We just adopted a "Breeder Cat" that was spayed on Tuesday, May 31st! We've been keeping her isolated in a cage with her food water & litter so as not to jump and overly exert herself with the other cats in the household! How soon before we can let her out and roam the house normally?
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After spaying how soon to allow normal activity?
- Thread starter sophielew
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I have never tried to restrict the post-op activity of any cat. I figure that they're the ones who had surgery, so they should know what hurts and what doesn't. Now, if she hasn't been introduced to your other cats before this, I would be worried about fights and other skirmishes, so I probably wouldn't try introductions until the incision is fully healed (around 2 weeks). But if they're already friends I wouldn't worry about it. Do you have a spare room she could stay in? Might be nicer than staying in the cage for 2 weeks.
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- #3
Thanks for the advice! One of the cats is her baby but she hasn't seen her for 4 months the other is an 8 week old that she has lived with! The cage is really big with room for litter pan, bed and food bowls and she seems safe it it while she recuperates! She's very laid back and let me clip her "TALONS" which were really huge after I gave her her antibiotic! They all seem very active and the baby is segregated in the bathroom! We are slowly introducing them on the bed together with a lot of sniffing and only one hiss! But we don't want the spayed momma jumping off the bed so we'll keep introducing them slowly! Two weeks sound good but we'll take it one day at a time!
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I don't think restricting activity to avoid jumping and stuff like that is necessary. With the stray and feral cats I've had fixed they are released on the street after two days. My own cats and my fosters are just kept secluded the day of the surgery since they are still groggy but after that they are back to normal and running around. So far I have never had any problems with female cats resuming normal activity right away and through the years I've probably had at least 30-40 female cats fixed. Keeping her in a cage for two weeks sounds like a bit much. I really don't think you need to worry about any damage to the incision area or anything else.
Could you keep her secluded in a room instead, like the bedroom? After four days she is okay to jump up on the bed. As long as you supervise the interaction with the other cats it should be okay. A bit of hissing is normal and will usually subside after a day or two once they get used to each others' presence. So far I haven't seen any actual fighting between a kitten and an adult although sometimes the adult will try to paw the kitten if it comes to close.
I find that feeding the cats some yummy food together in the same room, although not too close, helps them associate the others with good stuff. In the beginning you can feed them on opposite sides of a door to get them used to each others' smell. Next meal you open the door a crack so they can see each other. After that they can be fed in the same room. If they can be in the same room without a bunch of hissing and posturing you can have them all together in a room as long as you're in it, like at night in the living room when you're watching TV.
Could you keep her secluded in a room instead, like the bedroom? After four days she is okay to jump up on the bed. As long as you supervise the interaction with the other cats it should be okay. A bit of hissing is normal and will usually subside after a day or two once they get used to each others' presence. So far I haven't seen any actual fighting between a kitten and an adult although sometimes the adult will try to paw the kitten if it comes to close.
I find that feeding the cats some yummy food together in the same room, although not too close, helps them associate the others with good stuff. In the beginning you can feed them on opposite sides of a door to get them used to each others' smell. Next meal you open the door a crack so they can see each other. After that they can be fed in the same room. If they can be in the same room without a bunch of hissing and posturing you can have them all together in a room as long as you're in it, like at night in the living room when you're watching TV.
I have never had to restrict activity with my cats after spaying. I did have to watch her jumping too much but it really was not necessary. Seclusion is probably the best bet if you have a "safe" room. You can isolate her for a couple of days and then allow her back into the house. If that's not possible, keep a close eye on her for a couple of days and see how she's doing.
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- #6
Thanks for the input! Heidi is doing fine! A little redness on the incision as she licks it a bit! She is a jumper and jumped about four feet high to the top of the metal cage! She also is chasing and "going after" her 14 month old offspring! Her daughter wants to play but the 4 year old Mom just wants to take it easy! Right now she has full roam of the house except we put her in the cage next to the bed overnight! The 8 week old baby is in the master bath overnight! She is really a ball of fire! Her Aunt is the 14 month old and they are two of a kind! Full of energy and running and playing together! It lookslike they will really work out well!
Try as I might I couldn't stop my cats/kittens from doing what they wanted. I just let them be and kept a close eye on the incisions and also made sure that they weren't licking and biting the sutures.
Glad things are going so well sophielew!
Glad yours are doing well.
My gal Lotti would not stop doing what kittens want to be doing with her brother, after about 5 days part of her wound opened, I nearly went mad trying to stop them playing and her licking it.
In the end after a staple, antibiotics in case, today is the first blood free day!
14 days today!
The last three days I have just let her do her thing as vet took out staple and said not to worry anymore.
So I would advise to still keep an eye on that wound until the 14 days as skin will not be knitted properly until then.
My gal Lotti would not stop doing what kittens want to be doing with her brother, after about 5 days part of her wound opened, I nearly went mad trying to stop them playing and her licking it.
In the end after a staple, antibiotics in case, today is the first blood free day!
14 days today!
The last three days I have just let her do her thing as vet took out staple and said not to worry anymore.
So I would advise to still keep an eye on that wound until the 14 days as skin will not be knitted properly until then.
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- #10
Because Heidi was such a "Jumper" we kept her in the cage at night for about 10 days! She also wanted to go after her 15 mo. old daughter Sunshine! We had her on the antibiotic for 10 days, she kept licking the wound but it has healed up OK! We supervised play time with the other two cats and all is well!
