"Cats can't take pain medication." True?

Question

As seen in the answer to another question.

?!?

No, no; I'm not thinking of giving the kitten Tylenol right now or anything. But she's getting spayed soon, and I sort of assumed that would involve a prescription. I'm a bit put off by the idea that it might not...

No, no, no: *I* don't want to give the cat human painkillers.

I read something re. cat pain medication, and wondered if there wouldn't be a "prescription" involved after surgery. Prescription: tr. 'from the vet.'

Now I'm sitting here wondering why a surgical incision wouldn't bug a cat, pain-wise...?

Answer 1

it'll be up to your vet and your vet ole provide it for you!

Answer 2

You CANNOT give cats any type of pain medication. Dogs can take baby aspirin, but neither can take Tylenol, and cats can't take either. The vet will give you something if you request it, but with my experience with cats that have been spayed/neutered is they really don't feel any pain. I had twenty cats at one time due to adopting a stray that wasn't fixed and she quickly turned into 20. The humane society helped us get them all fixed and none of them acted like they felt any pain. Even the older grandma didn't act like it bothered her. The adult cats were all back to nursing that same day and it didn't bother them. So do not worry. The vet will give you something if you ask, but it shouldn't be a problem.

Answer 3

After surgery, you cat may or may not still be a little wobbly on its feet, depending on how soon you collect her after the surgery is done. Recovery from anesthetic can take 24-48 hours.

I have been a qualified Veterinary Nurse for 15 years and not once in all that time have we ever given a cat pain medication for a routine cat spay. The cat will certainly be a little sore, and uncomphy, but I think the use of pain medication is more for the owners benefit then the animals.

Answer 4

A cat can die quickly from human pain medication such as aspirin and you should never give it something from your medicine chest without first getting approval from a vet. They now have some medications you can use - for a long time they didn't as cats metabolize drugs differently from most other animals.

You can ask the vet who is spaying her for some pain meds.

It is not clear to me exactly what you question is?

Answer 5

After my cat was spayed I was worried about the pain as well. Her vet told me that if its really bad they do have pain medicine for cats but its not reccomended because its not very safe. There are many bad side effects to it.

When we brought her home we just made sure she was as comfortable as possible. We tried to be as quiet as possible around her and she mainly laid in her soft bed in our bedroom. We didn't bother her much and fed her soft can food so that it would be easy for her to use the bathroom without needing to strain her belly or anything.

Our cat never seemed to much in pain. Of course she couldn't talk to let us know but she wasn't meoweing loud or anything that would show that she was in distress. After a week or so she was fine, although her belly was still a little sore to the touch so no rough playing for a while.

I suggest if you have kids, keep your cat in your room or in another low traffic room with soft food, water,soft bed/blankets and litter box so she can be left alone in peace. Hopefully she will not need additional pain meds but if she does, they are available at the vet and pet stores. ~Hope this helps!~

Answer 6

Cats can take pain meds as long as they are OK'd or prescribed by a vet. No one should just give their animal a pain med intended for human use, as this can have very dire consequences.

You may not end up with a pain med. The vet never prescribed pain meds for my cat after his neuter surgery.

Answer 7

Hi there...it is very dangerous to give pet animals any human medications unless prescribed by a vet as it could be very lethal. Those that can be taken need a vet to prescribe the correct dosage based on weight, age and various other factors depending on the diagnosis/treatment.

Another reason is that historically, veterinarians shied away from pain killers for cats because this species is quite sensitive to some of the products we humans (or dogs) can routinely look to for pain control. Now, extensive research has proved that some of these products can be used cautiously for cats too, either for short periods, at lengthened dosage intervals, or at a lower dosage levels.

Some pain medicines will never be safe or effective because cats are quite peculiar. Their liver lacks a fully functioning enzyme pathway, one that both canines and humans have. It is a low efficiency of thisglucuronidation pathway that leads to their relative intolerance of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) class of pain killer medications. Acetaminophen, carprofen, and aspirin are some examples of specific drugs with increased toxicity in cats due to this species-specific deficiency.

Please read the following article written by a University of Illinois Urbana Veterinary about the dangers of human medicine to cats:
http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu/petcolumns/showarticle.cfm?id=386

[edit] cats have a very high tolerance for pain and generally can suppress the pain to a certain extent. They are very good at hiding the pain and many who are spayed show little signs of distress. You can discuss this with your vet and learn more about this.

Here's an article about signs in cats who are in pain:
http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/ivapm/animals/cats.htm

An article about pain management for cats:
http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu/petcolumns/showarticle.cfm?id=349

Answer 8

When my lovely Siamese lady was spayed, my vet gave me a prescription for feline pain killer. It was optional and I accepted it so that Athena would not be in pain while recovering from her spay. This medicine was for cats only, not for people. When you take your cat to be spayed, ask your vet for feline pain killer and I'm sure he/she will give it to you.

Answer 9

your vet will give you some pain medicine for her if they don't offer it you can request it from them

the vet will tell you that usually because they are so young, they aren't in that much pain but i still gave it to my kitty because i figured i wasn't her and i didn't know how she was feeling

Answer 10

My cats meow while they are in the different room, and that i'm in right here, even though it form of sounds like they are searching for me, while they do this. certainly one of my cats has a commonplace little toy, that she consists of from one end of the abode to a diverse, and he or she enables brings it to close to the place i'm. She is often meowing, on a similar time as she has that toy in her mouth. while she sees that i'm watching her, she will drop the toy, and are available working to me. it particularly is fairly much like a ritual. it is so lovable. *sm*

Answer 11

Wouldn't this question be left up to your vet?