Post Operative Care for Cats

By: Zara Willmott

Post Operative Care for Cats: Recently Fang (our director of shipping) had to have exploratory surgery to remove some string he had ingested. Waiting to hear how his surgery went was stressful, but surgery isn’t the end of it. Once he got home we needed to make sure the environment was safe for him. Here are my tips and tricks for post-op care

Separate Space

It is important to give the recovering patient a small safe space that is just for them. This is good for several reasons

1. Allows you to better monitor food and water intake
2. less chance they could get hurt (remember they could still be groggy from meds)
3. Better able to monitor litter usage (this is key to ensuring healthy recovery)

And in our case, Luna was very put off by Fang and had lots of hissing and growling for him. The separate space gave fang a stress-free environment to recover in.

Smaller Meals

Offering several smaller meals throughout the day is helpful after surgery. Cats can go either one of two ways

1. They can act like they are starving and seem to eat constantly
2. They can have little to no appetite

Offering them smaller meals is a good way to track their intake and also ensure that their tummies don’t get upset.

The Dreaded Cone

Fang was required to wear a cone for a few days after surgery, he was not happy about this. Fang is a larger cat so the cone we got was a little big for him, but the next size down was too small. Combine this with Fang’s natural anxiety, the cone was not working for him. I did a quick search and found a few options.

*Please note that I am not affiliated with any of these products. I am just sharing the info I found

1. Calm Paws Recovery Collar
2. Kong Cloud Collar
3. Cat Recovery Suit

While these were all good options they were not feasible given the current Stay at Home order. I wasn’t able to go in and see sizes. Fang is a big cat and I didn’t want to stress about returns if needed. So instead I went on a Pinterest DIY search. I found some great ideas

1. I took an old breakaway collar and an old sock: I sewed the sock onto the collar and then stuffed the sock with old grocery bags. This acted like a cloud collar and Fang didn’t mind it as much as the cone. I used the breakaway collar so if Fang got under the beds or stuck in any way the collar would just pop loose
2. Another idea I found and really liked was to use an old onesie. This video was so great. It gave clear instructions, unfortunately, Fang didn’t like his onesie I made him (Thank you to a kind neighbour who gave me a few different sized onesies) but it might work for your cat

Changes in the home

Making sure your cat has easy access to their Favorite spaces will help with healing. After surgery, most Vets will say limit exercise, but we all know our cats don’t always listen. What we did for Fang was move furniture pieces to create “steps” up to his favorite perch spots, this way he didn’t have to jump until he felt ready.

The most important thing during recovery is to watch for any behaviours that concern you (indications of pain, loss of appetite, etc.) and when in doubt call your Vet. I hope these tips are helpful and ease the recovery for both you and your pet