Expect two to five hospital days for most abdominal emergencies while gut function returns, then about two weeks of quiet at home with small frequent meals. The first days carry the real risks, leaking repairs, infection, and heart rhythm complications after GDV, which is exactly what the hospitalisation is watching for.
| Stage | Where you are | What matters |
|---|---|---|
| Days 0 to 3 | Hospital | Pain control, fluids, food reintroduced; post GDV hearts monitored for arrhythmias |
| Days 3 to 7 | The fragile window | Home but delicate; intestinal repairs are weakest around day 3 to 5 |
| Weeks 1 to 2 | Settling | Small frequent bland meals, cone on, wound checks, energy returns |
| Week 2 onward | Normal life | Sutures out; feeding and lifestyle adjustments for GDV breeds discussed |
After any abdominal surgery, three things go straight back to the hospital rather than onto a wait and see list: vomiting that returns, a wound leaking more than a spot, and a flat animal that was brighter yesterday. Repaired bowel that fails does so quietly at first, and the difference between a fixable leak and a catastrophe is the speed of the second look.
For blocked cats specifically: straining again after coming home is a same day return, every time. Re blocking inside the first fortnight is common enough that every discharge should include that sentence out loud.
Send the case, hear back from a surgeon with what they can do and what it costs, and only pay if you go ahead.
Send what your vet said and quoted. A veterinary surgeon reads it and comes back to you with what they can do and what it would cost, before you pay anything. A written second opinion is from $250.
If a gastropexy was done, and it should have been, the fatal twist is largely off the table. Most surgeons still suggest split meals, a calm hour after eating, and knowing the retch signature forever. The gastropexy question is worth confirming in the discharge notes rather than assuming.
Water everywhere, wet food where the budget allows, clean accessible trays, and often a urinary prescription diet: unglamorous measures with genuine evidence behind them. The cat that blocked once is a cat whose litter tray you watch for life.