A: Timing of the surgery
Time: After 8 months for female cats and 9 months for male cats. (The early and late sexual maturity of different breeds of cats and kittens varies greatly, generally speaking, Asian breeds are earlier than other breeds, and short-haired breeds are earlier than long-haired breeds.)
B: Before Surgery
a) Vaccines: Health must be good and vaccinated.
b) Apparatus: 1. A container such as a large cardboard box that can at least release a cat lying flat.
2, a small clean cotton mattress, puffed under the box, can make the cat comfortable to lie down after surgery. (For disinfection, soak the clean mattress in Dew Drops or 84 liquid, and then expose it to strong sunlight for more than one hour.)
3. A clean quilt. Due to the surgery itself and the power of anesthesia, the cat's body temperature is very low after the surgery, and the body's ability to protect itself from the cold decreases, so be sure to keep the cat warm.
4. Eye drops. Use ordinary human eye drops (such as chloramphenicol eye drops) can be. After anesthesia, the cat's eyes can not be closed, the vitreous humor is exposed to the air for a long time, it will lose water, and you can even see the cat's previously bright and large eyes will appear like walnut skin depression. So from the end of the surgery, make sure you give your cat eye drops in time until she regains consciousness.
c) Fasting and Cleaning: Spaying and neutering surgery uses general anesthesia, especially for female cats, and the anesthesia will be a bit more thorough. The anesthesia used by the general veterinarian will basically be a kind of injection known as 846 Combination, this kind of anesthesia has been eliminated from the medical man because the reaction is too strong, and this is presumably for the consideration of the profitability of the veterinary hospital. Due to this, cats are prone to vomiting after being anesthetized, and at this time, the vomiting is completely in an unconscious state, the body will not make the appropriate adjustments to protect the measures, and it is very easy to cause the vomit to block the throat and nasal cavity, the consequences of which may lead to suffocation of the cat. Therefore, 24 hours (at least 10 hours) before the surgery, fasting, only supplying water. 4 hours before surgery, fasting water. Pre-operative fasting not only reduces the risk of cats and kittens after anesthesia, but another benefit is that it promotes the cats and kittens to recover their appetite and eat as early as possible after surgery. In order to maintain the cat's health in good condition even after one day of fasting, you must take care of the cat's life and try to build a solid foundation for the cat. Two days before the operation, you can give your cat a bath, make sure to use lukewarm water for a short period of time, and dry the cat as soon as possible after the bath, and be careful not to catch a cold. Because it is best not to bathe your cat for at least one month after surgery to avoid wound inflammation or catching a cold due to body resistance. (Cats are different from dogs, especially not accustomed to bathing, especially cats' skin will naturally secrete a kind of oil to clean the fur and maintain health. Frequent bathing will, on the contrary, destroy this function of cats and cats. Therefore, if cats and kittens are kept indoors for a long time and are not very dirty, there is absolutely no need to take a bath, especially in the fall and winter when the temperature is low.)
d) Weighing: It is best to weigh your cat at home. This way the cat is more relaxed and the weighing is more accurate. The weight of the cat is the absolute basis for the doctor to determine the amount of anesthetic to be injected into the cat. Almost half of the risk of the surgery comes from the control of the amount of anesthetic. A little too much anesthetic will directly lead to prolonged coma, brain and nerve damage, or even euthanasia. So weighing is crucial. Try to pick an accurate weighing device. If you can't do that, you can pick an ordinary spring scale at the supermarket, the lower the maximum weight that can be weighed, the more accurate it will be. If you want to know whether the spring scale is accurate, you can choose some 0.25kg, 0.5kg, 1kg, 2kg, 3kg items in the supermarket beforehand to weigh and check. Weighing the cat is best before leaving for the hospital, you can put the cat in a container to facilitate weighing, so that the cat is as quiet as possible, the pointer is relatively stationary when reading the value. Then weigh the container weight, the two values are subtracted to get the cat cat weight.
C: During surgery
Mother cats: the lower abdominal cavity is opened and the ovaries, fallopian tubes and part of the uterus are removed.
b) A little more about the general process:
1. Weighing: If you have already weighed the cat at home, just tell the doctor.
2, inject anesthetic: the cat will be unconscious in 1-3 minutes. Be careful to keep your cat lying on her belly in a normal position, not on her back, and keep her head naturally lowered to avoid her tongue retracting and blocking her throat. Holding her and talking to her gently and giving encouragement can reduce her panic and helplessness. Some cats will struggle before the anesthesia takes effect. Pay attention to protection to avoid falls, bruises or other accidents. If the cat vomits, don't be nervous, you can use a cotton swab to clean out the cat's mouth in time and check that the throat and nasal passages are clear.
3. Injection of antibiotics: When the cat is almost unconscious, the doctor will give the cat an injection of antibiotics to prevent post-operative wound infection.
4, into the operating room: male cats should take 15-30 minutes, female cats longer, one because the surgery is complicated, the other reason is to bandage the wound after the operation. But it should not take more than 50 minutes. (It is recommended to consult widely before the operation and try to find a reputable and experienced doctor to operate on your cat. It's not a bad idea to follow the crowd, at least such a doc has more surgical opportunities and is more skilled.)
D: Post-Operative Care
a) Taking Your Cat HomeDon't try to take your cat that has just been operated on from the veterinarian. The position in which they hold the cat is specially trained. All you have to do is to open the pre-prepared box and let the veterinarian lay the cat flat. Gently cover the cat with a small blanket. Take care to keep the head out of the way and keep the cat breathing well. Give your cat eye drops promptly, at intervals of about 2 minutes, or at longer/shorter intervals as appropriate depending on the dryness of the cat's eyeballs. If you wish, you can check the cat's mouth for the cat, pull out the cat's tongue and wipe the mucus in the mouth clean, you can keep the cat's mouth half-open to facilitate breathing, you can also put a small piece of folded towel under the cat's shoulder, and let the cat's head hang down slightly, which prevents mucus in the cat's mouth (or vomitus) from running down the throat and obstructing breathing. This position is called the recovery position. You can hold your cat's paws gently in your hand; her paws will be cool at this point. Be sure to avoid bumps, shaking and unauthorized movement of your cat, and try to let your cat sleep as long as possible under the control of the anesthetic. Because it will hurt when she wakes up. (Personally, I am against the so-called wake-up shots after surgery, which is not favorable to the cat's recovery.)
b) From the post-surgery to the awakening stage is about 3-5 hours. Depending on the cat's physical condition, cats with good health will wake up faster. Some cats wake up within an hour after surgery, while others sleep for a full day. What we can do when the cat is sleeping:
1. Place the box for the cat in a quiet, warm place, away from sunlight. Guard it and don't leave it.
2, keep dropping the eye drops, and use cotton wool to wipe the runny eye drops clean.
3, pay attention to observe the cat's breathing, pulse, body temperature. Once serious abnormality occurs, contact the veterinary hospital in time. (Cat's pulse: 160-240 times/min , body temperature: 38-39 Breathing: 20-30 times/min).
4. Pay attention to heat preservation, if it is a low temperature season, you can put a warm water bag in the cat's box. Pay attention to keep the room ventilated and dry, but be sure to avoid having the wind blowing directly onto the cat.
c) Within 2 hours after awakening:
1. The precursors of awakening: the limbs tremble occasionally like dreaming, the eyeballs begin to turn slowly, and the cat tries to close its eyes many times slowly. Once there are these moves, it proves that the cat is about to wake up.
2. Once the cat wakes up, some cats will be staggering around. At this time, the anesthesia has not been completely dispersed, and the cat is not conscious, so be sure to follow her and keep a close eye on her to avoid bumping and injuring the cat, and to avoid the cat bouncing around with a brute force, especially the female cats, which could lead to the intra-abdominal ligature coming off and hemorrhaging. Some cats will be awake for a while and sleep for a while, as long as the body temperature, pulse and breathing are normal, there is no problem. Male cats will urinate once after waking up, the amount is very large, and because of the effect of anesthesia, he is often confused and chooses a place where he would not normally urinate to solve the problem, such as the bed or closet, try not to take intimidation and other ways to stop him, it is best to prevent and divert the problem. Some cats will urinate with blood, stained orange-red, which should be normal, and the reaction should be closely observed. The mother cat will resist the postoperative gauze dressing soon after awakening, licking, biting and tearing. You can use small scissors to cut away the part of the gauze that hinders the cat's movement a little to relieve the discomfort of the cat. You can consider wearing an Elizabethan collar for the cat, but for a grumpy and arrogant cat, this is not a good idea, and you should try to keep the cat in a calm mood after the operation. You can also consider making cotton surgical gowns for your cat to protect the incision. The surgical gown should be breathable and comfortable to avoid inflammation of the incision. For post-operative female cats, the most important thing is to ensure that their incisions are free from infection, breakage and other accidents before the stitches are removed. Be sure not to remove the hospital's original bandage on the cat without authorization, and put the homemade surgical gown on the outside to protect it. As the ovaries and fallopian tubes to be removed in surgery for female cats are entangled with the kidneys and other organs, any slip-up in the surgery will result in the cat being unable to urinate, with unimaginable consequences. So you can breathe a sigh of relief when your cat can urinate.
d) Post-operative diet - It is recommended that you purchase canned cat food from the veterinary hospital and feed your cat for 2 days after surgery, then slowly switch back to regular canned cat food and cat food. Reason:
1. Post-operative canned cat food contains antibiotics, which can prevent post-operative infections. I personally don't promote the practice of intravenous antibiotics after surgery and don't think it's too necessary. If properly cared for, cats and cats are not susceptible to infection. In addition to interfering with the cat's autoimmune system, the use of large amounts of antibiotics will also affect the cat's kidney function, leaving a hidden problem.
2. This product is especially designed for cats that have lost their appetite after surgery, and can stimulate the appetite. Because of the side effects of anesthesia, coupled with the weakness of the cat's body after surgery, the cat's appetite will definitely be seriously affected. Induce the cat to eat, not too much at a time, just enough for two bites to finish. If necessary, it can be heated to body temperature.
3. Balanced nutrition will not cause constipation or diarrhea. For post-operative cats and kittens, especially female cats, constipation must be avoided, and cats and kittens can easily cause the intra-abdominal ligature line to fall off when they exert themselves. If you can't buy the canned post-operative formula, you can self-govern: Chicken puree + Chicken liver puree + Fish puree (Beef puree) + Eggs (Chicken liver must not be in large quantities) Stir well without any seasoning, and steam. Add 1/6 tablet of Pioneer Six 1 tablet of Lactasexan every time you feed your cat (at least 2 times daily is recommended). (The medicine can be stopped 3 days after the operation.) Usually ensure that the cat food and fresh water supply.
E: Removal of stitches
The male cat surgery is a minor surgery outside the body and does not require stitches, and the cat basically recovers to normal in 2 days after the surgery, so there is no problem of removing stitches. Female cats remove stitches at least 7 days after surgery (7-10 days). It is best to go to the hospital to remove the stitches, along with the convenience of the doctor to check the healing of the incision.
If you have to remove the stitches for your cat at home, prepare the instruments: alcohol lamp, alcohol (70% medical), pointed medical scissors, tweezers, cotton swabs, cotton wool. Specific operation: The operator will wash the hands (finger brush should be used to remove the hidden dirt in the nails), and wash under running water for 3 times. Immerse in Dew solution (or 84 solution) for 10 minutes, dry naturally, do not rub with a towel. Do not touch anything easily with your hands.
1. Have an assistant remove the postoperative clothing for your cat. There should be a stack of rectangular gauze covering the incision, held in place by tape on the cat's abdominal skin. (The cat's abdominal hair has been removed before surgery, and it will take about a month for it to fully recover to its previous length.) Carefully remove this gauze, and you can see the cat's incision, which is usually stitched with a separate knot, and should be 3-5 stitches. The knot is usually tied on one side. If you find that the incision is red and swollen, and there is discharge, etc., it should be changed to: cotton swab dipped in alcohol, gently rub the incision, 3 times. Re-wrap it well. Timely contact with the hospital for treatment.
2, cotton swabs dipped in alcohol, gently pressed on the suture site, slowly rubbing, rubbing. Promote the suture line and flesh detachment.
3, pointed scissors sterilized at high temperature on an alcohol lamp. Cut the thread close to the knot. Sterilize the tweezer tips at high temperature on an alcohol lamp. Carefully hold the knot and gently pull the thread out. There should be no bleeding, spillage of secretions, etc. The stitched skin will pop open slightly, revealing the incision and a bloody scab. Then use a cotton swab dipped in alcohol to gently wipe the wound, especially the thread holes. Be sure to do this gently. In the following 2 days, 3 times a day, alcohol swabs can wipe the wound. In this way, you have successfully removed a major hidden danger for your cat, and your cat's future will be more happily secured!
The above is limited to personal experience and is not intended to be a medical prescription.