just never had a cat and never a female dog even. My parents are cat haters and had an only boy dog rule growing up. So spaying just really scares me. So glad it's done and were on the road to recovery now[emoji]128515[/emoji]

 

[Kieka]

Hopefully they heal up fast and are back to normal in a few days. Link is lots of light and dark areas. His tummy has a white strip down the middle and he has darker spots on his hips so I see how coloring highlights and hides thibgs with him really well. But the little bugger is healing up very nicely and is starting to go stir crazy. He's taken to leaving a toy at each door, we are calling them his watch toys to alert him if a door is left open for escape.

I took a female years ago to this horrible clinc (not by choice, the rescue group I got her through required her spay at their clinic or a $200 fine). If I had to do it again I'd take the fine. Rocket got spayed at my vet and totally agree with the nerve wrecking/spaying scare. We have a male pet only policy too but Rocket was a suprise. But I am so glad you could find a clinic that you trust.

Let me know how it works out.