When is cat surgery considered elective, non-elective, or an emergency?

Elective procedures, as the name implies, means you’re electing to do them. They are not anything that has to do with life or death situations. So it’s something that we are choosing to do. And the most common procedures I would say with those types of surgeries would be either a spay or a neuter, male or female. And most times, dental work would even be considered to be an elective procedure if it’s done early.

Non-elective things need to be done to ensure the good health of the animal, but they’re not on an emergency level. Maybe there’s a growth somewhere that we don’t like, and we want to take it off. It’s not necessarily something that has to be done today, right at this minute, but it’s probably something that should be done sooner rather than later. So I would consider that to be a non-elective surgery.

And then, of course, an emergency surgery, as the name implies, is something critical to that animal’s survival. So maybe the dog was hit by a car, or in my mind, I think of various traumatic wounds or injuries that can cause a ruptured spleen, those kinds of things that have to be addressed quickly. There is also the case of an intestinal surgery, like an intestinal blockage, something like that, that has to be done sooner rather than later, because if you don’t do it now, you may not be able to do it later. So that’s kind of the breakdown of the three categories.

Who will be monitoring the cat while under anesthesia?

Most times, it’s going to be one of the veterinary team, one of the veterinary technicians if you will. Every practice I’ve ever worked at has a whole slew of very well-trained individuals that can run anesthesia and monitor vital signs while I, the veterinarian, is doing surgery.

I’m there to hear the monitors beeping at me, and I can usually see the numbers, but once I’m scrubbed in, and I’m sterile, I can’t do much. I can’t break the sterile field and start adjusting dials and knobs and doing all that. So we have well-trained technicians that can help us with that. We have monitoring equipment that does it. We have blood pressure monitors, EKGs, heart rate, oxygen level—all of that is being monitored. And 99% of the time, it’s being monitored by one of my technicians during the procedures.

How long is recovery after a cat surgery?

It’s an impossible question to answer for the simple reason that when you say surgery, it’s like saying how much does a car cost? Well, what kind of car? The surgery can be anything.With orthopedic surgeries,, you might be talking about weeks to months of recovery until they’re fully recovered. The more common one is an ovariohysterectomy, where you are making an abdominal incision. In that case, it’s maybe a week or so to 10 days before they’re fully recovered. With castration of a male cat, recovery is more like a day or two, and they’re fully recovered. It’s a much less invasive procedure. Again, that’s where the consultation with your veterinarian beforehand comes in so that you know what to expect when you get home.

What can I do to help my cat recover at home after surgery?

The biggest thing after any surgical procedure will be rest. When you’re doing surgery, usually that involves cutting of tissue and manipulation and trying to put that tissue back together. There’s going to be healing time; whether it’s a couple of days or it’s a couple of weeks—there will be substantial healing when that’s done, along with pain control, of course. That’s all going to be affected by what’s done and how active that cat is afterward. So if I had to give one answer to that question, it would be to have them confined, whether it’s a kennel, whether it’s a room, or whether it’s keeping them at the hospital if you have to. But keep them confined so they can rest, the tissues can begin healing quicker, and you’re not aggravating suture lines. Those are the first and foremost issue.

And I won’t go into specifics because there are so many surgical procedures done, I can’t touch on all of them. Still, I can tell you that rest, initially, especially, is going to be crucial on pretty much every make or model of surgery.