Please help! Tips on caring for a cat after orthopedic surgery needed

[Ivebeeninlockdowntoolong]

Hello has anyone experience of this and if so could you give me some advice please? I started another thread recently about my injured cat so this is now following on from that.

Our little boy has just had two operations for a broken left hock and a femoral head ostectomy for his right hip. The vet has advised he will need to be confined to a crate for 5 - 8 weeks at home to allow the bones and hip joint to recover properly. We can only let our cat out 3 times a day, for 5 - 10 minutes under supervision.

He's 10 months old and a very lively, enquiring cat. This crating is going to be a form of torture for him (and I'm sure distressing for us as well). Does anyone have any great tips to help make this happen any better?

Remember that he will presumably be in plaster, in pain and less mobile while in the crate so not gallivanting as much as usual at first. My cat had to be caged for six weeks after an accident where she was in plaster. I kept her crated in my bedroom so she could see and hear me - I like to read and do some of my work on my bed. She coped much better than I thought and recovered well. She slept a lot due to the injuries and pain meds. She also enjoyed grooming and playing with toys. It’ll be ok.

Thanks Waving, that's a comfort and reassuring, as we're both nervous about what the next few weeks will bring.

My cat had an accident and cut tendons, was bandaged up and in a crate for 6 weeks I think. We bought a small corner litter tray, and used puppy pads on the floor overlapping around that corner of the cage. We kept her company as much as possible too!

As in, the puppy pads were outside the cage, under the cage liner and protecting the surrounding carpet