What Made Your "confined-to-crate-rest" Cat Relax? Offer Some Handy Tips...

[emmily1987]

I'm about to go through this! Did you end up finding something that helped??

Well, Milly has gotten her stitches out this week, and, half the time, she is turning into a feline hellion in her crates. She's feeling so much better, which is a mixed blessing! I am at this catch-22 of wanting to calm her by covering some of her crates with a towel to darken that particular "pod" she is in at the time, to try to make her calm and sleepy... but I don't want her getting depressed. So, other times, she gets put in direct sunbeams (while we are still getting some sunbeams, as Autumn is slowly arriving here). All of us long for our old daily routines, and the next month and a half stretches out before us. We play "small games" while she's in the crates, like poking sticks under the crate floors which she "hunts" down, trying to blow Bubbles around her crates for added interest, etc., but honestly, does anyone have any other ideas? Maybe I just need to keep doing that, and grin and bear it for 6 more weeks. She's such a play monster. I need coffee 24/7 at this rate...

I'm about to go through this,

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

emmily1987 - I've been away from the site for a little bit because of some family issues, so I just saw your post.

You have a kitty that will go through this knee surgery? The crate rest is hard to do and is a demanding time for you & your kitty (especially the first 3-7 days, right after the surgery). And after that first most demanding week, the rest of the weeks do seem endless and frustrating! The first week, you are basically nursing them; the following weeks, you are trying to entertain them and keep their activity levels low. But it's so important to get through that crate rest and that period of inactivity for them! Cannot emphasize that enough.

 

[Mittenface]

I wanted to respond to this (years old) thread because I got a lot of solid advice here and I want to first thank everyone, but also share my experience.

My 2 year old cat Dexter had surgery in February to correct a CCL tear (my guess initially was that it was a luxated patella and surprise! He had that too). He is a true pandemic baby and it took awhile to get him seen by a specialist since all vets are slammed, but I scheduled him for surgery immediately after getting a treatment plan. As an aside: get pet insurance if you can! It helped immensely.

Based on what I read in this thread, I knew what to expect when I started making appointments. I bought two 4’ x 4’ soft crates and used a hole punch and zip ties to attach the two together, reserving one side for his litterbox and a scratch lounger and the other for his bed and dishes. The Yeowww banana toy was a must have but I switched his other toys out every few days. I also got a few very soft blankets for him to knead and lounge on.

However, the number one boredom killer for him was Churu treats. He got one spread onto a lickimat every night before bed (along with his gabapentin) and it helped immensely.

I am a true pushover and keeping him strictly contained was extremely difficult for me, but a few months later and he is running around and back to normal. Thank you all!

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

So glad to hear he is doing well! Dexter is a cutie!

The "combined" soft crates were a big success.

addendum: A funny picture of Milly, during recovery for one of her knees... not sure if I've posted this one before, ha!