20/12/2023
These two girls Lilac and Teal had their spay done today with the wonderful Dr Emetia at West Gosford Vet 🥰
They’ve come home happy and bouncing and not even a little bit fazed that they had surgery today. I always stress when ever they go under anaesthetic what mother doesn’t, but I know they’re in good hands. I would not trust my babies with anyone else other than Emetia, Warren and their staff ❤️
Now all that’s left to do is keep these little girls quiet and calm in their hospital beds so they can rest and heal up.
Keeping kittens calm, confined and quiet after surgery, especially an abdominal surgery like a spay, is of the utmost importance. I’ve had people ask me before why we crate our kittens in hospital cages after surgery so I’ve decided to point out a few reasons below 👇
As you can see from the photos these kittens do not feel like they should be resting because they’re babies, and everything is a fun game. If they were not confined to a hospital bed (crated) they would definitely be running and jumping and climbing and playing with their siblings. Any of those activities would very likely cause their stitches to rip, which would be a medical emergency and require emergency surgery to repair, torn stitches can lead to hernias or even open abdomen’s which would mean significant blood loss and potentially fatal consequences. Plus even if the stitches do hold they would still be under a lot of strain and that would lead to inflammation, swelling, pain, and fluid build up. This would be very irritating and would then make them want to lick and scratch the wound even more. This is swelling, fluid build up, itching, and pain is also something that, to a lesser extent, is actually normal after surgery during healing. It can be quite bothersome to the kitten if her wound is swollen and as the hair grows back it can also make the wound even itcher. This is why having an Ecoller affectionately known as a cone of shame, on them can help. Her first instinct will be to lick. If she did manage to do lick though often the natural bacteria in their mouths from eating raw meat causes infection which can cause even more problems… Having them in a hospital cage though allows for very close monitoring to take place. Minute changes in behaviour such as being more quiet, laying around just staring or watching things rather than sleeping, eating or drinking less, using the bathroom less, or more for that matter… all these help to give clues about how they’re doing in their healing. It also gives the opportunity to intervene early and give appropriate treatment and medications (under your vets supervision of course) to the kitten before little issues become big problems. All kittens should be held in a hospital crate for 10 days, or until their vet clears them to return to normal activity.
So now when you see that I or other breeders are posting about their spayed girls in recovery or hospital cages know will know that we do this for their health and to minimise healing time and get the best outcome possible for each kitten.
