Hey everyone! I love the community here, you've all helped me take a stray into my home and she's my first cat and has been doing great so far!
Because of a hernia developed on the scar of her spay surgery, she had to get surgery again to fix it, before it developed into something troublesome. She's been healing up well, the surgery was last Thursday, so it's been five days now. She's been wearing one of those onesies to keep herself from licking the stitches and she absolutely hates it. While wearing it, she walks on a permanent crouch, tips over at anything, and just mostly lays in bed ALL day, so she's been driving me insane with worry over this behavioral change. I usually end up encouraging her to do things (feed her from my hand, give her churu, put her next to the litter box so she'll poop, put her next to the water bowl so she'll drink, etc). It almost feels like I have to encourage her to do these things or she'll go on a hunger/thirst strike, from how much she hates the outfit, but it's much needed -- the few times I've taken it off to let her move for a few seconds, she's trying to lick the stitches immediately, even bypassing the cone I had made.
So all in all, I feel like it's pretty normal cat dramatics and I'm (mostly) okay dealing with it. One thing, though, is I would like to go to my parents' town this weekend, they live about an hour away and I have some trusty veterinarians there. Because of some family matters, I'd really rather be there at some point during the end of this week.
My two options would be, to take my cat with me and keep her there, she could be safely kept in my room with everything she needs, but it would be a totally new environment for her. New smells, new sounds, she has never lived in that house. But I would be able to keep my eye on her, and possibly even have her stitches removed by that local vet I trust, if he thinks the time is right for it (it'll be just over a week at that point). But I'm worried this would stress her out a lot and not help her healing process. Or I can leave her here, at my apartment, where I have a pet camera and I can have someone check in on her, probably even spend a few hours of the day with her. They wouldn't be able to drag her around like I do, putting her next to the litter box, putting her next to the food, etc, but she'd have the company. She's used to being alone and having this person hang out with her, it's my usual setup for when I travel, and I've gone out of town a good few times since getting her.
I don't know what to do and how much of it is me overreacting, basically lol. This is my first cat, so everything is new to me. When she had her spaying surgery, she was still a stray, so I didn't closely monitor her (and it makes sense why she'd heal wrongly and get a hernia), so this whole process is new to me. I don't know how much she would actually go on a hunger strike and hurt herself just because she's moody, or how much I need to let her breathe and stop micromanaging her routine lol. It just freaks me out that she's not eating/drinking water/using the litter box as often as her usual self! She's usually a pretty chill cat when it comes to new environments, when I brought her in from the street she got used to indoors without a peep, and she's pretty adventurous, so she wouldn't be immediately traumatized by going to a different house for a day or two. But is it worth the struggle, if she would be okay back at home? I could be at my parents' for a day, or two, I'm still deciding. What do you guys think? I hope this made sense!
Because of a hernia developed on the scar of her spay surgery, she had to get surgery again to fix it, before it developed into something troublesome. She's been healing up well, the surgery was last Thursday, so it's been five days now. She's been wearing one of those onesies to keep herself from licking the stitches and she absolutely hates it. While wearing it, she walks on a permanent crouch, tips over at anything, and just mostly lays in bed ALL day, so she's been driving me insane with worry over this behavioral change. I usually end up encouraging her to do things (feed her from my hand, give her churu, put her next to the litter box so she'll poop, put her next to the water bowl so she'll drink, etc). It almost feels like I have to encourage her to do these things or she'll go on a hunger/thirst strike, from how much she hates the outfit, but it's much needed -- the few times I've taken it off to let her move for a few seconds, she's trying to lick the stitches immediately, even bypassing the cone I had made.
So all in all, I feel like it's pretty normal cat dramatics and I'm (mostly) okay dealing with it. One thing, though, is I would like to go to my parents' town this weekend, they live about an hour away and I have some trusty veterinarians there. Because of some family matters, I'd really rather be there at some point during the end of this week.
My two options would be, to take my cat with me and keep her there, she could be safely kept in my room with everything she needs, but it would be a totally new environment for her. New smells, new sounds, she has never lived in that house. But I would be able to keep my eye on her, and possibly even have her stitches removed by that local vet I trust, if he thinks the time is right for it (it'll be just over a week at that point). But I'm worried this would stress her out a lot and not help her healing process. Or I can leave her here, at my apartment, where I have a pet camera and I can have someone check in on her, probably even spend a few hours of the day with her. They wouldn't be able to drag her around like I do, putting her next to the litter box, putting her next to the food, etc, but she'd have the company. She's used to being alone and having this person hang out with her, it's my usual setup for when I travel, and I've gone out of town a good few times since getting her.
I don't know what to do and how much of it is me overreacting, basically lol. This is my first cat, so everything is new to me. When she had her spaying surgery, she was still a stray, so I didn't closely monitor her (and it makes sense why she'd heal wrongly and get a hernia), so this whole process is new to me. I don't know how much she would actually go on a hunger strike and hurt herself just because she's moody, or how much I need to let her breathe and stop micromanaging her routine lol. It just freaks me out that she's not eating/drinking water/using the litter box as often as her usual self! She's usually a pretty chill cat when it comes to new environments, when I brought her in from the street she got used to indoors without a peep, and she's pretty adventurous, so she wouldn't be immediately traumatized by going to a different house for a day or two. But is it worth the struggle, if she would be okay back at home? I could be at my parents' for a day, or two, I'm still deciding. What do you guys think? I hope this made sense!
