My cat's been neutered today, need some help please.

[DangerousMouse]

He was sent home from the vets with a collar and we were told to put it on if needed. Well, he has been licking himself non stop so we put it on, but he went totally feral and managed to get it off. It was on the smallest setting so we don't know what to do. He will not accept it on at all.

He currently has it off but is still licking, is he going to cause himself problems if we let him lick?

I wouldn't have thought so, there aren't normally big wounds or sutres to worry about in boys so I wouldn't be too worried.

He will prob have a bit of a lick then want to sleep off the anaesthetic!!

The collar should have loops that you can thread ribbon through and tie. It might hold the collar on tighter. Just spent a week constantly putting my girls collar on after she was done. My boy didn't have a collar but didn't lick excessively.

I tied the ribbon as tight as i was comfortable, I don't want to strangle him! He was running and jumping around the house trying to get it off, he was going to do himself damage that way.

Will see how he gets on in the next few hours, thank you.

I never put a collar on mine for this reason, some cats freak out and he needs rest really.

None of my boys have ever tolerated a collar. I sit with them, moving their mouth/paws away from the licking and saying a firm NO. (The odd lick I don't worry about - it's just in case they seem to be rooting at the stitches.)

Try and distract him if you can. Also, lower the lights in the room and put on a music/sound source such as telly or a radio. He should be conking out soon after the GA so you want to make the general ambience as conducive to snoozing as possible. (Keep other people out of the room if you can because it's good to avoid extra stimulation.)

My girl went ape with the lampshade. Like cozie, I just watched her and told her off when she would lick it for longer than a few licks. She thought hiding beneath the dining chair to lick would hide her She did try and lick it, but calmed down and went to sleep.
Some people advise putting on a babygro with the feet cut off. I didn't put her through the indignity

Mine was spayed a few weeks ago and similarly went crazy when we tried putting the lampshade collar thing on. It's horrible as they are also quite stressed and jumpy after their op too

Ours also tried to lick the wound but only for a few hours and we kept trying to distract her with dreamies and toys - then she lost interest. By the following day she left it well alone so hopefully yours will too.

Hope he's all recovered soon