Getting Cat Spayed

lmahoney79

Hey,

We have a female ferral cat that we have been feeding over the past while. We have her booked in to get spayed tonight as we have noticed a big tom starting to chase her around!
Just wondered if anyone knows the shortest amount of time after the op that she should be kept inside? Seeing as she is wild, she is not used to being inside or in our house and we are going to have to lock her in the bathroom when we bring her home but would not like to keep her in there more than 2 nights max.

The Sweeper

She'll have stitches that'll need to come out in 10 days. Best if you can keep her in for all 10, so she doesn't nick off with the stitches in-situ, never to be seen again.

Alun

There's a spaying method that some vets use (ours were done this way) where they go in via the side rather than the belly, which has one advantage that they can't get at the stitches as easily to try and bite them off. Might be worth considering in case she does manage to escape earlier than you would have liked.

lmahoney79

well the vet has already told us that she wont need to go back in to get stitches removed as the internal stitches will be dissolvable and there will only be one or two small ones on the outside which she picks out herself.

annefitzy

Alun wrote: »

There's a spaying method that some vets use (ours were done this way) where they go in via the side rather than the belly, which has one advantage that they can't get at the stitches as easily to try and bite them off. Might be worth considering in case she does manage to escape earlier than you would have liked.

Any female feral that has been spayed should be kept in for about 5 days at least and as alun said a lot of vets if not most do the spaying from the side also make sure they use the disvolving stitches


See if you can get the vet to keep her in for an extra night or two some will

planetX

Our cat was in a dreadful state for the first few days after spaying - leaving the cat extra time at the vet is a very good idea.

mymo

I got a couple of feral cats spayed for an uncle of mine, they were tame enough to touch but not pick up and hated being confined or indoors. The vet said try to keep them in for 3 or4 days but they legged it out a toilet window after 2 days.
He'd left a very small wound and used disolving stitches and glue so they didn't need a return visit. They get a long acting pain killer and antibiotic shot normally so should be ok after a few days. This time of year they will feel the cold so could you find a quiet place to set up a box with blankets for her to use.
Since they were spayed they've become more friendly but still aren't fully tame and won't come in the house for more than a few mins.

YamaMotoYama

We recently spayed 3 different local ferrals all female... The vet requested that we keep them in over night to allow the sedatives to wear off but the cats were kicking up such a fuss that we released them that evening (we live in an apt).

If you live on a road it may be worth keeping them in until they come around fully - but they should be ok more or less the same day... late on that is! (once returned to their local patch)

morganafay

I've had alot of cats spayed, and they always were fine by the next morning. We kept them in overnight and let them out the next day. (My cats were all outdoor cats only back then).

So I would say if she seemed fine the next morning and was eating, to let her back out.

For ferals they can use dissolving stitches for the outer ones too right? I've had dissolving stitches on a cut on my hand so I assume it's the same? I've definitely seen it on TV, where they used dissolving stitches on feral cats so they could release them next day . . .

The Sweeper

Yeah, tbh if the external stitches aren't dissolving, I wouldn't be just leaving the cat to 'pick them out themselves'. They can end up bedding in the skin and the skin growing over them if they're permanent stitches and they're not removed.

morganafay

The Sweeper wrote: »

Yeah, tbh if the external stitches aren't dissolving, I wouldn't be just leaving the cat to 'pick them out themselves'. They can end up bedding in the skin and the skin growing over them if they're permanent stitches and they're not removed.

Agreed. Maybe the vet knows best, but it doesn't sound good to leave them in. I had a cat whose stitches we left in for a few days too long, and they were healed in and we had a hard time getting them out. I'd imagine it would get infected?

Would you be able to catch her again when the stitches needed to be taken out? You could probably take them out yourself or take her to the vet and get a sedative if it was too difficult.