Expert: Ali - 1/27/2009

Question
I have 2 cats, and last Thursday they had an operation, fixation so they wont have babies.. the females.. after the operation was done, i went i picked them up the i went home.. they were very tired and weak and they went to sleep right away and they didn't eat or drink or do anything just used their bathroom.. they were like this just for 2 or 3 days and now they back to normal eating drinking but still afraid and scared and not as nice as they were, they are kinda mad at us I think, but they are getting better with us as days pass.. the problem is that they were very friendly and they loved each other a lot, they are sisters, so we were soooo happy with that, but since the operation one of them is acting very weird with the other one, she kinda yells at the other one and is afraid of her I guess and doesn't want her to come close to her.. but the other one is very nice to her and she is disappointed with the other cat's reaction towards her so keeps staring at the one who yells and just back off and try to stay away from her.. i really feel so bad for this poor cat that is wondering why her sister is doing that to her.. I think that the cat that yells thinks or believes that the other one is the one who made this cut in her belly and put her in so much pain, she doesn't kno wthat the doctor is the one who made it for her not her sister because they were in the same cage when the woke up from the anesthesia her sister was the first one she saw when she first opened her eyes, thats why she keeps doing weird sounds, yells and kinda scared from the other innocent poor cat.. they are both now like enemies, each one of them stays in a different room and when they see eachother the cat just keep doing weird sounds to the other one till she runs away from her.. its really killing me to see them doing that to each other after they were very nice to each other and caring too.. can you PLEASE help me to get them back to their normal life together??? and start loving and playing with eachother as before??? Hope you will have a solution for that.. Thank you very much...

Answer
Khaled,

I have a few questions to ask that may help me to determine what's going on with the girls. Behavioral changes like those that you are describing aren't entirely normal after spay/neuter surgeries. Normally most cats that are spayed or neutered come home slightly less co-ordinated than normal, but there generally aren't such drastic personality changes so I'm looking for a clearer picture that will help me to help you and your cats get things back on track.


- What part of the world did you have these girls spayed in?

- Did you make sure that both cats were given pain medication prior to waking up from surgery?

- Do you know what type of anesthesia was used during the girls' surgeries?

- Have you considered separating the girls temporarily to avoid fighting?

- Do you have access to a health food store or naturopathic pharmacy?

- Have you tried anything to help these girls get back to themselves? If so what did you try so far?

- Have these girls been tested for chronic feline health issues like feline leukemia, FIV and FIP?