The first evening and day one
Your kitten will likely come home drowsy, a little unsteady, and keener on sleeping than eating. Offer a small portion of her usual food and fresh water, and do not worry if she takes only a few mouthfuls that evening. Set her up in one warm, quiet room with a low litter tray, bedding on the floor rather than up on a bed, and no boisterous children or dogs cycling through. Some kittens are clingy after the anaesthetic and some want to be left alone; follow her lead, keep handling gentle around her tummy, and let her sleep off the day.
Rest rules for the whole week
Healing inside takes longer than the small outside incision suggests, so the week's rule is calm and low. Remove or block access to tall cat trees, wardrobe tops, and window perches she launches herself onto, because a hard landing or a stretched jump strains the internal stitches. Short, gentle play on the floor is fine once she is bright, but end it before she gets wild. Keep her indoors for the full week even if she is an outdoor cat, and keep the cone or recovery suit on whenever you cannot watch her directly — most wound damage is done by licking in an unobserved ten minutes.
Appetite: the pattern that is normal, and the one that is not
Appetite commonly dips on day one, improves on day two, and looks close to normal by day three. Serve smaller, more frequent meals of familiar food rather than rich novelties that could upset her stomach on top of recovery. A kitten who has eaten nothing by the morning after surgery, who vomits repeatedly, or who seems painful when she moves or is picked up needs a call to the practice that operated, the same day. Occasional single vomit after anaesthetic can happen; repeated vomiting cannot be watched and waited out in a small kitten.
Wound checks, twice a day
Look at the incision morning and evening in good light. You want it dry, closed, and flat, with skin edges together and only slight early pinkness. A small amount of firm swelling in the first days can be a normal tissue reaction, but spreading redness, heat, any discharge or smell, a gap opening, or a swelling that grows rather than settles all warrant a prompt vet call. Do not bathe the area, apply creams, or clean it with anything unless the practice advises it. Photographing the wound at each check gives you an honest comparison instead of relying on memory.
Closing the week and keeping the record
Most kittens have a post-operative check during this week, where the vet confirms healing and advises when normal activity and outdoor access can resume. Ask then about her future weight, because spayed kittens can gain more easily and portion habits set now matter. File the discharge sheet, the check result, and the date normal activity resumed together rather than scattering them through a drawer. Her KinsLe Pet Passport keeps the spay certificate and post-op notes with the rest of her records, so any future vet can see exactly what was done and when she recovered.