Spay Guilt

Mamanyt1953 said:

Good work. She'll be MUCH happier now! My Hekitty was a kinda late spay, and I vividly remember her prowling the house, shrieking, "Let meowt, let MEOWT! NEOW, NEOW, NEOW!" And the parade of willing toms I had to wade through at the front door (and their "signatures" that had to be scrubbed OFF of the front door). Of course, I had "the talk" with her, you know, when you say, "But, Sweetie, those tomcats will promise you the moon and stars, but all you will be left with is kittens. And those toms won't be there to help you clean them and feed them and teach them how to cat. They'll be off with some other willing girl." And she says back to you, "I know, Mama, but...LET MEOWT!" None of that for you now!

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Remind her that the percentage of tom cats actually paying alimony is 0%

Mine was done on Wednesday. It’s the right thing to do.

Rhall said:

Mine was done on Wednesday. It’s the right thing to do.

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They look so sad in those cones, so when they do something terrible in 10 years, they'll remind you of that sad kitty face as blackmail.
Queen Bee was spayed over a decade ago and when she's in trouble, she acts like "but my spay incision! It hurts!"

Glad your little cat is home safe and sound, Rhall .

So I’ve tried my best to curb Sophie’s boredom in a quiet way but she has still been running around in circles around the room, jumping through blinds to get on the windowsill in my room (the room with the least to jump on)sneaking out when I open the door to sprint down the stairs before I can do anything, and chasing her tail. I have no idea how to calm her down and I’m worried about it. When she’s not doing that she’s sleeping and I can’t tell if it’s more than usual or I’m just being paranoid or if she is sleeping more than usual but it’s normal since it’s day two. I think I’m stressing out more than usual because I had a sweet senior cat pass away a few months ago. She’s eating and drinking fine and using the bathroom but I’m worried her exuberance might have caused some harm and made her lethargic. Here is a picture of her incision. The picture with text was yesterday and that’s how it looked when she got back the previous day as well and the other picture is today. Sorry for being an anxious mess but she’s the first cat I’ve had that I’ve gotten spayed myself. If I get too worried I’m going to ask the opinion of someone I’ve been causually seeing who’s a vet tech and go to the vet if that’s his recommendation but I thought I’d see what you guys think first. Again I’m probably only so anxious because of my recent loss so I thought I’d ask for advice.

Also, tips on settling her down are very welcome.

My pair of now 1.5 year old kitties were spayed and neutered (respectively) in September 2017. Vet said keep them quiet for a week. Let me tell you, there is no way to keep 5 month old kittens quiet. As soon as I opened the carrier they were bouncing around the bathroom where I was keeping them to heal. The girl's incision was glued shut very nicely but there were also external stitches. She picked at them, wrestled with her brother, and ran around like a maniac, and it's not like I could be in there holding her still 24 hours a day.

As long as your vet did a good job on the incision, and from your pics it looks like he did, she'll be fine. BTW, they almost always get a little lump at some point along the incision during the healing process. As long as it does not appear infected (oozy, painful, hot, etc.), it's fine.

Best of luck with her, she is beautiful!

beckbjj said:

Vet said keep them quiet for a week. Let me tell you, there is no way to keep 5 month old kittens quiet.

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Very true! Mine was a little wonky when we got home, probably from the pain meds and anesthetic. She wouldn't settle and was unsteady. I put her tree sidewise so she couldn't jump and kept her in our kitchen - family room area. He said to limit stairs but I knew she was going to want to be with us at night. She slept on my chest and kept bonking me with her cone! She was playing almost right away and this moment she is chasing her wire all over the place. You just do your best! She seems fine.

A little licking won't hurt anything, I have never used a cone and never had a problem. If she feels well enough to get around, there is not much you can do without stressing her out. Just try to limit jumping, you might put some 'stairs' around to get on the bed, etc. House stairs are bad at first because they could cause a fall. she will be fine after a day. As long as she is eating, drinking, and using the litter box, everything is fine! PS I have brought more cats in than I can count and I get sick to my stomach every time thinking how scared they are! I almost get anxiety attacks!

I’ve not had a female pet with the cone either, this is the first time. She does go right for it when I remove it. I give her some time without it when I can supervise. They recommended 7-10 days, so we have a bit to go but she has surprisingly adapted very well!

She'll be fine. My girl also refused to be calm. I only kept her in one room to keep her from wrestling with her brother, so you probably don't need to worry about keeping her isolated. Just try to limit jumping onto tall furniture, if you can.

Here's the cone I got for my girl. It's soft around the neck and clear around the face.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N9AHSLC/?tag=&tag=thecatsite

Mamanyt1953 said:

Good work. She'll be MUCH happier now! My Hekitty was a kinda late spay, and I vividly remember her prowling the house, shrieking, "Let meowt, let MEOWT! NEOW, NEOW, NEOW!" And the parade of willing toms I had to wade through at the front door (and their "signatures" that had to be scrubbed OFF of the front door). Of course, I had "the talk" with her, you know, when you say, "But, Sweetie, those tomcats will promise you the moon and stars, but all you will be left with is kittens. And those toms won't be there to help you clean them and feed them and teach them how to cat. They'll be off with some other willing girl." And she says back to you, "I know, Mama, but...LET MEOWT!" None of that for you now!

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So true. Oh, and let us not forget the lovely floor dancing...there's nothing like trying to have a conversation in the living room while your darling girl writhes around and tries to back that a$$ up on you while saying "Prowwwrrrrrrt, PRRRROOWWWW!!!". It's super fun that you're just going to have to miss out on now...poor you

Reading all of your experiences with unspayed females makes me feel pretty certain that Piper is indeed spayed. The vet thought she was back in October (she has a super tiny scar in the right area), but said I should know by January if she isn't. Since I'm a novice at this cat thing, I asked her how I would know if she were in heat and she laughed and said, "It's.... intense."

Insofar as keeping her calm goes, don't make yourself crazy over this. Remember that ferals who are TNR'd are returned to their colonies the same or the next day, no cones, no restrictions, and it is VERY rare for one to have an issue.

My last girl was richocheting off the walls the day after her spay. I don't usually worry about their activity after spaying, but I've never had one be THAT active so soon post-op! Oh cats. But she's fine. They usually are.