Timing the release post-spay

[allmykitties]

This past Monday, I caught and got Socks spayed. She's the other adult female in my mini-colony (Lady Jane had already been spayed), and now I'm trying to weigh my intent to hold her inside in the "recovery room" (a cage with three shelves and a floor, so she has litterbox on the base, food and water on one shelf, and towels for softness on the other two shelves .. I then put a blanket over it that covers about the top half.

When I got Lady Jane spayed, she just quietly sat in one spot (although when I wasn't in the utility room, I could tell she had come down to eat/drink and use the box), and I was able to hold her from the Monday surgery date to Saturday morning, so I had anticipated being able to do about the same for Socks.

Socks, however, doesn't seem to be doing as well in her captivity. She's thrown the towels down (I now let her have one shelf with no towel). This morning when I came in to begin the "feeding of the cats", she had somehow gotten the heavy blanket off the cage entirely. She is eating (and if I release her, she will be competing for food with the others) but otherwise seems to not be tolerating the "recovery room" well.

So, do I stick with the original plan of Saturday release, or should I let her go earlier? I don't want it to be too soon, but I don't want her to hurt herself indoors, either. Weather-wise, we are getting a bit of mild weather (well above freezing), but it's supposed to rain Friday.

 

[di and bob]

Mine are released the next morning. I hold them overnight because of the grogginess. most outdoor cats do not do well with being caged up, I have puppy pads under the cage in the garage and they have them all torn up by morning. after I have picked them up towards evening, I check on them several times, and put in a tiny dish with some wet food before I go to bed. It is always gone by morning. I have done 5 like this now, 1 left to go. if they would have been quiet and compliant in the cage I might have kept them a day longer, but they have been all stressed out about being caged. I watch closely for the first week and make sure they are eating and not hiding. All came through fine!

 

[fionasmom]

If you can hold her, great. But if you can't, I have released cats the next morning as well. In the case of males, it is a given that they can go out the next day. With females, I try to wait two days, but have released on the second day after the surgery. No one ever suffered any ill effects from this.

 

[tarasgirl06]

This past Monday, I caught and got Socks spayed. She's the other adult female in my mini-colony (Lady Jane had already been spayed), and now I'm trying to weigh my intent to hold her inside in the "recovery room" (a cage with three shelves and a floor, so she has litterbox on the base, food and water on one shelf, and towels for softness on the other two shelves .. I then put a blanket over it that covers about the top half.

When I got Lady Jane spayed, she just quietly sat in one spot (although when I wasn't in the utility room, I could tell she had come down to eat/drink and use the box), and I was able to hold her from the Monday surgery date to Saturday morning, so I had anticipated being able to do about the same for Socks.

Socks, however, doesn't seem to be doing as well in her captivity. She's thrown the towels down (I now let her have one shelf with no towel). This morning when I came in to begin the "feeding of the cats", she had somehow gotten the heavy blanket off the cage entirely. She is eating (and if I release her, she will be competing for food with the others) but otherwise seems to not be tolerating the "recovery room" well.

So, do I stick with the original plan of Saturday release, or should I let her go earlier? I don't want it to be too soon, but I don't want her to hurt herself indoors, either. Weather-wise, we are getting a bit of mild weather (well above freezing), but it's supposed to rain Friday.

For me, it would depend on the size of the incision, whether or not it has dissolvable suture(s), and how healed over the outer layer of skin is. If there is any possibility of opening/infection, I would keep her in until Saturday. Sorry to be the dissenting voice. But her wellbeing would be my primary concern.

 

[allmykitties]

The external sutures are dissolvable (my vet does that for TNR; pet spay uses stitches that need a return visit in a week for removal, which also provides a chance to check healing). Socks won't let me look at her to see anything about how she's healing (she hisses at me when I am in for care-related reasons, including giving her food), touching her is just right out (like always, not a change).

 

[tarasgirl06]

The external sutures are dissolvable (my vet does that for TNR; pet spay uses stitches that need a return visit in a week for removal, which also provides a chance to check healing). Socks won't let me look at her to see anything about how she's healing (she hisses at me when I am in for care-related reasons, including giving her food), touching her is just right out (like always, not a change).

Based upon this information, I would try to keep her in until Saturday. It's only 3 days.

 

[Jcatbird]

Some cats do well being released quickly but I am wondering if she is antsy due to some discomfort? I have had cats pull down blankets and move things around as well as yowling. I rarely had a healing issue but my big concern was always one major thing….. if there is a problem, will I know and will I be able to re trap her? Catching a cat twice is always challenging. I have had spays go wrong on ferals. One required a second surgery and others required antibiotics. If the kitty is eating, drinking and going potty, then it might be easier to wait, just in case. BTW a mirror can be very helpful to view under a kitty. Another thought after reading your post is that she may have put the towels on the floor because jumping up to a shelf hurts. If she was on the shelf when you entered, she may have gone there to feel safer when you entered? Was she given pain medicine after the spay? Every cat is different and your instincts play a large part in this. If you worry about the release then wait. Right now she does not have to compete for food and weather is not an issue with healing. You have to weigh all factors and trust yourself. Bravo for getting kitties spayed and helping them to have better lives!

 

[allmykitties]

Thank you to everyone.

I thought over everything (checking local weather again) and it seemed like Socks was trying to get out of the cage based on other sounds that I've heard when I wasn't in the utility room, so I was weighing the wish to give her more indoor healing vs whether she might hurt herself on the cage.

So this morning at the "feeding of the cats" time, I prepared the dishes for the outdoor cats, opened the cage door, and stepped outside to put the first dishes down. Before I had come back to get the rest, Socks had come down and out and I got the rest of the dishes out, added a few more (I had bought Meow Mix in little tubs with a foil top to feed her, so I just opened a few more of those and set them out so that everyone had a dish), and she started eating with everyone else.