Cats will almost always need post-surgery pain medication. If we may have given that during the procedure, that would last them for the next 24 to 48 hours afterward, or we may send additional medicine home that you would give them there.

We give you proper instructions on how to give medications. Giving cats medications is not the easiest thing to do. Some of those can even be rubbed on the skin, on the inner part of the ear. Other things that you would want to know would be that cats sometimes go home still a little sleepy or sedated. And so you want to protect them from certain areas of your home. So, for example, if you have stairs, if they like to get up on and perch on certain furniture, you may want to keep them in a smaller area so that they can't because they still may feel a little drunk. And you want to keep an eye on that surgical site, too, just for any kind of signs of infection, redness, irritation, or leaking.

That depends on the type and length of surgery. At the Animal Hospital of Statesville, we try to get them back home with you the same day. And most of our surgery patients go home the afternoon of the procedure.

I'd say, most times, they do. And they will give you specific instructions on that. So water is usually fine, but food is not.

Getting them ready for surgery might involve simply withholding food before the day of the procedure. Other things would be getting them prepared by not letting them be stressed or upset. You can also train them to be in the carrier before bringing them in. That makes that event a little less stressful. And then, you want to prepare the home ahead of time for when they're going to come home and where you're going to keep them. For example, are you going to keep them in a particular room? And what's that going to look like?