So that the cat does not breed and does not walk, but is calm and balanced, many owners decide to sterilize the animal. The operation is a real stress for the cat. It does not last long, but the pet leaves it hard after such a procedure. During this period, the cat needs attention and proper care.
About cat sterilization
The operation to sterilize a cat is carried out without the presence of the owner in a veterinary clinic. A few days before this event, she is examined. Take a urine and blood test.
The cat should be fed 12 hours before the upcoming operation, but it is allowed to drink water. Immediately before the operation, the veterinarian again carefully examines the animal. He listens to how the heart beats, monitors breathing, makes allergy tests.
After examination, the pet is anesthetized. To ensure artificial respiration, a special tube is placed in the cat's mouth. After that, an incision is made on the stomach or side, through which the ovaries, uterus are removed, then everything is sutured. Prior to recovering from anesthesia, the animal is under the control of doctors.
After the operation, the cat is put on a collar around its neck, preventing it from licking its wounds. Sterilization does not give the animal severe pain. Despite this, after the procedure, the animal is given an analgesic injection.
After the procedure, the cat stops the production of sex hormones and sexual activity subsides.
Animal care after surgery is carried out both in the clinic and at home. The first option is resorted to when there is no way to care for a cat at home. In this case, the clinic staff will look after the pet for the appropriate fee. If the animal gets home, then in the next 2-3 days he will need maximum attention.
At home, the pet recovers faster, while the hospital can cause additional stress for him. Suture treatment after sterilization of a cat is the most important point in caring for it.
Carriage of a cat after surgery
If you decide to take care of the cat at home, then after the operation you should wait 20 minutes (to make sure there is no bleeding), and you can take it home. You need to transport the animal in private transport or by taxi. The pet should be on a wide, warm carry, on the right side, so as not to burden the heart once again. In the cold season, in order to avoid hypothermia, it is advisable to wrap the cat additionally, while ensuring free access to air.
Departure from anesthesia
How and how much does the cat leave after sterilization? This question worries many cat-lovers. The animal sleeps for 7-12 hours after anesthesia. It happens that the pet comes to his senses earlier.
In the first hours after anesthesia, the cat is lethargic and sleepy. Nausea can bother her. Sometimes there is aggression, lack of coordination, insecurity when moving, limping, attempts to take off blankets. Sometimes involuntary urination, vomiting and fever occur. The last symptom will help to establish a thermometer, which is introduced to the animal in the anus.
The place for the animal after sterilization should be insulated, as many cats feel chills and freeze during this period. The sunbed should be located on the floor, in a room without drafts.
After anesthesia, the pet has poor coordination of movements, so it can not be laid on a hill (couch or chair), as the cat may fall. For the same reason, there should not be any sharp or hot objects in the room.
After anesthesia, difficulties with blinking may occur, sometimes the cornea dries up in the animal. Drops for eyes will help get rid of such ailments.
After anesthesia, the cat does not move well. In this regard, the animal every half hour should be shifted from one side to another. Recovering, she will try to stand on her paws, and 12 hours after anesthesia, full activity returns to her. The owner in this period must create comfortable conditions for the animal and make sure that the treatment of sutures after sterilization of the cat is carried out correctly.
How does a cat behave after sterilization?
After the cat has departed from anesthesia, she returns to her ordinary life. How does a cat behave after sterilization? Firstly, she becomes less aggressive and more calm. It starts to eat well and ceases to toil, screaming at night. Not looking for a mating partner and not trying to run away from home. The animal’s maternal instinct completely disappears, and the cat’s tray stops smelling sharply, as the level of felinin drops in the urine. The hormonal background is stabilized.
Such an animal lives longer. Sterilization helps protect females from purulent pyometritis that appears in those cats whose estrus passes without fertilization.
Features of care after surgery
The cat almost immediately after waking up will make attempts to lick the wound. It is necessary to prevent this in every way, since licking entails a seam divergence, infection and other negative aspects. For this reason, immediately after sterilization, an animal is put on a blanket, bandage or a special collar. Two days later, the cat gets used to the specified accessories and makes no attempt to remove them.
The time of the first feeding is indicated by the doctor. If the pet can swallow normally and drink water without difficulty, then the cat is fed immediately as soon as she has withdrawn from anesthesia. When vomiting should wait about 4 hours and then feed.
Suture treatment after cat sterilization is an important part of grooming. This procedure is carried out 2-3 days after the operation, twice a day.
What is needed to care for a cat?
Before sterilization, the doctor gives a list of necessary accessories that will be needed after the operation to care for the pet. Typically, these are:
- Cat blanket after sterilization. Those cat owners who sterilized their pets recommend purchasing this accessory in a double copy, so that when washing one, the second is on the animal and protects the seam.
- Warm blanket or heating pad. These things are necessary in the first days after surgery. They will help to create a pet comfortable conditions.
- Disposable syringes. They are needed if the animal is in pain and requires the introduction of pain medications.
- Cotton buds and tampons. They will have to handle the seam.
- Disposable diapers and wet wipes. These accessories help keep the animal clean.
- Medicines Their list is provided by a veterinarian. This may include ointment for healing stitches after surgery, antibiotics, eye drops, painkillers.
The most important thing for an animal in the postoperative period is peace, attention and care, in which all the doctor's recommendations must be followed.
Seam Processing Rules
Postoperative sutures in the animal must be processed regularly, twice a day. To process the seam, you need to remove the blanket, dampen a cotton pad abundantly in an antiseptic and wipe the seam, clean it of wool and anemia. If necessary, apply zelenka or ointment for healing the sutures after the operation "Levomekol." Then a clean blanket is put on the pet.
What should the seam look like after sterilizing a cat? First of all, it must be neat. Its size should not exceed 3 cm. In some places, threads are visible. Often during healing, a bump is formed on the seam. This is normal and occurs as a result of proliferation of connective tissue. The lump dissolves over time and does not cause the animal any problems.
Treatment of sutures after sterilization of a cat is carried out for 10 days after surgery, until the threads are removed.
Symptoms requiring a doctor
Postoperative sutures after cat sterilization require increased attention. If during their processing an unpleasant odor, swelling and redness of the suture are observed, then the animal should be immediately shown to the doctor. The reason for going to the veterinarian is spotting between the sutures, fever, rapid breathing and a prolonged lack of appetite. The cat must be shown to the doctor if, during the day, after anesthesia, she did not experience nausea and impaired coordination of movements, anxiety and trembling of the extremities were noted.
In order not to cause negative reactions, it is necessary to limit the movement of the animal. You should not let him run, jump high and climb, and also perform actions that can injure his stomach. The blanket for the cat after sterilization should be on the pet constantly.
Cat Care After Sterilization: Veterinarian's Tips
Veterinarians say that it is in the first hours after surgery that a pet especially needs care and attention. He may experience weakness, nausea, and other ailments. And the owner’s task is to alleviate his suffering as much as possible.
On this occasion, veterinarians give the following tips:
- While the cat is under anesthesia, her eyes are open. During the operation, the doctor closes the eyelids of the animal himself, but after sterilization, until the cat has moved away from anesthesia, this will need to be done by the owners. To prevent the eyes from drying out, doctors recommend using Diamond Eye Drops.
- In the postoperative period, the cat's body temperature decreases by 1.5 degrees. It is for this reason that she feels a chill. To alleviate the condition of the pet, it is recommended to cover it with a warm blanket or cover it with heating pads.
- Shaky gait. This symptom worries many cats after anesthesia. This indicates muscle weakness. At this time, you need to monitor the animal - do not let climb onto the closet, bed and other interior items from which the cat can fall.
- Seam processing. It should be carried out every day, starting from the second day after surgery.
- Asshole. It is mandatory, especially if the cat licks the seam after sterilization. It should be worn 10-12 days before removing the stitches. This accessory will accelerate wound healing and protect against complications.
- Feeding a cat. A sterilized cat is prone to obesity, and you need to feed it with this in mind. The first feeding accounts for 50% of the normal diet of the animal.
The main thing is to ensure comfortable conditions for the animal and peace in the first days after the operation, not to allow children to it and try to protect the cat from injury.
Animal recovery after surgery
It is not always easy to leave the cat after sterilization. The restoration of the animal occurs on the 7th day. The younger the pet, the faster it comes to. Complete emotional and physical recovery in the animal is observed after a month. By this time, the pompom is removed from it, the suture heals and ceases to bother, and the cat finally departs from the stress.
Sterilized Pet Feeding
In the first hours after anesthesia, it is not recommended to feed the pet. After sterilization, many swallow the swallowing reflex, which makes eating difficult. During this period, food can cause vomiting, so the first time some cats have to drink from a pipette. The first meal should not exceed 50% of the normal norm.
For 3-4 days, the pet begins to fully eat. After sterilization, the cat's diet should be reviewed to avoid obesity. Therefore, the diet of such an animal should consist of meat, dairy products, the fat content of which does not exceed 5%, oatmeal, rice porridge, as well as fruits and vegetables.
For sterilized cats, veterinarians advise you to purchase special food. In them, the nutritional value of the product and calorie content are balanced. Such feeding will give the pet the necessary energy and will help maintain health for many years.
Possible complications
Despite the fact that sterilization of cats is considered a simple operation, the following complications can occur in an animal, these are:
- Internal bleeding. Appears due to violation of the rules of the operation. With this malaise, the animal loses its appetite, often meows and does not lie on its stomach. Blood clots form near the wound.
- The seam is festering. This is due to infection in the wound. To prevent this, it is impossible to remove the blanket from the pet prematurely, and the seam should be processed regularly, twice a day.
- Hernia. It occurs in cases where the wound has not yet healed, and the threads have already resolved. In such a situation, the internal organs may fall out of the peritoneum.
- Mastopathy It is a complication of the sterilization procedure. Refers to hormonal disorders. It manifests itself as a swelling of the mammary glands and is called a false pregnancy. Typically, such a process in a cat occurs even before surgery. It is considered the most serious complication.
So that complications after the operation are not fatal, you need to see a doctor at the first sign of an ailment of the animal.
Preparations after surgery
To care for a cat after surgery, various medications are often prescribed that can alleviate her condition, these are:
- analgesics;
- vitamins;
- antibiotics
- hemostatic drugs;
- antispasmodics;
- laxative;
- cardiovascular agents.
Caring for animals after sterilization is not easy and requires patience. But all the work pays off with interest and the pet is transformed before our eyes. Instead of a restless and nervous animal, an affectionate and playful pet appears.