Spay recovery—a question

[Kittenmom57]

We got our two kittens earlier this month. They are “foster to adopt” as the female, Annie, was not yet spayed. She is approximately four months old. Toby is older, I think maybe 5 or even 6 months old.
anyway, I took her back to the humane society on Monday for her spay. She is doing well—adjusting to the cone. She’s been sequestered in part of our house (bedroom, office and bathroom) while Toby has the run of the rest of the house. Her incision is looking good.
These kitties only met the day we brought them home, but quickly seemed to bond. While keeping them separated has been good on one hand-it’s given me time with each one individually—I know they’d be happier together. And we’d be happier not having a litter box next door to our bedroom and having to be diligent about closing doors!
My major thing is, I don’t want them to get into their play fighting/wrestling and risk her incision getting opened up! Her aftercare instructions say to keep the cone on for ten days, and no “rough play” for ten days.
So do I continue to keep them separated, allowing Toby short, supervised visits, or do I take the risk?? I also think she might be less able to “fight back” (even though it’s play fighting, it can get intense!) with the cone on.
I don’t want them to lose their bond.
As you can probably tell, I’ve never had two kittens at the same time before! Lots of cats over the years but never this situation.

 

[Alldara]

It's really about personality I think. There are DIYs for baby onesies to keep her safe.

They will likely need some degree of separation, but some supervised visits would be beneficial to them both for sure and hopefully keep you from having to restart introductions afterwards.

 

[Kittenmom57]

Will the kitten onesie protect her incision during a wrestling session? I did make one for her but haven’t out it on her yet because she’s adjusted to the cone. They are very different personalities. Annie was a little slower to warm up, very sweet; and Toby is very outgoing and within a day was strutting around like he owned the place! Of course he’s a little older and probably twice her size, which is also a concern when they’re wrestling. Though she squeals at times, she’ll turn around and “attack” him a minute later. I never had two kittens at once, so I never know how far to let it go….

 

[Kittenmom57]

This was the day we brought them home.

 

[Alldara]

Will the kitten onesie protect her incision during a wrestling session? I did make one for her but haven’t out it on her yet because she’s adjusted to the cone. They are very different personalities. Annie was a little slower to warm up, very sweet; and Toby is very outgoing and within a day was strutting around like he owned the place! Of course he’s a little older and probably twice her size, which is also a concern when they’re wrestling. Though she squeals at times, she’ll turn around and “attack” him a minute later. I never had two kittens at once, so I never know how far to let it go….

You'll want to prevent wrestling still, which is why I recommend supervised visits. Even as a solo kitten, the vet won't want you letting her run around He might be able to smell that she is healing and you might not have any issue. But you won't know until it's tested.**

That sounds fairly normal as far as play goes. The squeaking happens when it gets "out of hand" for one cat. If they are continuing to take turns playing, aren't biting to pull out hair (sometimes some hair comes out on their feet I find in my home. On account of Magnus being so floofy. Despite claws being retracted and trimmed).

To avoid injury I would suggest getting them very used to claw clipping and keeping them trim. Just start with a few claws at a time and try not to restrain them. Best done when resting. You can YouTube "restraint free cat nail trim" or something similar.

** When Magnus had surgery the other cats were gentle with him but he was a maniac who kept trying to get them to "fight" him. Keeping him calm is a nightmare. However, we found it best to play calm games with him and let him stay with the other cats.

 

[Kittenmom57]

Sounds like I should just keep her separate from him. I sure don’t want any problems. We may try taking the cone off later this weekend, and trying the onesie I have ready—at least she’d be able to do a little grooming. Also I took her favorite toy (mouse on a wire) in to play with her today and she seemed a bit subdued—I think because she doesn’t have much peripheral vision and wasn’t able to see the mouse like normal. With the onesie on and the cone off she’d be able to get more solo playing in too.
She had her nails trimmed when she was spayed, at my request. I’ve already done Toby’s once but need to do it again and cut them a bit shorter.
thanks so much for your input and support!