Neutering questions...

[Wallaby]

Mr. Booth is FINALLY getting neutered on Thursday. Thank the lord! haha

Anyway, so I'm wondering if there's anything special I need to do for him to help him recover the best possible...
Should I confine him to my room or let him have free run of the basement like usual? My one concern is that he might be woozy and then go sleep somewhere strange and not want to come out when I call... He's usually a very in your face kind of cat (I think I've seen him hide like once in his entire life) so there are plenty of places in the basement where he could go hide if he wanted to, since there was no need to block them off...

Also, he's usually very playful and frolic-some, I assume he'll probably be a little less so while he recovers... What kind of behavior changes can I expect from the lack of hormones? Is there any way to tell? He's a very bitey cat (mostly for no reason, no one plays with him with their hands and he'll be being perfectly happy and purring, then bam! he's biting/mouthing your hand) will that maybe go away more?

Anyway, I dunno, I know it's a very routine surgery but I'm still a little worried... I guess I'm just remembering when I had a male guinea pig neutered and he was totally zonked for about a week and wouldn't eat anything but grass because he was so uncomfortable. However, neutered guinea pigs are way less common than cats. haha!

Also, to double check, after he's neutered: should I, or should I not get pain meds to take home for him? I assume not, but I figure it's to check with those who know.

[Jan Rebecca]

When I got Tuffy neutered I was expecting this huge change in him since ppl always talk about how the surgery changes them - BUT - he really did not change at all. After his first few days of recuperation were done - he was back to his playful fun loving self.

As far as where to keep him when he comes home, I would wait and see what he is like when you pick him up. I've heard of cats that had the surgery who came home and were up and about immediatly, Tuffy however couldn't even walk when I brought him home, he spend the first day and a half laying on me, I had to take him to the litter box and water dish. So it depends on the cat I suppose .. Good luck!

[russianxx]

I would just let watch him but let him sleep where he feels most comfortable, he might not even be sleepy when you get him home. It varies for each cat but just watch him and try to make him comfortable. Good luck!!

[laurief]

I would keep him away from stairs for the first 24 hrs post-op ... or as long as it takes him to completely recover from the effects of the sedatives and anesthesia. Some cats are especially drug-sensitive and may take several days to completely shake off the effects, in which case you should keep him away from stairs and other potential hazards until he's 100% drug-free again.

Males who are neutered before reaching sexual maturity often are less or non-aggressive as adults, and they're much less likely to spray. Males who are neutered after reaching sexual maturity often don't change much after neutering. If they are aggressive and/or spray before neutering, they'll likely retain those behaviors after neutering, though they may diminish somewhat (depending on how long the cat was intact before being neutered).

I don't think I've ever given pain meds to a male cat after neutering. The boys spring back very quickly from this surgery.

I'm sure Mr. Booth will be fine. Just keep him safe until the drugs are out of his system.

Laurie

[Susan]

My daughter's cat, Neko, was neutered at 5 months of age. He was a little sleepy the first day, but fine thereafter. There was no change at all in his behavior. I think your Booth is around 6 or 7 months, so he's still quite young. A lot depends on the cat, but I suspect Booth will be fine after a day or so.

[saitenyo]

We took Apollo home the day he was neutered (he was under 4 months, so pretty young) and had only interacted with him once before then so I can't comment on before/after behavior much, but from what I can tell, he was exactly the same.

In fact when we brought him home, I was genuinely concerned there had been some sort of mistake and they hadn't actually neutered him, because he wasn't sleepy or in pain at all. I was all prepared to have him be woozy or nervous, but he was practically bouncing off the walls, exploring his new home with great vigor. It was impossible for me to contain him and "let him rest" as the vet recommended. XD

I did get painkillers to take home...and ended up not even needing them. He refused to take them and didn't seem to be bothered by any significant pain.

And he's still completely crazy and bitey and playfully aggressive for sure.

[Wallaby]

Good to know!
He's 6 months as of last Friday, give or take a little, seeing as how I found him in the woods as a itty-bitty baby. Personally, I think he's younger but he can't be much younger seeing as how when I found him his tail was still ridiculously short, and his eyes were still radically changing colors, yet he was fine eating solid food (however, he was barely alive and mostly starving so he may have been willing to eat anything remotely food-like) and he was already happily using the litter box. The vet figured (when I brought him in 2 weeks later) that he was around 7 weeks at that point but there's still iffy space. In any case, the difference in his age can't be more than a week or two.
And there, I hijacked my own thread. Hahaha!

Thank you all for your helpful responses.

Oh! I thought of another question, so the receptionist lady told me to bring him in on Thursday for his neuter but didn't tell me a time to bring him in... I assume that probably means I should just take him in in the morning and they'll call me once he's up again? I guess I'll call tomorrow to ask since I realized I didn't really understand once I was driving away...