Day 2 is much better! Last night was pretty rough and I slept on the floor next to his cratewith him batting at me and yelping every other hour. 15 minutes with my head in the cage stroking him and he'd go back to sleep. He did put me into panic mode when I finally got up as I thought he had disappeared and had crawled into the pillow case covering his bed. We did that so we could switch it out each day, making sure the incision area stays clean.
This morning was still a little rough trying to get off to work, but by the time I left the house he was fine. He tore up some stuff, flung some litter but didn't knock over or step in his water or food. Good thing as I really need to make some food for them as I was down to the end of it.
Also this evening, we picked up a larger carrier as he wouldn't get in his regular one so we could clean up his crate. He was pretty content in there, so he camped out until we were done making their raw food. A couple helpless yelps when he went back into the crate but nothing at all like last night.
I did talk to a tech from the surgery center who mentioned cats will sometimes do better in more confined spaces. They had also told me the Fentanyl patch he was given can cause some animals some anxiety while covering their pain. We discussed removing it early although by the time I was home things seemed much more manageable.
One other thing I've come to learn is there isn't a decent convalescing crate for cats. Manythat are of a decent size are too tall, don't have a second door for access to a litter box and just won't make things easy for you or your cat. I searched and searched, but nothing. I had also had put together my own crate that wasn't going to work as soon as I found out what the recipe for recovery required. Fortunately the crate I borrowed I was able to just elevate the floor so there wasn't enough space where Chongo could climb.
Anyway, I'm going to sleep on the floor next to the crate again tonight and I think I should get a good night sleep. Trish is home with him all day tomorrow which is great as I'm really behind at work. My confidence level just got a lot better that all this is going to work out without any of us going insane. He's just a great boy filled with spirit and that spirit was never destined to be confined to a crate even temporarily.