Please help - very stressed

[Evangelineee]

my cat had surgery on her back leg yesterday. Brought her home today and she needs 6 weeks cage rest. She’s been home a few hours and will not stop thrashing around. I don’t know what to do! I have been told she has to stay either in a crate or a small room where there’s nothing to jump on. We do have a small room with a very low bed, but it’s built in to the wall so we can’t take it out.

She has been climbing her cage, standing on her back legs to try and find a way out, thrashing around throwing herself against the cage, tipping her food water and litter everywhere. If she was just crying to get out, it would be distressing and I’d feel guilty but at least I’d know it was for the best and the leg will be getting better. However, the fact that she is standing on her back legs and putting all of her weight onto the back ones (which I was told she must not do) and using it to climb, she could still be doing damage! How am I supposed to stop this?! There is no way for me to be able to stop her I have no idea what to do. If I let her out, there’s no way she will just chill either, she will be jumping on and off the bed and moving about too much. Either way, she is using the leg in a way that she shouldn’t and I feel we are going to have problems with it healing and I can’t afford for her to have another surgery.

Any suggestions at all? Has anyone else been through this? I can’t see this being smooth sailing snd I can’t even see a positive outcome while she is behaving in this way.

Can the vet prescribe a sedative? How would they manage this in vet hospital, you need to ask them.

A friend had this issue with a young dog. The vet prescribed sedatives. If cat is insured you may have a free advice line available through the insurance.

She was fine at the vets. I suppose because she was in an unfamiliar environment so didn’t want to get out.

Oh OP, I really feel for you! I have been there! I started a thread last year after my cat had surgery on her pelvis - like your cat she was the most impatient patient. I got some helpful tips and support (it’s here if you want to read it).

I honestly think this is harder for us than it is for the cats. My cat was like yours, climbing the bars, swaying around on her back legs, absolutely would not rest. There was no way we could let her out to “sit quietly on a lap for petting” as our vet suggested, so she had to stay in the cage for the full 8 weeks, barring being allowed out into a pen a couple of times a day towards the end. She escaped a couple of times in the first few weeks, and even managed to run upstairs a few weeks after surgery. In spite of all this, she has made a full recovery.

My tips would be to find what things calm your cat down the most and deploy them as often as required. Eg, keeping the cage uncovered seems like it’s good for an inquisitive cat, but you may find she calms down if you cover all but one corner. Our cat was soothed by Spotify calming cat music playlists (yes, they exist!) and also by watching HD tropical fish on YouTube. We didn’t try sedatives, but others on my thread used them so don’t be afraid to go back to your vet if you feel like nothing is working and she’s in danger of hurting herself.

We feel terrible for keeping our cats shut in cages for x weeks, but remember that it’s for her long term benefit, and she won’t be experiencing this in the way that you are. Our cat was in a cage for 8 weeks and another 6 in the house, and if anything we are more bonded after all of that. Lots of treats and whatever sensible toys they can handle.

We had to crate rest our cat and he didn’t like it. He took garbepantin as a sedative. We had this relaxing spray that I think helped a little.
We covered the crate with a blanket to keep it darker, did hang a few toys down low for him to bat around. And played relaxing music for cats on Alexa - yes I did lose my mind.

I worked from home and checked on him a lot. It was an extremely long six weeks.

Thank you so much for your reply! I’m happy to hear that your cat made a full recovery. I will check out your thread, thank you. Did your cat end up getting used to it and settle down, or was she like this for the whole 8 weeks? I’m so worried about her stress levels and worrying about her getting depressed, as well as worrying about the leg with her throwing herself around! If your cat managed to calm down and accept it, how long did it take?

We have gabapentin for her as well, she is on 1ml 3 or 4 times a day. Not sure if this is the max dose though.

I work from home three days a week, and I only have three days annual leave left (renew in April) so over the 6 weeks I will have to go into the office sometimes. My boss said I can work from home this week and next but after that I’ll need to be in 2 days a week and worried about her being on her own in the cage all that time 😢 especially because the vet said the wound will get itchy in a few days so she will probably need a cone on her head which will make everything worse

The first couple of weeks were definitely the worst - she adjusted to being in the cage and was more settled at night especially. But tbh she would go through restless periods most days where she would yowl and climb the bars/swing around (usually when I was on a work call - I’m lucky to work from home). The more the weeks passed the less we worried about her doing herself an injury though. It helped that she had several X-rays so we knew she was healing well (especially after her mad dash up a steep flight of stairs 🙀)

I worried about her getting bored and depressed. She definitely got bored and a bit fed up, but it’s had no lasting issues. She also did settle into the cage set up - we left it there with the door keen when she was on room rest and she’d take herself in there to sleep happily enough.

I can (almost) laugh now, but it was such an exhausting and stressful period. Look after yourself as well as your cat. I hope she settles down soon - it’s early days.

Thank you, I really appreciate your response. I have just read through your thread, you cat is absolutely beautiful! 😻
it feels impossible to wonder how we are going to get through all these weeks when we are only on day 1.

The vet said she can be kept either in a crate or a small room with nothing to jump on. But also said we can only let her out of the crate for 5 mins a day, so I might clear this up with her and if she says she can stay in a small room, DP is a joiner and has some plywood at work. We are thinking of partitioning part of the room off so that she can’t gain access to the bed. Sounds a bit extreme lol but I am feeling so stressed and worked up that I don’t think either of us will cope.

I saw someone on your thread also say they put towels on the cage and attached with washing pegs on the bars so that they couldn’t climb. Might try this

Plywood partition sounds like a great idea, much nicer for her than a cage. We used a dog pen to partition the room once she was allowed out for a bit, but we had to watch her like a hawk as she’d climb that given half a chance… 🤦‍♀️

It did feel like a very long dark tunnel for me right at the start. It helped me to break it down into weeks and only focus on a single week at a time, ticking off milestones like stitches out, first X-ray, 5 mins out the cage each day, etc.

Sending you and your cat strength and support to get through this! I took a lot from the advice and support I got on here - it’s nice to be able to return the favour.

Hope she’s more relaxed today and it’s not too stressful for you. You have my sympathies!

We had to go down to a smaller crate and put Finlay enclosed cat bed inside plus litter tray etc and food so there was no room to move
We attached big bath sheets with clothes pegs so there was no bars to cling to and sprayed it all with calming spray
Half covered outside with blankets so not too stimulating
The drugs helped too

Thank you, she has been ok today. I called the vets and they said if she’s going to be doing more harm than good then I should let her out to calm down, because being so stressed isn’t going to help. Luckily the spare room she is in is small so I have put lots of blankets and beds on the floor next to her cage so when she comes out of it she just lays on the floor on the blankets. I have to watch her like a hawk because she wants to jump onto the bed but the vet suggested getting a ramp so that she can go on and off the bed without jumping. I’m going to try it but I’m not sure if she will just completely ignore the ramp, not realising what it’s for!

Also, we haven’t needed a cone on her head yet because she has a plaster type bandage covering the wound. The vet said it should fall off after a couple of days and it was put on on Monday so I’m expecting it to come off very soon. Once it comes off I’m guessing we will have to put the cone on her so that’s going to be another added stress and ordeal! I’m hoping she doesn’t do it in the night because if she licks it in the night I won’t be able to stop her. DP said just put the cone on her anyway, just in case. But I don’t want to unnecessarily stress her out while she doesn’t need it on because of the bandage

@Evangelineee A few years ago my Lurcher and Whippet found a cat that they would not leave - They stood by him, but staring at me.

I went to investigate, and the cat had been hit by a car - I could feel crepitus under my hands
I hitched a lift holding cat as flat as possible with our two dogs to my vets ( the closest )

The cat was in extremis, purring for self comfort.
White gums, and he allowed himself to be handled easily ( alongside two strange dogs)

Thankfully he had a tag so the owners could be contacted.

He was given plasma expanders immediately -

A couple of months later a lovely couple came out of their house- Henry’s people!

Henry had had a fractured pelvis and femur and internal bleeding- and had to be on crate rest for weeks which he HATED to recover from his surgeries.

His lovely people let me meet him- A beautiful boy who looked grumpy at the dogs and me 🤣

They said his crate rest was essential to his healing.
He recovered.
Goodness knows how much it cost- I hope they were insured.

The car driver clearly didn’t stop for him.

Glad you’ve had a less stressful day @Evangelineee and your cat has settled down a bit. Re the cone, you might be lucky - our cat was pretty good at not licking her stitches, which was just as well as she was like a Houdini getting out of the bloody cone. So it’s not inevitable that she’ll go at the stitches when the bandage comes off. If she does, then you’ll probably find a soft cone easier than the plastic one the vet gives you.

@Evangelineee You can buy surgical suits for cats and dogs- but generally cats hate them. ( Mt brothers cats had them after being spayed, and o bought two for my Whippet after she was spayed, too.
better than a cone. The only downside is they cover their bottoms so you need to undo them when they need to use the litter tray.

Much easier with a dog, as they ask to go out for a wee or poo ( and suit can be unpoppered)

She has been licking the bandage a little bit and the vet said her wound will start to itch so might lick it. Even if she doesn’t lick it through the day, I feel like we should put the cone on at night because we can’t stop her if she decides to lick it then. Did you keep the cone off the whole time, including at night and she was fine? Also the vet kept putting a soft cone on her but every time they’d leave and come back she had got it off 🙈 so they’ve given me a soft one and plastic one.

Woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep. I have to go into the office today until 11:45 so I’ll be gone from 7:30 until 12:15. I’m very nervous about leaving her

Ha she had a surgical suit when she was spayed and she was doing flips in the air to try and get it off! Also the would is on her leg so won’t cover it unless I get one with legs on it which I really can’t see her tolerating any more than the cone tbh

We used to put the cone on before we went to bed. I’d generally wake up in the early hours and check on her and she’d be fast asleep and the cone would be dumped in her litter tray…. Didn’t bother in the daytime as one of us was with her so would hear if she was licking. So we gave up, basically. But she didn’t start to pay the wound much attention until the 2 weeks were almost up and it was obviously healing well. We were lucky in that respect.

Hope you don’t feel too anxious about leaving her this morning - she will be fine (better than you, I’m sure).

Took the plaster off her leg, she started licking it so put the soft cone on.

Shes not happy.

Trying to make her feel better by putting her on the bed and letting her chill here with me for a bit.

Oh bless her! That is the face of a cat who is plotting her revenge (don’t worry, it’ll all be forgotten and forgiven).