Don't leave your cat alone during her first 12-24 hours post-surgery. This stretch of time is when your pet needs to closest monitoring for excessive bleeding or issues with urination. If, after the allotted time, your cat seems to be able to urinate without trouble, you can keep an eye on her as you go about your day.
You cannot leave your cat alone for the first 12-24 hours after she is spayed, since this is a critical time to monitor for postoperative bleeding and normal urination. After this, as long as your cat seems comfortable and is urinating, you may leave her in a confined area with her E-collar in place.
Some veterinarians choose to keep a newly spayed cat overnight, to minimize their movement. If the spay is done in the morning, the cat may be ready to go home the same day. In either case, your cat may be a little groggy the first night, and may not be interested in eating. This is a normal reaction.
Keep your cat in a crate or small room to sleep, and make sure he is comfortable and secure. On the day of surgery, the incision site on your cat might look minorly red and swollen.
Keep pet indoors after surgery.
This will help you carefully watch them tonight to make sure they do not have any problems related to the surgery. Stray or feral cats should be kept in their carrier overnight; check that the cat is fully recovered before releasing it.
She should be kept indoors for at least 2 days after the operation (longer if possible) to allow the wound to begin the healing process. If you have only recently acquired an adult cat it may be necessary to keep her in for a longer period after the operation until she has got used to living with you.
Keep your pet inside and restrict activity for 10 days. This allows tissue time to heal and avoids the incision from opening up. Do not allow licking of incision site! If licking, please place a protective cone or collar on the cat for 7 days to prevent complications.
Take Down All Cat Trees to Keep Your Cat From Jumping
Either laying cat trees on their side or covering them with a blanket, is a great first step to discourage jumping in your home. Leaving the cat tree up simply invites your feline friend to test their leaping luck.
Some hospitals prefer to keep surgery cases overnight so that they can rest in a properly confined area; some veterinarians believe that this first night of confinement helps the incision in healing.
Following surgery, your veterinarian will most likely advise you to restrict your pet's movement for some time (usually a week). Sudden jumping or stretching can cause the incision to reopen and disrupt the healing process.
Post-Surgery Care Tips
Unlike post-surgical care in humans, it's not necessary to buy pain medications for spayed/ neutered cats. Some cats will fully recover during the first week, whereas others will need around 14 days. Be patient with your feline furball, and don't panic.
You shouldn't allow him to climb stairs, run, jump, or even play during the first-week post-operation. Letting the newly neutered/spayed cats move too much can slow down the cut's healing process. To be on the safe side, it's important to keep your cat inside a small room, in a crate or inside a carrier.
Too much activity can keep the surgery site from healing properly and can even cause the incision to open up. Your pet should not be running, jumping, playing, using stairs, or jumping on/off furniture for the next 10-14 days.
Monitor Behavior & Appetite
If your pet remains lethargic for more than 12 hours, or if it does not regain its appetite within a day or two, let your vet know. Signs of pain include unusual meowing, a hunched back, and bleeding from the surgical site.
If the bladder was completely emptied soon after surgery, then it might realistically take 12 hours for the cat to need to urinate again. Trying / squatting but failing to pass water, however long ago a cat emptied their bladder, would usually be urgent.
Cat Litter: If your male cat was neutered, the incision is always left to heal without stitches. To prevent cat litter from adhering to the incision, we recommend using shredded newspaper for 5 days after surgery. This is not necessary for female cat spay procedures.
If a cat is likely to be very active immediately after surgery, the cat may need to be restricted to a small room. Jumping can be a problem, especially jumping down from heights since this can cause injury to the abdominal incision (for females).
Your cat might pee on your bed because he's really uncomfortable with his litter box. You need at least one litter box per household cat, plus one additional box. Put them in different locations throughout the house, including at least one spot in a private area away from noise and traffic.
Immediately after surgery, your cat may be disoriented and unable to use their normal litter box. Certain medications such as opioids, sedatives, and some anxiety medications can cause disorientation and abnormal behaviors.
2) It is a good idea to keep cat alone in a room overnight- away from other pets or children. Room must be well ventilated and quiet. Towards evening give the cat water and offer a small amount of food.
A puppy or dog crate furnished with a bed, litter tray, food and water bowl can be the best way of providing cage rest. Cage rest can be hard for cats and boredom can set in. Talk to your vet about whether limited periods outside of the cage for interaction and gentle play are possible.
Spaying is an invasive operation that, when done on a cat, can cause scare and confusion and make her clingy. Pain medications you give to your cat after being spayed can also disorient your cat, making her overly attached to you.
Stress. Frustration, stress and anxiety are common causes of inappropriate urinating in cats and can be a way for cats to show they are not feeling too happy about something. You should try and work out what could be causing your cat to feel stressed so that you can remove or at least reduce, the stressor.