I just went through this a month ago with Hanna. She was 5 months too. Holding back the food and water the night before is so hard! Hanna had to spend the night after - I wish I could have picked her back up the same day. I missed her terribly, and I was at the vet's office almost as soon as they opened the next day.

Hanna's spaying didn't phaze her one bit - she wanted to run and play and wrestle with Bo as soon as she got home.

I let her play with a furry mouse a few days after her surgery (I had taken them away because she goes so nuts for them and I was supposed to keep her calm) and the next day I noticed a lump by her stitches, I panicked, and thought it was something escaping the incision (hernia), but after visiting the vet they said it was an inflammation of the sutures - no medicines necessary. It went away, but I still felt so guilty about not keeping her quieter. Keeping a 5 month old kitten from playing and running and jumping is hard - I didn't do a good job of it. But luckily it wasn't anything bad, and now a month later her fur is almost all grown back on her tummy.