Taking our Kitten to the Vet...

[Tazicket]

tomorrow morning to be spayed. She's about 6 months old and she's one of those very bouncy, loves to jump everywhere cats.

Our older kitty was already spayed when we adopted her - she'd had it done a few days before we brought her home, but she was past the stage where she needed to be super careful to not hurt the surgery site.

Does anybody have any suggestions for things we can do to make the kitten more comfortable (and less likely to jump everywhere) when we bring her home tomorrow evening? Neither DH nor I have been around a VERY recently spayed kitty over the last several years and we want to make sure we're caring for her as well as we possibly can.

We'll be home with her on Friday, and through the weekend, to make sure that she's not messing with her stitches or trying to run around all crazy or anything. We'll have her closed in "her" room for at least a couple of days (so she'll have less temptation to jump all over or chase our other kitty around and hurt herself). We'll "visit" with her, though - so it's not like she'll be in solitary confinement for days on end or anything.

Is there anything we're forgetting? Any advice from someone who's been there recently would be very welcome and really helpful! (And would really help ease my mind!)

 

[okeydokey]

Even though she is an active kitten, she should know her limits when it comes to the jumping about, She'll be groggy and sore at first. They may offer some pain medication for her.

Do you have any other pets or small children at home? As long as everyone gives her her quite time to recover, she should be fine. Good luck to you all.

 

[Tazicket]

Thanks for the response!

We do not have any children, but we do have one other cat (she'll be 2 next month). She's a big part of why we're going to confine Lily (the kitten) to her own room for a few days. They chase each other all over the place and sometimes play a little rough, and we don't want Lily to get hurt.

I'm sure I'm probably nervous for nothing and she'll be just fine. It's just hard to switch off the nerves sometimes, so I try to channel them into preparations.

 

[sunshine girl]

I have a new kitty (well, almost a year old now) and we had her spayed earlier this year. She is really active as well. I found that she did take a break the first day or so after surgery (napping quite a bit, the medication probably was still in her system).

However, after that she was back to running around. I was nervous about her bounding up and down the stairs, so we made sure she couldn't use the stairs without supervision. I think that helped. We blocked off some of the tall chairs that required a big stretch for her to jump up on, so she wouldn't even try it. I also watched her... when she started licking the stitches, I distracted her in order to get her to stop.

We ended up taking her back to the vet once because the surgery site appeared to be bleeding we thought she'd popped her stitches, but the vet said it was ok. She healed perfectly and is as good as new! Good luck with your kitten ... it seems so sad when they come back w/ their tummy shaved and looking groggy, but it's for the best.

 

[Tazicket]

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Any other advice or things to watch out for?