How long to keep spayed feral for recovery?

[milktea]

Hello, I know the clinic here says release spayed (female) cats in 12-24 hours after surgery. How long does everybody else here hold the cat to recover?

The reason I ask is because I had a feral cat spayed several weeks ago and honestly I never saw her again after I released her. Maybe she wasn’t one of the cats who hangs around my house, but it’s hard for me to tell because I have at least 2+ feral tuxedos that eat from my porch. They run when they see me so I can only really see them from our security camera. One tuxedo will come watch me put out the food every morning but it’s not the cat I spayed since there is no eartip.

Anyway I kept the spayed cat for two nights in my garage following surgery because it had been rainy outside. But my clinic only suggested 24 hours. Since I never see her around, my worst fear is that she died of infection or anything related to the surgery.

There are 5-6 cats total eating from my porch and I plan to continue trapping them and getting them fixed. One is surely in heat and is already trying to attract a particular male, and it’s only January!

I purchased a holding recovery cage from trucatch but it doesn’t look like it will ship anytime soon. This will let me keep the cat at least a few days more comfortably.

I can’t bring any cats in the house and they are not friendly at all. What would you recommend for female recovery time?

 

[Maria Bayote]

Thank you for doing this to the ferals.

From what I read somewhere it takes around two weeks for a cat to totally recover from a spay surgery. She should also limit her physical activities for a couple of days, like jumping etc. But for a feral cat it can be quite difficult. Some TCS family like Jcatbird may be able to advice some tips.

 

[di and bob]

I hold them until they no longer are wobbly and can function on their own. The most, 24 hours. Some are released immediately if they can function and all have done well. Your girl may have been so scared she is avoiding you, give it some more time. I have had some disappear fpr a few weeks, but not many. Most of mine are not true ferals but scared tame cats that have been on their own for a while. they trust humans more. (I don't know why!)

 

[fionasmom]

I believe that you held her for enough time given the circumstances. In the cases of true ferals who want no human contact, I have had similar experiences. In one case where I had to neuter and amputate part of a tail that had gangrene, the cat took off and never came back until I heard from someone else in the area that he was around and going to their house for food. He is still here but it took quite a while for him to come back to my property.

When you are dealing with true ferals, there is a lot which is out of your control and on some level you have to try to accept that. You have done a great service in trying to help these cats and in trying to prevent the births of more kittens. I hope that the cat will reappear and give you some peace of mind.

 

[Jcatbird]

Feral cats are experts at being invisible! They can be within a foot of us and we don’t know it. I saved a feral youngster and sister from drowning in a flood. One vanished and I thought she must have gotten sick afterwards and died. Nope! A whole year later she reappeared..... with kittens! I had been so worried about her. I did get her and the kittens though.
Out of the past 104 spays and neutered I only had three females have any issues and that was a reaction to the stitches. It’s possible they would have recovered without my intervention. IDK The people who deal with TNR here release after two or three days, depending on weather and how the cat is doing. I kept mine in until the incision was healed, about two weeks. I bought large cages and crates to house any of my small bathroom was unavailable. I know you already ordered one that will take time to arrive. That will be a great help to you in the future. I actually went from TNR to socializing them for adoption so I bought extra cages at many places. Everything from Walmart to yard sales. I also borrowed one from another rescuer. Chewy has them and so does Amazon and Petco. If you have any way to build anything, you can construct something like a catio for outside in your garage too.
To prevent confusion here, I find that taking photos of each kitty helps me to identify all the kitties later. I had two females that were always confusing me but the photos showed me that one had a white patch on the left cheek and the other had one on the right. Any small difference in markings or even the way they tend to sit or stand could be helpful to you.
Try not to worry. The chances are great that the kitty is okay and will return when you least expect it. She could be watching for a time and place to sneak past everything, including the camera. I found that mine came back around midnight to three in the morning because they knew everything would be deserted and quiet by then. Very early morning and very late night is the safest time for a feral to return.

 

[Willowy]

It dependa how feral they are and the kind of accommodations you can provide. If the cat ricochets all around the cage in a panic when you walk in, let them go right away. They're more likely to hurt themselves in the cage. If you have to keep the cat in the trap, let them go right away.

But if the cat is calm and you can put them in a large crate/cage for recovery, it's fine to keep females for up to 10-14 days, and maybe 5 days for males. That should provide the best recovery. But that's ONLY if conditions are perfect and the cat is calm. Otherwise they're better off in their familiar territory.

 

[milktea]

Thank you all for the great advice!!

I’ll be trying to trap a couple of the cats tomorrow. It will be my first try using a drop trap. These remaining cats are too smart and usually ignore the regular trap. I’ve watched a couple videos so I know to wait until the cat is completely inside, and to watch for the tail.

 

[moxiewild]

Thank you for taking care of these guys!

A spay, unlike a neuter, is a major surgery. I try to hold females for 48 hours minimum and aim for 3-4 days - although as Willowy said, if they are thrashing about always release.

I also release females early if it turns out they’re nursing. And if they just really do not look like they’re adjusting, it’s kind of 50/50.

In colder months, I feel it’s especially important to hold onto them for longer if possible, since anesthesia impairs their ability to regulate their temperature, so I want to make sure it’s more or less out of their system.

For all ferals, I have a general rule to wait to release until they’ve pooped, peed, and eaten. That doesn’t always happen though, since it can easily be the stress keeping them from doing those things, so I take into account the rest of their behavior in order to make a call on what to do.

It can be hard, because I know they’re safer with me, but they don’t know that, and that stress poses a very serious risk, as well as ethical concerns. The more you do it though, the more nuanced the whole process will be.

Make sure you secure the door on the drop trap and there’s nothing that the trap can catch on!

I lost a kitten a few months back because when I pulled the string, it moved the trap just far enough to the side to catch on some bricks and kitten squeezed out. She showed up again with her Mom a couple days later, then disappeared for good

So be sure to practice a few times so you can identify potential issues!

 

[milktea]

Thank you for the advice!

Yes with the cat I’m referring to, she had a bad tooth discovered by the spay clinic so I held her another day and brought her to the vet for a quote. But I discovered that morning she ripped out her nail probably trying to get out of the cage because I saw her bloody nail on the floor. I felt really bad and didn’t want her to hurt herself more.

She voided twice and ate the night after surgery, but she wouldn’t eat any food the next day so I was also worried about that...

 

[Jcatbird]

One thing I always stress to those who are working with cats, using your instincts with each individual is a great tool. You have onbserved the cat more than anyone else and will get a feel for the needs demonstrated. Experience counts, consulting others who have experience is important but so are your observations and instincts. The combined tools can be invaluable. You’re doing great!

 

[milktea]

I caught a male the other night and brought him to be fixed this morning. While under anesthesia the clinic called me to ask if I wanted to treat his wound. He had a large laceration that was old and full of pus on his neck. I noticed he smelled REALLY bad this morning so that must have been the reason. I didn’t see the wound though because he has long fluffy hair and I tried to leave him alone because he wasn’t happy being trapped.

I gave permission to treat and they shaved the wound, drained the pus, gave a long acting antibiotic injection (Covenia), B vitamin injection, pain injection, and vaccines.

His wound is still open now and the clinic recommended I release him tomorrow morning. I guess they felt it wasn’t serious enough for further treatment? Initially they said they might have to put a drain and I bring him back in two days, but when I picked him up they said it wasn’t needed.

Will he still be okay with just the antibiotic injection and that wound? :/

It’a hard to get pictures of cats in the trap.

 

[Jcatbird]

Covenia stays in the system a fairly long time but I’d want to watch him for any reactions to that particular medicine before release. I’m sure they left the wound open so it will drain. If I had him here, I would also want to make sure that the wound drains well before release. The thing is, it’s hard to re trap if you notice him with any secondary issues.