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Night after Spay... Restless and agitated!

7.4K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  Marcia  
#1 ·
Hopefully this is the right place to post, and this is okay to post- Admins, please delete if not okay!

I got my kitty home from the vet a few hours ago (around 5pm, now 9:15pm my time). She got spayed. They said she did great, no problems, shes was a good girl. She was good in the car, but as SOON as we got in the house, before I even opened the crate to let her out, she started rolling around in there. Frantic, I let her out, which she proceeded to roll around on the floor. She was very loopy so I put her back in the crate so she didn't run into anything. I let her out about 30 minutes later and gave her a little bit of wet food. She seemed okay but was still rolling around. They told me obviously to keep her as quiet as possible. I gave her a bit more food an hour later- all is well. She apparently would NOT tolerate a cone, so they gave her a medical pet shirt to cover her incision.

Now, she is rolling around, trying to bite the neck of the shirt, and is swatting at me whenever I go near her. She also tried to bite me when I checked her incision. I can't calm her down, I have no idea what to do. I'm terrified shes going to open her incision. I can't tell if shes bored, feeling good, itchy, hurting, trying to get the shirt off... They sent her home with liquid Buprenorphine but said not to give it until tomorrow morning. I'm wondering if I should give her half a dose tonight? I got the call from the vet around 2pm that she was out and they told me she had gotten an injection of pain medication when I picked her up. I'm just worried about respiratory depression. She does have just a bit of a wet sounding purr type of thing going on too, which I was told can be from the ET tube but to call if it doesn't go away in a couple of days.

I know stray cats get spayed and then the release them and they end up being fine but I'm a terrified cat mommy!! I can tell tonight is going to be a long night, every sound I hear I'm going to be up, making sure she isn't bleeding out! Am I over-worrying? Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do? Should I sleep in the same room with her or put her in a quiet room downstairs to try to get her to relax??? Thank you in advance!!
 
#2 ·
Agitation is a pretty common side effect of anesthesia. I've had it happen with Holly and Kobi when they dental work done. Usually calmed down around midnight.
 
#5 ·
Lemon seems to be doing okay! I just can't help but worry. The night ended up going okay, as soon as the entire house went to sleep I moved her to a quiet room by herself with a nice warm blanket. Checked at 2am, still okay. When I woke up at 6 she had gotten out of her tshirt but her stitches were still intact! She was HANGRY!! Fed her the normal breakfast she gets per directions of the vet, and gave her the first dose of her pain meds. I can tell she's uncomfortable but hopefully in a few days she'll start to feel more normal. My poor little girl!