Urgent post spay help

[Catmumstresses]

My kittens were spayed today. They have both wriggled out of their surgery suits and one has got her collar of twice.

i really don’t know what to do to stop them being able to get to the wounds. How bad is it if they don’t have a cone or collar? They both so distressed by them it’s really upsetting

Off twice that should say

Are they actually bothering their wounds? Honestly cones and bodysuits is bonkers.

unless the surgery site is very painful they shouldn’t bother it.

leave them be

maybe try a donut collar. A little more comfortable and kinder than a cone. When I adopted my kittens 2 days post spaying though they didn’t have cones and weren’t bothered by their incisions (girls). I used a donut after one of my cats had her tail amputated and I was much happier with it. I’d never use a cone again.

I’d happily leave it but the vet was insistent they needed something and basically intimated their wounds will get infected if they aren’t protected.

More out of concern that they would kick each other’s wounds rather than their own.

Lick each other’s wounds, I mean they might kick them as well….but I meant to type lick

Can you separate them for a few days then? I had to do that with my cats. It’s a nuisance but didn’t have to do that when they were kittens. Honestly, my kittens were too busy racing around my house and destroying it than being bothered about licking each other.

They won’t sit there and lick each others wounds
why would they? the skin will taste of disinfectant which is horrible.

they’ll only lick their own if the stitches are too tight/painful

no reason to cover a sutured incision

I think the vet was concerned about them licking each other’s stitches as they do spend a lot of each day licking each other, mainly inside each other’s ears 🤢

When I had 2 spayed at once they had no cones or bodysuits and neither of them bothered the stitches at all.
Vets seem to make up their own rules as they go along 🤷🏼‍♀️

When mine were spayed they didn't need anything either, the vet just said to keep an eye on them but they weren't bothered at all.

That’s cos ear wax is delicious to cats and allogrooming of the head is a bonding activity.

sitting there whilst your pal licks your tender incision isn’t

You’re more likely to damage them by wrestling them into suits/cones

I’ve ditched the collar on the one that still had it on and given up trying to get the other back on. Will see how they go.

they’ve gone to hide under the bed now the cones aren’t stopping them, so I can’t see if they’re licking the stitches or not.

From experience, I would say it is worth wrestling them back into their surgical suits.

I had a kitten spayed earlier this year, and she took her suit off straight away. We thought she would be fine, but her wound opened up (it was glued, not sutured) and she ended up having 4 operations to repair it, and nearly lost her.

I know this is the worst case scenario - I have had 10+ cats spayed over the years and thought she would be fine, but was far too complacent.

Be very careful and I hope your kittens are fine 🐱

The problem there was the fact her wound was not properly closed to start with.
bodysuits shouldn’t be used as a substitute for surgery and she very likely would have been fine if her wound had been sutured

Our kitten went mental when we tried to put the collar or her so we decided to leave it off and just keep a very close eye on the wound. She was fine.

When both our girl cats were spayed on the same day, (litter mates,) they were fine. No cones or body suits. They were soon racing round the house, and never touched their stitches apart from general cleaning.

@FFurAndFeathers yes I will always request suturing in future!

You shouldn’t have to. It’s a minimum standard.
gluing a surgical incision shut is not appropriate

Keep an eye on them, I know you will OP. First sign of change back to the vets.

When my cat was spayed and managed to ditch her collar her site became infected very quickly, the incision was stitched.

She ended up in a crate with her collar on tighter for several days.

Hope your kittens recover ok!

Sorry to jump on the spay chat but rather than start a new thread…

my little girl was spayed on Wednesday and she seems to be in so so much pain, and so sad. She’s wearing a little body suit (she’s not loving life but she’s tolerating it fine) her stitches look ok etc. But she’s visibly in pain and so unhappy, and we’ve now taken all the pain killers. She’s only eating if I physically bring food to her bed. Is there anything I can do to make her feel better, or do I just need to ride it out?

Have you checked with the vet? None of my cats have ever been that bad after spaying

One of mine is the same today, so sad and won’t eat and we can’t get the painkillers in her either.

the other is leaping around like nothing has happened. We gave up on collars and bodysuits as they just wouldn’t keep them on and I was worried it was going more harm than good.

Have you been back to the vets yet @ClaireH123 ? We take ours back Monday afternoon, so I’m hoping for reassurance then and advice as to how to get mine eating if she still isn’t.

Yes, I took her yesterday afternoon because I was so worried and they took a look at her - stitches were fine, no temperature etc. They were convinced she was fine, just a bit cross about the whole experience. Sent photos of the stitches to them today as well as part of their regular checks and they haven’t said anything.

I might try taking the suit off tomorrow to see if she’s just super cross about it so at least I know it’s that. I’ve only had her a month so it’s tricky to know how she reacts to things. However am worried I won’t be able to get it back on by myself!

@Catmumstresses i think I did actually crack the tablets in the end, in case this helps! I wrapped her up in a towel like a burrito (found a thin quick drying one was easier to handle than a fluffy one) got her between my knees and wedged it in the side of her teeth, and held her mouth shut stroking her chin till she swallowed. I watched loads of videos where they pry their mouth open and hahahaha not a chance. She sulked about it for twenty minutes but then came back.

My kitten sadly died recently at the vets, whilst in for a repair operation a few days after spay. We were devastated, she was in perfect health except some stitches had come lose. We' d tried a cone, donut and bodysuit, she managed to wriggle out of cone and donut, stitches had come loose. So my advice would be do whatever you can to keep her wound clean and intact. It's so hard to keep them calm and still at a young age, plus mine had bad anxiety separation from her sibling. I still feel deeply upset, it was an awful shock to get the call from the vets saying she had passed away.