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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

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Original poster

Kitten keeps getting out of her cone collar after spay

23 replies

OldLeatherSuitcase · 29/09/2020 09:09

My kitten keeps managing to get out of her collar! I've been online to look up kitten sock onesies, I've made one, but I can't get it on her on my own (and DH not home until later today). Any advice?

Also my male kitten has a cone but it's smaller than my female kitten's and it looks like he can still lick at his wound (he was neutered yesterday).

And female kitten won't eat her food with her medication in! Not sure what to do about it all.

OP posts:

dementedpixie · 29/09/2020 09:45

My 2 male cats didn't have a collar for after their neutering op. Don't know if its really required for them. Is the female licking her wound?

ThousandsAreSailing · 29/09/2020 09:47

Get a dolls romper suit. Cut off the feet
They work much better and look cuter

KihoBebiluPute · 29/09/2020 12:15

My two girls were very adept about getting out of anything at all that I put on them to protect them after their spay.

I tried the thing with using a baby bodysuit - they were out of that in 30 seconds flat

I bought the special post-surgical body suit from the vets at £24.99 each and they were out of that in about 90 seconds flat.

I theorised that the reason was that even the smallest size of the vet suit was a little too baggy on them so did some alterations to reduce the size and make it more difficult for them to extract their limbs. That only bought us about 15 seconds extra wearing time after half an hour of my sewing time.

In the end we just gave up. There are some kittens who just Do Not Wear Clothes. If they aren't going too overboard licking the wound site they will probably be OK.

Itwasaquarterpast11 · 29/09/2020 12:19

I've got one of each and neither needed a cone after they were neutered/spayed last month. Vet said may only need to put one on girl cat if she wouldn't leave the stitches alone, which she did.

bluebluezoo · 29/09/2020 12:23

Never needed a collar.

I had my girl cat neutered over 15 years ago, no stitches, one tiny hole that she barely noticed. There should be no need for a big wound and stitches.

AnnaMagnani · 29/09/2020 13:24

When did she have her op?

Collar/cone are prob annoying them more than the stitches are. Just let them get on with it. Have never had them, or fancy suits, for cats who have had ops.

vanillandhoney · 29/09/2020 13:33

My current girl never needed one, but my old girl definitely did. She split her stitches three times (even with a collar on) - it was an absolute nightmare. Eventually she ended up at the emergency vets getting stapled and luckily the on-call vet didn't charge us as he said he should have been stapled after she split them the first time.

In the end, we had to use thread and basically tie the cone around her neck like a baby bonnet, and keep her "crated" in one room away from her brother while we were out (luckily only for a few hours a day) to stop her running about. It took over a week before her wound was healed enough to take it off!

So while it's true what PP say that most cats don't need it, some of them most definitely do!

thecatneuterer · 29/09/2020 13:38

We neuter thousands of cats a year and never put them in cones. Just keep an eye on the wound and don't worry about it.

thecatneuterer · 29/09/2020 13:39

@bluebluezoo

Never needed a collar.

I had my girl cat neutered over 15 years ago, no stitches, one tiny hole that she barely noticed. There should be no need for a big wound and stitches.

Well indeed. The hole should be tiny and the stitches invisible.

Wolfiefan · 29/09/2020 13:42

Mine chewed her stitches and had to be stapled! Can anyone else help you get the suit on her?
What medication? Mine didn’t have any after spay.

IsThisNameTaken · 29/09/2020 13:45

Mine didn't even make it home from the vets before she'd managed to ditch the cone! Ended up buying her one of these www.viovet.co.uk/MPS-Medical-Pet-Shirt-for-Cats/c48704/?quick_find=295845&gclid=Cj0KCQjwtsv7BRCmARIsANu-CQcllgfbIATfW00-ILOODc4PFe_UGM1Ca-Kx8PFIS6qQs-1S7zOtnPwaAk_8EALw_wcB

bluebluezoo · 29/09/2020 14:04

Well indeed. The hole should be tiny and the stitches invisible

It does confuse me that if my local vet down the road was doing this kind of surgery 15 years ago- not surgical specialists, not cutting edge practice, just your average city vet, why it still isn’t standard and so many cats are coming out with stitches and staples.

I think if I had a vet now who did this kind of neutering I’d be looking for another.

I actually asked my vet at the time, I was young, it was my first girl cat, and we were new to the vet, how he did it through such a tiny hole. He said with cats it’s really easy, small hole, crochet hook thing, and you just pull out the uterus like two bits of string and remove it. Job done.

Plump82 · 29/09/2020 14:24

You're probably stressing her and you out even attempting to put a cone on her. Just keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't bother with the stitches. Freda didn't. Her incision was about the size of a 5p and healed perfectly

Original poster

OldLeatherSuitcase · 29/09/2020 14:39

Thanks everyone, that's very reassuring. She hasn't been very interested in licking the wound so I'll just leave her and not stress about it.

I'm tempted to take the cone off my poor boy too, he's so miserable with it on!

OP posts:

vanillandhoney · 29/09/2020 14:42

Well indeed. The hole should be tiny and the stitches invisible.

Ideally, yes, but not all neuterings are straightforward. Mine had pyometra and needed a fairly decent sized incision. In my defence, it's not a condition I'd ever heard of and I didn't realise I was putting her at risk by leaving her un-neutered (she was indoors only and her brother was done).

Not all spays are routine and done on small kittens.

thecatneuterer · 29/09/2020 15:32

Well yes of course, if it's a pyo or a gravid spay then the incision can be very large indeed, but most are routine.

bluebluezoo · 29/09/2020 15:42

Ideally, yes, but not all neuterings are straightforward

The vast majority are though. Why is it still the norm for big incision and stitches?

pyo and Pregnancy spays are different, as catneuterer says. But I’d be suprised and unhappy with the quality of my vet if a routine spay came home with visible stitches. It’s not a new technique, it’s not state of the art, so why are vets sticking with it?

As my vet said 15 years ago, it’s such a routine thing any decent vet should have it down to an art.

Beamur · 29/09/2020 15:46

I had kittens neutered last year. Bought bodysuits, kittens totally freaked out by them.
Took them off. They licked the wound a little bit, but only after a few days (I think it gets a bit itchy when the stitches dissolve) but they didn't over clean it and it healed well - no cone, no suit.

TreestumpsAndTrampolines · 29/09/2020 15:53

My boy didn't even notice he'd been neutered - no collar, eating well and yelling at everyone as usual. His sister had a much harder time - I had to keep them apart if they weren't being supervised as they loved to play-fight.

As to the wound, I used a trouser leg from one of DS's old pairs of trousers (he was 5), and cut a couple of leg holes at the top, then kinda wrestled her into it as a vest (and she's the hissing/scratching/biter - so that was fun). She didn't enjoy it, but meant that I didn't mind leaving the collar off her for a while as she couldn't get to the stitches.

The nurse showed me how to do the collar, and she said it needed to be snug, but I should be able to get 2 fingers under it - is yours too loose maybe?

The medication (which she really needed, she didn't eat for the first day she was so sorry for herself) was given to us in a syringe which I put straight in her mouth rather than on the food (that she wasn't eating). I think I was lucky, that was the one thing she didn't complain about.

TreestumpsAndTrampolines · 29/09/2020 16:15

Oh, and people are weird.

girlcat is fluffy - properly long-haired. When I went to pick her up, they told me they'd specifically gone in via her belly, rather than her side, so that they didn't have to shave the side where it would be obvious.

I don't know what effect that had on her subsequent recovery, but honestly, I found it bizarre that they decided to do it a different way just for looks, and looks on a 5 month old cat, who would grow her hair back in a couple of months anyway. Had I known, I'd have said to do whichever would be the best for her, who cares about a bald spot.

PickledOnionStinks · 29/09/2020 18:14

My male cat/kitten got rsnipped today and I came here specifically to ask what if they keep licking and won't keep the cone on?

I've put it back on 3 times and each time he's fought it harder getting very worked up.

She said he would be sleepy the rest of the night but he's running round like a loon and having a good lick each time he stops. I don't know what I should be doing now ..

Bargebill19 · 29/09/2020 18:30

Kittens are getting spayed in two weeks. DH is so hoping that they come home with cones so he can laugh at them . I have pointed out that he may only get about 5 seconds to laugh before any cones are ditched and they sit on his laptop.

thecatneuterer · 29/09/2020 19:04

@PickledOnionStinks

My male cat/kitten got rsnipped today and I came here specifically to ask what if they keep licking and won't keep the cone on?

I've put it back on 3 times and each time he's fought it harder getting very worked up.

She said he would be sleepy the rest of the night but he's running round like a loon and having a good lick each time he stops. I don't know what I should be doing now ..

I wouldn't worry about it. They normally lick for a bit and then lose interest.

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