Poorly Cat after Spaying

Fridaycat

Hello friends.

My Lulabelle (snow spotted bengal kitten) was spayed on Tuesday, mid line at my request (i.e. underneath, rather than at the side).

I know it is a big operation for a female to go through, and I was of course expecting her to need some recovery time.

On the evening she came home, she was much perkier than I would have imagined her to be and was up and about playing in the kitchen sink and getting me to turn the taps on for her like she normally does, despite me trying to keep her quiet!

However, she has been very quiet ever since and yesterday and today, she has hardly got out of her bed, has hardly eaten anything (a little yesterday evening) and is not playing with her brother nor is interested in her normal games of sitting in the sink or getting into as much mischief as she can

She had an appointment with the vet yesterday - a planned check up appointment after the op. She had perked up quite a bit in the hour or so before she went (typical!), but I explained to the vet how she had been. He checked her over and took her temperature and didn't seem overly concerned - gave her an antibiotics injection and we have an appointment for Friday next week.

Although I have 5 cats, 3 of them are male, so the last time I had a female spayed was Friday and that was 13 years ago and although I don't remember her being like this, it was a long time ago!

So - has anyone else had any similar experiences to this? Or have your female cats bounced back more quickly from the op? Any thoughts would be welcomed

picklepick

It was a few years ago but as I remember Honey was subdued for 2 or 3 days after her op.
If she only saw the vet on Friday, I wouldn't be concerned, especially as he gave her anti-biotics. It's probably just very sore and on the day you brought her home she was probably still dosed up on pain relief.

Fridaycat

picklepick wrote: »

It was a few years ago but as I remember Honey was subdued for 2 or 3 days after her op.
If she only saw the vet on Friday, I wouldn't be concerned, especially as he gave her anti-biotics. It's probably just very sore and on the day you brought her home she was probably still dosed up on pain relief.

Thanks for your thoughts. I am probably over-reacting, but it is so unlike her and she seems to be getting worse as time goes on, when I would expect her to be getting better, so was just wondering how other people's cats had fared after the op.

gettingready

My 2 females (well, my daughter's now) have been spayed early this year but it was the regular. side spay. There was no problems like you describe with either of them.

I am not sure how different is the spay your girl had done in terms of procedure/place of stitches etc.


You said she was on the sink - did she jump there? I am pretty sure she should not be allowed to jump....after the op. I know, difficult to keep a cat easy for few days but perhaps a cage rest to stop her jumping up and down?


I am sure you are keeping your eye on her and are able to get her to the vets if anything gets worse.....

My female dog on the other hand - few years back and massive problems, stitches coming off by themselves, infection, restitched - total nightmare.

Fridaycat

gettingready wrote: »

My 2 females (well, my daughter's now) have been spayed early this year but it was the regular. side spay. There was no problems like you describe with either of them.

I am not sure how different is the spay your girl had done in terms of procedure/place of stitches etc.


You said she was on the sink - did she jump there? I am pretty sure she should not be allowed to jump....after the op. I know, difficult to keep a cat easy for few days but perhaps a cage rest to stop her jumping up and down?


I am sure you are keeping your eye on her and are able to get her to the vets if anything gets worse.....

My female dog on the other hand - few years back and massive problems, stitches coming off by themselves, infection, restitched - total nightmare.

Thanks for your thoughts How long was the recovery period for your two girls?

The vet said that the mid line spay shouldn't make any difference in terms of recovery etc. She doesn't have stitches, they have used surgical glue to seal the wound.

Yes, unfortunately, she did jump up to the sink, she did it in a split second when my back was turned But the thing is, she is barely moving now, let alone jumping up and down, so a cage isn't really necessary, but something perhaps to bear in mind.

I think I will call the vet Monday if she doesn't improve (sooner if she gets worse of course).

lister

Fridaycat wrote: »

Thanks for your thoughts How long was the recovery period for your two girls?

The vet said that the mid line spay shouldn't make any difference in terms of recovery etc. She doesn't have stitches, they have used surgical glue to seal the wound.

Yes, unfortunately, she did jump up to the sink, she did it in a split second when my back was turned But the thing is, she is barely moving now, let alone jumping up and down, so a cage isn't really necessary, but something perhaps to bear in mind.

I think I will call the vet Monday if she doesn't improve (sooner if she gets worse of course).

I am slightly concerned your vet doesn't think a midline makes any difference. We always treat it as a more serious operation in our branch of Cats Protection and expect a longer recovery time. I have never come across an elective midline before - without asking I can't be certain, but I doubt any of the vets I deal with would be keen to perform one - we would only ever ask for one to be done out of need.

I am not surprised she isn't jumping around - it is a fairly significant piece of surgey when a midline is done and makes movement more awkward than a lateral entry. Bear in mind the first day she was probably on painkillers, but isn't now, so will be feeling the wound more.

Keep a close eye on her though, particularly if she starts to display proper lethargy (not just not moving much, but you will struggle to get her attention at all and if you try to move her, she'll just flop back). Major complications with spays are extremely rare, but we did lose an otherwise healthy young girl this year to a very rare problem. First time in a very long time, and several thousand perfectly ok to balance it with, but it can happen.

Fridaycat

Thanks so much for your input, lister. At least this gives me some answers, which my vet unfortunately did not, though like I say, she did perk up in the hour or so before seeing him yesterday. Luckily, she is not properly lethargic as you describe - she is currently snuggled into one of these on my lap:



So I am keeping a careful watch of her. Friday is not amused though, as Lula has taken up her lap space

Fridaycat

I meant to add also that my vet didn't see the midline op as any sort of issue or problem, and neither did the breeder of our Bengals who is herself a very experienced vet.

gettingready

FC - perhaps you have seen this already but lots of info on here, including the op your cat had...

http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/spaying-cats.html

Hope she is well soon...

lister

Fridaycat wrote: »

I meant to add also that my vet didn't see the midline op as any sort of issue or problem, and neither did the breeder of our Bengals who is herself a very experienced vet.

It isn't a big issue so far as I am aware in terms of significantly increased risk of complications. It is just somewhat more significant in terms of tissue damage and position, so it takes cats a while longer to recover from. Hence why I am surprised to find it being done electively. Providing a cat is recovering well we will rehome 48 hours after a normal spay, but would keep a midline at least a day or two longer.

I assume the reason for choosing a midline is to avoid shaving and/or scarring in a visible location? If so it is the wrong reason as far as I am concerned to be honest - a cat doesn't care what it looks like, but given the choice I figure it would choose the lesser operation.

Fridaycat

lister wrote: »

It isn't a big issue so far as I am aware in terms of significantly increased risk of complications. It is just somewhat more significant in terms of tissue damage and position, so it takes cats a while longer to recover from. Hence why I am surprised to find it being done electively. Providing a cat is recovering well we will rehome 48 hours after a normal spay, but would keep a midline at least a day or two longer.

I assume the reason for choosing a midline is to avoid shaving and/or scarring in a visible location? If so it is the wrong reason as far as I am concerned to be honest - a cat doesn't care what it looks like, but given the choice I figure it would choose the lesser operation.

Yes, it was done for that reason as she is a show cat which is something that she seems to love doing, along with her brother. I agree that she probably doesn't care what she looks like, but unfortunately the judges do! If I had thought that there was any significant risk to her health, then of course I would have gone for the "normal" spay. Her next show is not until 7th January, so she has plenty of time to recover.