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- Feb 1, 2018
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Clove got spayed today and so far seems to be doing well. She is still groggy and mostly just resting, but is very vocal as usual and she ate, drank, peed, and pooped as soon as she got home. She did throw up her mostly-digested painkiller pill a little while ago... but she’s done that occasionally before with pills (like when she broke her toe) and I know she’s still recovering from anesthesia so I’m not too worried. My main question is about this rather hilarious-looking contraption that my vet put her in to keep her from licking the incision:
I’m calling her an angry sausage! It’s basically a stretchy mesh “shirt” that wraps around her tail as well. There’s a chunk of medical gauze over the actual incision and the shirt is keeping it there. Vet says to leave it on for 3 days.
He said she could move freely and it was much preferable to a cone, but... Clove HATES this. She will walk very awkwardly and stiffly for a little while, glare at me, fall over dramatically, and WAIL. I think it is pinching slightly/annoyingly in some places and rubbing all her fur the wrong direction, even though I tried to cut pieces off and make it more comfortable. She likes being pet and doesn’t seem to be in much pain, but if I attempt to adjust the shirt, even the front part, she starts growling at me and thrashing her tail around. I tried taking her front legs out of the holes and letting it just stay on her back half, and she was noticeably happier with that and stopped the growling. However, it slid its way down really quickly and I don’t think it’ll stay. I put the front legs back in the holes and she flopped back on the floor yelling and giving me the evil eye. I have never seen her so upset and frankly I have to make sure to keep my hands out of the way so she doesn’t bite - she’s that furious!
I ordered some cones that are coming tomorrow... I just wondered, is it important to have the gauze over the incision for a few days? They are dissolvable stitches so no strings for her to pull at. I of course will do my best to keep her from licking it, with cones or with the dreaded shirt. But wasn’t sure if there was a reason to keep the gauze applied. My vet is out of the office until Monday or I would ask him. I really want to keep her stress levels at a minimum for a quick recovery and this shirt is clearly stressing her out... Any advice welcome!
I’m calling her an angry sausage! It’s basically a stretchy mesh “shirt” that wraps around her tail as well. There’s a chunk of medical gauze over the actual incision and the shirt is keeping it there. Vet says to leave it on for 3 days.
He said she could move freely and it was much preferable to a cone, but... Clove HATES this. She will walk very awkwardly and stiffly for a little while, glare at me, fall over dramatically, and WAIL. I think it is pinching slightly/annoyingly in some places and rubbing all her fur the wrong direction, even though I tried to cut pieces off and make it more comfortable. She likes being pet and doesn’t seem to be in much pain, but if I attempt to adjust the shirt, even the front part, she starts growling at me and thrashing her tail around. I tried taking her front legs out of the holes and letting it just stay on her back half, and she was noticeably happier with that and stopped the growling. However, it slid its way down really quickly and I don’t think it’ll stay. I put the front legs back in the holes and she flopped back on the floor yelling and giving me the evil eye. I have never seen her so upset and frankly I have to make sure to keep my hands out of the way so she doesn’t bite - she’s that furious!
I ordered some cones that are coming tomorrow... I just wondered, is it important to have the gauze over the incision for a few days? They are dissolvable stitches so no strings for her to pull at. I of course will do my best to keep her from licking it, with cones or with the dreaded shirt. But wasn’t sure if there was a reason to keep the gauze applied. My vet is out of the office until Monday or I would ask him. I really want to keep her stress levels at a minimum for a quick recovery and this shirt is clearly stressing her out... Any advice welcome!