Tomorrow my little Linus, one of my three little 4-5 week old tiger tabbie kittens, is supposed to have emergency surgery. Could ya'll spare some vibes for the little guy? It is very risky to do surgery on a kitten that is under 2lbs. Their tissue is very fragile- like rice paper and they are very sensitive to anestesia,etc that young- he doesn't even weigh a pound yet. Our vet that does spay/neuters at our shelter doesn't like doing anything on an animal under 2lbs with good reason. However, sometimes in special cases, like his- exceptions are necessary. Tomorrow she will make that call if it's safe enough to go ahead with the surgery or not. He seems to be in a bit of pain- one of his testicals is VERY messed up- it's hanging quite far below the other one and is blood red and inflamed. He is having a hard time trying to use the potty and keep himself clean. I think his sisters have tried to nurse on him thinking he has nipples and have as a result hurt him. I put him on antibiotics two days ago to help the inflamation and try to ward off infection. So i'm hoping if he does wind up having the surgery tomorrow (right now we're not 100% she'll do it because he's sooooo tiny- but it is definitely necessary). I'm really worried about him because he is soo small and surgery when they're that small is risky.
Fortunately he is a male kitten- so they do seem to heal/recover easier than females as they normally do not require stitches and it is less invasive of a procedure on them- however, given his situation and medical problem- i'm not sure what all will be required. I'm guessing a full pediactric neuter. Could ya'll please keep my sweet little foster kitten in your prayers tomorrow. I hate to see him hurting, but i'm also scared for him to be altared that young. He does seem like he's in pain though- and the area is VERY red and swollen...i tried to very very gently clean his bottom earlier with a baby wipe (he was dirty) and he screamed out in pain- it really upsets me to see on of my little ones hurting like that- so i'm hoping tomorrow he will do ok and she'll be able to altar him and resolve the problem so he won't be in pain.