Recovery time for a spayed cat?

Pumpkinseeds

How long does it take for a cat to recover from spaying and is she likely to need a cone? I'm planning to take Poppy to be spayed next week, it's 15 years since we had a female cat and I'm only familliar with neutering at this point. We don't know how old she is but she seems under a year old. She may have been spayed, since she doesn't have any kittens, either way I'm not going to take any risks with her fertility:)

I've got to take Felix for his booster this week, we've had to push it back so many times in the past month, Jeez I feel like I'm living at my vets these days, if only they had a loyalty card:D

Thanks in advance.

anniehoo

Most vets are doing an internal/no stitch spay so she wont need a cone at all, but do check with your vet to ask which procedure is being done. She'll be a bit out of it for the first 12-24hrs after the anaesthesia but should be back to her normal self within 48hrs. If not and you notice anything unusual, like she might be in pain etc don't hesitate to call your vet. It takes a bit longer for females to recover than males, who are normally bouncing around within an hour or 2.

SillyMangoX

Usually about the same length of time as a neuter, same story, will be sore for a few days, need to stay inside and all that. I know when we had Peach done she had a cone as she was licking at the wound when she was in the vets but I've seen other cats go home without cones so it depends on the individual!

Pumpkinseeds

Thanks Anniehoo, I'll check with our vet on Wednesday when I'm in with Felix. I've noticed that she has a tendancy to tug out tufts of fur when she's grooming herself, she's quite ruthless about it, so a stitch free op would be ideal for her. I've been trying to put it off til she's a bit more used to us. I noticed when I used to sit with her for a bit in her old location that she visibly cowers when a car passes, so travelling the short distance to the vets will be very traumatic for her, I wonder if the loss of her tail was car related.

SillyMangoX

If it is the same vets that you normally go to then they do it stitch free, they close with glue to there is no worries about having to take 2 trips to the vets to get stitches out and that!

inocybe

I have a Poppy too who was spayed last year. I wasn't given a cone and she ripped out her stitches and had go back to be stapled :eek:
It wasn't nice at all, if she has stitches it's worth using the cone.

x Purple Pawprints x

First thing to do is ask how they normally do it. I'd imagine they wouldn't have a problem with being asked to do it stitch-free.

Fast her from the evening before in any case. The day of the op she'll probably be a little out of sorts. It's best to let her have water and to feed only a small amount of bland food, something that'll be easy on her tummy e.g. boiled chicken. Most vets do a wound check 48 hours after surgery if she has stitches. Stitches come out ten days after surgery then. If you don't have stitches then you obviously don't need to go back to have them taken out.

honerbright

inocybe wrote: »

I have a Poppy too who was spayed last year. I wasn't given a cone and she ripped out her stitches and had go back to be stapled :eek:
It wasn't nice at all, if she has stitches it's worth using the cone.

Exactly what happened when Cinnamon got spayed, she had a cone but she figured out how to wriggle out of it so it was a full time keeping an eye on her :rolleyes:

She felt pretty sorry for herself for about 3/4 days, but that was mostly because we confined her to a small room for the recovery and she was sad she couldn't have the run of the house like usual/had to wear the cone which she hated.

I know my Poppy's a dog, but she was spayed only a month ago and a few hours after the op she was completely back to normal, trying to jump on and off the couch again - another full time job watching her :pac:

Pumpkinseeds

Thanks for all the replies, she's booked in for Thursday of next week.