My kitten was spayed yesterday...and now she's insane! Help!

[huskerlaw]

My 5-month-old kitten was spayed yesterday. I picked her up from the vet about an hour ago. I'm already completely at a loss regarding what to do with her.

She's acting completely opposite of what the vet said she would. She said "lethargic," I got "manic-crazed psychopath."

In the hour we've been home, she has kicked all of the litter out of her litter box, dumped half of the food out of her bowl, jumped up and down off the bed numerous times, escaped out of the room and ran down the hallway, jumped on the dresser(!), and various other atypical activities.

Normally she's really sedate. I've never seen her like this...or anything close to it. I tried taking the collar off, thinking that's what was making her crazy. Didn't help. She just ran around with extra vigor because she was unrestrained. About the only thing she hasn't done is lay down.

I currently have her back in the collar, locked in her cat carrier. She's struggling to get out...rolling around and hitting the sides of the carrier. I'm afraid she's going to hurt herself.

Thoughts??

Oh, also, the vet said not to expect her to eat or drink much today. She's ravenous. Eating and drinking a LOT. Also, she's already used the litter box for both duties, which is good, but...AAAARGH!

Help!!

[Midlodemocrat]

1. No advice, but it reminds me of the time a friend took

her toddler on a plane to France and the pediatrician told her to give her Benadryl 'so she'll sleep the whole way'.

Nope. Never closed her eyes. Had the exact opposite reaction.

Hope things get better for her and you.

[huskerlaw]

3. You know...

I'm almost thinking it might be something like that. She's on pain meds, obviously...maybe they make her crazy.

BTW, I've heard of kids having that reaction to Benadryl! So weird.

[Midlodemocrat]

6. After my friend's charming little foray into the Land of the Damned

I was really, really careful when I gave mine Benadryl. My little one reacts horribly to Dimetapp.

[huskerlaw]

8. Hahahahahaha "Land of the Damned"!

SO. TRUE.



And yeah...that's where Kyra's at right now. Although, she's beginning to show signs of being worn out. God willing.

[yellowdogintexas]

30. my daughter did that when she had chickenpox, she ran laps around the ceiling

for 24 hours. Benadryl just did a real number on her. I think the dose was too high for her size.

[zanne]

4. Cats react strangely when they "come out" of anesthesia...

It really freaks them out. It could be that.

[huskerlaw]

7. That's what I'm thinking

although she had the surgery 18-20 hours ago. They kept her overnight for observation and certainly didn't say anything about her being insane when I picked her up about an hour ago.

[ThomCat]

2. I never had that reaction with any of my cats.

I hope she calms down soon.

[huskerlaw]

5. Me too!

I'm letting her roll around in the cage, figuring there's not much damage she can do in there (at least not compared to what she could do while free).

She just paused for a moment, but she's back at it now. I'm going to give her another 30 minutes or so and if she's still like this, I'll be calling the vet.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Mine did that too and I was scared she would pull out her stitches but

she was fine.

(And her brother picked fights with her because she smelled like a stranger. Same happened when it was his turn to go.)

Still, I would check with the vet to be sure.

[huskerlaw]

12. Good to hear

that it has happened to someone else!

She seems to be calming down...hopefully...

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. Well, my Pickles was always a busy little girl. She is calmer at 13, though. LOL

[Critters2]

10. I'd call the vet.

She may be having a bad reaction to the anesthesia or pain meds. Whatever's causing it, the risk that she could reopen the surgical wound is always there when she's moving around this much. And, it's helpful to the vet to know about this reaction in case she needs surgery in the future. Even a dental exam can take anesthesia, so the vet needs this reaction in her file.

So, that's what I'd do. Hope things improve for you--and her!!

on edit: Even if it's nothing to be concerned about, I always like to have the vet tell me that.

[huskerlaw]

13. Ok, I just did

they said that it's not an entirely uncommon reaction and just to monitor her to make sure she doesn't pull the stitches out. And to call back if she doesn't chill relatively soon.

I just let her back out of the carrier and she seems to be more under control. Hopefully.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. My dear huskerlaw!

Yikes!

I'd call your vet now, sweetie!

I'm sure your kittie is OK, but they should know she's behaving this way...

And perhaps they might have some suggestions!

You can hope, right?

Here's to some quick calmness for all of you!

[huskerlaw]

14. I just did...

apparently it's a somewhat normal reaction. Or at least, not entirely uncommon.

They said she should calm down relatively soon and my job is to ensure that she doesn't hurt herself in the meantime.

She does seem to be chilling out a little bit. Thankfully.

[Beaverhausen]

16. Oh my!!!

She'll be OK.

I suggest keeping her in one room till she calms down, if you can.

[huskerlaw]

17. She's a little bit better...

I'm keeping her in my room for now, with occasional visits from the other cats.

She's currently sitting in her cat bed, eyes closed...but not sleeping (at least not very deeply).

Her initial reaction was SO unlike her. She doesn't even have "kitten freak-out" time in the evenings like my other 2 did. Hopefully she's past whatever it was!

[Arugula Latte]

18. Aw, poor kitty. I hope she continues to calm down.

She's havin' a bad trip, man.

Tell her this: "Just remember you're a living organism on this planet, and you're very safe. You've just taken a heavy drug. Relax, stay inside and listen to some music, Okay? Do you have any Allman Brothers?"

[huskerlaw]

19. ROFL!!

She IS havin' a bad trip!

She's actually curled up and sleeping right now. Thank god. Three. hours. later.

[applegrove]

20. She'll probably go back to normal soon. Remember she was traumatized

by the whole Vet visit. They stuck her with needles and she wakes up with painful stitches on her tummy. Give her a bit of time to calm down. Then worry. Remember a hystorectomy is a huge operation and it often takes human females a full six weeks or more to recover. Your cats pain medication may not be working well. That happens.

[huskerlaw]

22. That's true

although, it's weird. Now that she's not acting completely psycho, she's acting like nothing is wrong.

She's trying to go about her day like she's fine. Which is, of course, freaking me out. She wants to jump and run and play and...well..nooooooo.

[BrklynLiberal]

21. So glad she has finally calmed down. I would bet it was a reaction to the anesthesia - sort of a

"bad trip" as was mentioned earlier.
I was told by my vet that sometimes tranquilizers and such can have the opposite reaction with some pets.

[huskerlaw]

23. I'm hoping that's it

She's not crazed anymore, but she's trying to act like nothing's wrong. Which means I'm still having to keep her from jumping and running. Not easy to do!

[meow2u3]

24. Cat-stration anxiety?

All kidding aside, she's probably in a great deal of pain after the operation. Either that, or your kitty could have feline ADD

[huskerlaw]

26. Hee hee

apparently!

She wasn't acting like she was in any pain...quite the opposite, actually.

She's been asleep for the past hour. Finally.

I hope it was just an adverse reaction to the meds...and hopefully not the ones they sent home with her.

[Alenne]

25. Put her in a room alone or in a crate

She is still under anesthesia. She will be crazy until the drugs are out of her system. I don't know why your vet told you that.

[huskerlaw]

27. She had been out of surgery

for nearly 20 hours by the time I picked her up. I don't think she was still out of it from the anesthesia. Pain meds, likely, but not the anesthesia.

She finally chilled out and has been asleep for about an hour now. Thankfully. I just hope she doesn't freak all over again when I give her the next dose of pain meds.

[GreenPartyVoter]

28. Hope not. OTOH that would pretty much settle what is going on w/ her

if she went nuts again. Did the vet suggest a different med if that turns out to be the case?

[huskerlaw]

29. That's true

No, they didn't. I haven't talked to the vet since this morning. At that point, they said her behavior wasn't completely out of the ordinary. Since she has gotten better throughout the day, I didn't call them back.

Tonight might be a long night, but if the meds are the problem, I'll get it straightened out in time for her morning dose. Thankfully, my vet is right up the street.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

31. Wow! I hope she stays calmed down!

I've only had one female cat in my 20 years of living with cats, and she was lethargic after spaying. All my boys have been lethargic after neutering, as promised, but soon snapped out of it. We're having Sunflower's little "cotton balls" snipped off in a couple of weeks - I hope he has a better reaction than poor Kyra!

You poor thing!

[huskerlaw]

33. It's the pain meds...

I gave her another dose an hour ago and she's crazy again. By late afternoon/evening, she was acting almost normal.

Sigh. It's gonna be a long night.

Good luck with Sunflower! This is my first girl cat, so this intrusive surgery is new to me. Based on this experience, I far prefer the boy surgery.

[huskerlaw]

32. UPDATE: It's the pain meds!!

She calmed down nicely around 3, slept off and on until 7 (mostly off, but at least she was calm). Then came time for her second dose of pain meds. Now, an hour later, she's insane again.

Slightly less so than she was this morning, but definitely pinging off the walls and a little psycho.

It's gonna be a LONG night. Sigh.

[sasquatch]

35. She's a violent drunk

[huskerlaw]

39. She really is!

She'd be NO fun to party with. None.

[Beausoir]

36. Oh Yeah! Cats can get incredibly tripped out by even simple meds.

One of my cats had arthritis in her spine. We started her on some oral medication and she went batshit crazy.
Poor thing. She was hallucinating and hiding and verbalizing. She was in terror.

We took her off that stuff and got her something else and she has been doing very well for the past year.

[huskerlaw]

40. Oooh, scary!!

I'm glad you found meds that worked for her!

We had an interesting night. Kyra ended up shut in her carrier, for my sanity and her safety. She's currently due for another dose, but she doesn't seem to be in pain, so I'm gonna do a little wait and see...

[SoCalDem]

38. She may be better off without the meds.. Mine did fine without them

We expected them to be wincing when they walked, but within an hour of being back home they were jumping on counters & chairs & running around like nothing happened, so we never gave them the meds..

Hope she's better today

[huskerlaw]

41. I'm gonna see how it goes

without the meds. She's due for another dose, but like you say, she's not acting like she's in any pain. In fact, she's curled up on my lap purring and kneeding away. Not really the actions of a cat that needs pain meds.

[hedgehog]

34. Isn't angel dust a veterinary anesthetic?

I don't know what painkiller is used for cats, but I think she really is tripping out!

[huskerlaw]

42. It might be!

I read the name of it to my mom, who's a nurse, and she had no idea what it was. It ends in -phine though, so I'm assuming some sort of morphine-type substance.

[demnan]

37. Pad Thai was really loopy when I had him altered

He was trying to jump up on everything when he came home but his rear end didn't have full control. I had to put him back in his carrier for a couple of hours to make sure he didn't damage something.

The easy-going Scorpio spent an hour working around the room with a mouse in his mouth after I had him fixed. Around and around he went. I didn't lock him up, I just let him walk it off. That was a pretty mild reaction if not normal behavior.

[huskerlaw]

43. She has ended up back in her carrier

more than once.

I figured out that it's the pain meds. She's currently due another dose, but she's curled up on my lap purring and kneeding, so I think I'm going to put that off until she acts like she needs it.

[Felix Mala]

44. They can react to anesthesia, giver her a few day -- crate her up, too, so she

doesn't hurt herself. If nothing changes, call vet. It's like animals shows when they tranquilize animals and then jump back as they come awake. They don't know how the animal will react.

[huskerlaw]

45. I figured out that

it's the pain meds.

She went nuts all over again about 45 minutes after I gave her the 2nd dose last night. We had a rather annoying night, but she spent most of it in her carrier, so no injuries occurred. She seems to be relatively normal this morning, is now overdue for another dose, but she doesn't seem to be in pain so I'm holding off for now.

She's out of her carrier now, but I'm keeping a close eye on her. She'll be coming to work with me today so that I can continue to watch her. "Take Your Coneheaded Kitten to Work Day"?