recovery period for barn cat spay

[mzgarden]

We have had lots of cats, but almost always males.  Currently we have acquired (read abandoned) a pair of ~5 week old kittens 1M & 1F.  They are sweet, well socialized and we can handle them easily at 10 weeks.  Sissy (F) was spayed Thursday (Boy will follow).  Vet says indoors 10 days   The last 2 F Barnies we had spayed were indoors 48 hours
to ensure they recovered from the anesthetic, got their internal thermostat's working, no issues with the incision and we confirmed all their poo & pee facilities were working - then back out to the barn.  They have a barn full of hay & straw bales, and an option to sleep in a couple small safe shelters - old XL dog boxes with straw bedding but no doors. 

I'm of a mind to release this gal back to her known home after 48 hours, if she passes all the recovery tests we typically use.  I can check her incision easily as they are quite social.

I never heard of keeping a barn cat inside to recover for 10 days -- have you?

[Use Less]

Personally, I would take my vet's advice. Did you inquire why they prefer a longer indoor recovery than you are used to? Spaying is major surgery compared to neutering a young male cat.

[Skandi]

Had our adopted barn cat spayed last year, at 10 days they took the stitches out! she was inside for 3 days I think, before keeping her confined became (imo) worse than letting her out, she was going mad tearing round the furniture. I will say that seeing her up a tree on the fourth day didn't do my nerves any good. but all stitches stayed in place.

[Maura]

She is a baby. Surgery is different for a baby than a grown or half grown animal. Keep her inside.

[mzgarden]

Thanks all. She's upstairs inside - has the run of the place with a box, food, water and several comfy places. When she sleeps, she's camping in our granddaughter's tent, on a blanket I crocheted. So far, so good. She seems content for now with occasional bouts of running around like a crazy thing. I figure I'll keep her inside for a while. I'm in no rush to toss her out but 10 days surprised me. Our adult boy kitties (neutered) in the house are not happy, but as long as we keep the door closed, we can keep them apart.

BTW, no stitches to be taken out. Stitches are inside and will dissolve naturally but the incision is apparently glued.

Thanks for the inputs. Always something to learn, right?

[willowgirl]

The anesthesia they're using nowadays seems to take a longgggg time to wear off! I can remember having cats done years ago and they were fine by same evening, or the next morning at the latest. The last few batches here, they've still been groggy a couple of days later. (I think they have some long-acting pain meds built into the anesthesia, or perhaps administered at the same time.) I worry about releasing cats back "into the wild" when they're not at the top of the game. Worried they'll get hit by a car or fall victim to a predator!

We've kept the barn cats in carriers (lined with pee pads) on the porch until they were healed up and in possession of their faculties. Nurse Numb does a great job of taking care of them! They are not real happy to be penned up for so long, but better safe than sorry, I guess!

[katievt]

When our cats were spayed, we kept them inside for two days. After that they were free to go in or out as they pleased. If they hadn't been acting normally, we would have kept them in longer.

My husband had said "Cats belong outside", "No cats in the house", and "I'm not cleaning a litterbox", but who was it that decided they would enjoy sitting by the woodstove??? He's a big softie. By the time we spayed them, they were fully indoor-outdoor cats.

[mzgarden]

Thanks all. The update is that this sweet, adorable, ride around on my shoulder in the barn while I do chores lasted in the house about 3 days and turned into hiss & spit. She tried to chew her way through the door and got entirely unmanageable indoors. Took her out to the barn -- sweetest little kitty you could ever know. Guess we got told!

[countrymom22]

Glad she's doing well and was able to make her wishes known. Now you don't have to feel guilty about letting her go back out!