Neutering

[Sunshineshimmy]

Hi all

My kitten is being neutered tomorrow, does anyone know if he’s likely to need the cone of shame? Do they bounce back from this procedure quite quickly?
I drop him off in the morning and collect him late afternoon, is it normal to have them in all day?

[Anonaymoose]

Boy cat? Nah shouldn't need a collar, very minor op for boys. They're kept in all day as it will depend on how many ops they have in and he might not be done until late morning. They need to be monitored post anaesthetic for a few hours.

[25yearsnhsworker]

My boy didnt have a cone and bounced back very quickly. He was kept in until 4ish after he had eaten and come round properly. He was 13 weeks at the time and I remember getting up in the night to feed him before his staving period started.
No issues after and all went well.

[Madcats]

Good luck tomorrow, OP.

I think most vets ask for kittens to come in first thing, but do any "difficult" surgery first.
I don't think my Madcat had his op until lunchtime and they phoned to tell me know it had gone well shortly afterwards. We'd been keeping the kittens indoors at that point so I asked them to clip his claws whilst he was dopey.

Dcat was as high as a kite for quite a few hours after his op. He didn't read the memo about taking it easy.

[Tig33]

My cat had this done a couple of weeks ago. He was six months old. I dropped him off at the vet at 8am ready for surgery (so no food from midnight) and they called me to let me know when to pick him up. I got him about 2pm. He was rather subdued and seemed very sorry for himself for a few hours. Just pottered around with his tail drooping. After that he perked up quickly and was back to his usual self. He didn’t have a cone. Vet said just to keep an eye on the site.

[Sunshineshimmy]

Thanks everyone thats reassuring!

[ScottishNewbie]

Mine didn't need a cone, they did go absolutely psycho though. High as kites, running into things etc. I've never seen them like that before or since. Our vet said the sedation has recently changed to include ketamine? Which makes them nuts.
Both were fine the next day, no issues at all. The incisions are so tiny

[Plump82]

My boy is daft as a brush. Nothing phases him and you wouldn't haven't known he'd had any sort of procedure. When i went to pick him up the vet had him out his box in the room and he was exploring on top of the cupboards!!

[Sunshineshimmy]

Well he is home and eating and drinking but oh he is not happy with me at all! He was given the cone but as soon as he was let out his carrier he has pulled it off and is trying so hard to clean himself, poor thing! I will try and put the cone back on once he’s settled a bit but i feel like this could be fighting a losing battle

[thecatneuterer]

I'm with a specialist neuter clinic. We neuter probably thousands of cats a year. We never use cones. I would take it off him.

[Sunshineshimmy]

Thank you! I’ve taken it off, he’s hurting himself more with it on than he is with it off. He is so hyper that all vet advice of no running, climbing or jumping is impossible to enforce anyway

[Madcats]

You didn't plan to sleep tonight, did you?

I think boy Madcat had calmed down by lunchtime(ish) the next day. We also had to cope with siblings not recognising each other for days, so that was fun.

I feel fairly confident that our kittens a decade+ ago were just a little puzzled when they went to clean their (missing) pom poms.

[UpsyDaisysarmpit]

My cat had not a cone but a cushion collar thing that was stopping him from licking his wound the first couple of days - seemed comfy too. He was bouncing about like nothing was wrong straight away !

[Fluffycloudland77]

It’s the ketamine, he’ll crash soon.