Caged cat after surgery

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Kittensquishes
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Caged cat after surgery

Post by Kittensquishes »

My girl Kiwi is only a year old. She unfortunately fractured 4 of her toes so badly that she required surgery. Her surgery was yesterday and she came home today. Kiwi has been put on cage rest for 6 weeks. I got her a large metal dog kennel that is large enough for a little box and some blankets / kitty bed. I had to go to work all day after bringing her home and came home to find her sleeping in the litter box. I took her out to give her some love and she ate, but is still refusing water. So after her meds I gave her a couple syringes of water. My main concern is that she’s not using the bathroom. The vet said she did urinate a little after surgery but now she’s using her bathroom as a bed.
I know a big issue is that we are required to use shredded paper litter instead of her sand litter. I added a little of her normal litter to it in hopes she’d get the idea but after returning to the cage she immediately laid back down in the litter box.
Am I doing something wrong? I’m so distraught and it’s breaking my heart. How do you deal with caging a cat for 4 weeks?
On top of it her brother (who is a litter mate) went in to visit and was immediately terrified of her and wanted nothing to do with her. Before surgery they slept together, played together, cleaned each other.

This is the most stressful situation I’ve ever been in. Anyone with experience have any advice?
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Mollycat
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Re: Caged cat after surgery

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Oh dear, all my sympathies. I haven't dealt with a caged cat before but I have just had to crate rest a dog and then build up 5 minutes daily walk at a time, for a dog who used to run free for 2 hours a day. All I can say is that from here you think you will never get through it, but you do, and by Christmas you'll be wondering what all the fuss was about.

So three issues - cage rest for a year old active cat; sleeping in the litter box; and the other cat's reaction.

Is the newspaper just until the wound is fully healed, to avoid infection from litter dust? Do you normally use a clay type litter? Would it be worth using a paper based or corn based one maybe? The obvious one, what about offering one little bed if there is room that is just a cardboard box lined with newspaper, if she likes to sleep in newspaper! It is normal after surgery for their system to be upset, my dog didn't poop for 5 days. Add warm water to her wet food, see if that helps. You can try poop massage if she will let you, google for technique.

It's also normal for her not to want to drink, as the tubes from the operation will have made her mouth sore. If she has wet food, there's no need to syringe water into her, just let her drink when she is thirsty and feels comfortable enough to. Relax, it's ok.

As for her brother's reaction, it's also very common and normal, but handled wrong it can lead to terrible lifetime problems. Luckily Kiwi is caged so actually, it will be much easier for you. She smells strange and scary, of the vets and anaesthesia. She doesn't smell like his sister and that's really scary. Some cats hiss and hide for a few days, some attack, and once there's been a fight it's a heck of a job to sort out. You have 6 weeks, so she has plenty of time to get her normal scent back and he has plenty of time to get used to her again. Keep him in another room or ta least stop him coming into hers unsupervised, and take slow steps as if you were introducing strangers. Make every experience positive, give treats praise and rewards, even catnip at she gets better, when he is calm around her. Keep your own anxiety, stress and worry under control, they will pick up on it and freak out.

You can do this!

Love your username, kittensquishes. I don't suppose it's from "squish that cat" Canadian vet is it?
alanc
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Re: Caged cat after surgery

Post by alanc »

To add to what Mollycat has said. Don't despair. I had to cage rest Tilly (then a very active 3 year old) for 8 weeks after she broke a tarsal bone. The first week is by far the worst! As long as your main cage has 2 doors opposite each other, I found that a small second cage alongside the first (with adjacent doors open) into which the litter tray could be put, left enough room for a comfy bed and food dish in the main cage. I appreciate you don't have this problem at the moment, but it also made it easier to clean the litter tray by blocking of the connection while cleaning was in progress.
Kittensquishes
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Re: Caged cat after surgery

Post by Kittensquishes »

Hi all!

So we upgraded to a larger cage. She is no longer sleeping in the litter box, but boy is she stinky from when she was hah! She’s eating and drinking normally again. And the biggest brat ever. We have the larger cage in our bedroom and the smaller cage in the living room because she just screams at as while we are trying to sleep. And that’s the only time she seems to meow is while we are sleeping. Neither of us got much sleep the last two nights so I’m hoping keeping her in the living room at night will help.
As for her brother, he’s checked her out a little bit but still very unsure. I think the cone freaks him out. One day at a time though.
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Re: Caged cat after surgery

Post by alanc »

Glad things are improving a bit. Tilly, she settled down and accepted her fate after the first week although she made at least one bid for freedom in the first few days. I never had the problem of my other cat Badger (from the same breeder, but from a different litter and 1 day younger than Tilly) not recognizing her, probably because Tilly had to stay at the vet hospital for several days after surgery and she had a 1.5 hour car journey to bring her home during which she probably lost most of the vet smell. Far from ignoring Tilly, Badger slept on top of her cage, where I had put her spare bed for quick change purposes (Tilly is a messy eater and spreads her dinner all over the place). I am sure Tilly appreciated this especially when Badger caught a mouse and gave it to her to play with (something I never told the vet - Tilly wasn't supposed to jump about).
Kittensquishes
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Re: Caged cat after surgery

Post by Kittensquishes »

Kiwi is getting along pretty well in the cage. She’s stopped crying at night, mainly because before bed we have some snuggle time and I let her SLOWLY roam around the bed room for some exercise.

Now my only and final concern is that she has only had one bowel movement since surgery. Is this normal? She’s eating and drinking fine. Probably not eating as much as normal.. but I expect that’s because she’s not as active.

She has a vet appointment Tuesday for a bandage change … can this wait until then or should I be concerned?
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Mollycat
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Re: Caged cat after surgery

Post by Mollycat »

It's very common for animals not to poo for a while after anaesthesia. My dog had a big op in January and it was 5 days before he delivered anything at all. To help them along, you can add warm water to their wet food. Our dog developed such a taste for warm dog food soup we've carried on giving it to him that way. He carried on being a bit bunged up for a few more days but yes it should resolve. If you're worried give your vet a call and they should be able to advise or reassure you.
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