Spay Aftercare And Preventing Licking

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!

Oh, the other big problem with the shirt. When she peed and pooped, the mesh hadn’t been cut very well and some of both got on it. I cut most of the dirty parts out but 1) that leaves the mesh thinner and more likely to tug sharply, and 2) it still smells like pee, and it doesn’t really seem hygienic (or enjoyable for her) to have pee-stained mesh so close to a fresh incision.

I'm glad she's been spayed! I've never dealt with the aftercare, but that looks like a more uncomfortable version of the baby onesie option some people use instead of cones.

rosegold said:

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:

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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!

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I have never had cones, onesies or coverings on any of my cats after they were spayed, nor have any of our vets ever recommended them. If she was biting, aggressively licking or otherwise interfering with the stitches/incision site, I could see the need to try to keep her from doing so; otherwise, I would let the incision heal naturally and monitor her for any problems (redness/swelling of site, bothering the stitches). You might be able to obtain additional professional information/opinions via one of the online veterinary sources using your search engine. Of course I am not a veterinarian or vet tech, so I hesitate to advise more than what I have already stated. But usually, apart from making sure the incision site is kept clean, there is nothing more required, and the air helps to heal the site.

I just took it off. Lol! My cat mom senses were telling me to. I’m keeping the shirt and I think I can wrangle it back on if necessary. The gauze is dirty anyway (blood, pee, whatever wound leakage or antiseptic from when it was first applied) so I guess if I put it on again I can slip a soft paper towel or something else between the mesh and the skin.

She’s not trying to lick it right now anyway. She’s still quite nauseous from the anesthesia (threw up some yellow spit again - nothing in her tummy ) so I’d rather focus on making her comfy for now until she wants to eat again.

She groomed furiously this morning for a loooong time and I think she is definitely happier to have the sausage casing off! She did lick the incision briefly, but it wasn’t focused or for a long time and it didn’t seem to be bothering her - more just a part of her “I refuse to smell weird for one more second!” grooming session.That’s another reason the sausage casing shirt was mean... she’s a very clean and fastidious cat and with that on she couldn’t groom most of her body.

I’ll keep an eye on her as much as I can today, but so far so good in that she’s not obsessed with the incision. The incision itself looks good to me so far - everything is a nice pale pink and the swelling has gone down since yesterday. Hopefully she eats and drinks more normally today. I do have an appointment later so hopefully she will be okay for a couple hours. I can’t bring myself to stuff her back in the sausage casing. Even though it was kind of cute.

I have never used anything on a cat after getting them spayed. The last time the Vet told me if she started obsessively licking the incision then I would need to put the cone of shame on her. She left it alone and it healed up fine.

Sounds good, rosegold . Yes, being the cleanest animals on the planet except for those who live in water, cats will groom and it's normal to wash the site, as long as she doesn't tear the stitches or overdo it. denice has a good vet -- that's what the protocol should be. I guess some vets can be over-careful because if they've had even a couple of instances of things going wrong, they want to protect themselves and hopefully, their patients as well. But it's very rare, I think, for things TO go wrong.

Question... Her incision looks good to me and there’s been no redness, heat, oozing, opening, or swelling of any kind that I can tell. However, the area around the incision is quite lumpy. I think it looked that way when I first brought her home and the lumpiness seems to have gone down a bit, but should her tummy feel totally flat? Is it just part of the healing phase?

Although the vet did say he was very surprised by *how much fat* such a tiny girl was carrying in her little primordial pouch... could it be fat deposits that got sort of bunched together? When she lies down on her side, there’s now a crease along her midline.

It definitely doesn’t seem infected and she’s totally back to her normal self and very active. The lumpiness feels fairly firm to the touch and is mostly right around the incision.

That lumpiness is normal. From what I understand it is from the internal stitches that are slowly absorbed. Her incision looks good to me.

rosegold said:

Question... Her incision looks good to me and there’s been no redness, heat, oozing, opening, or swelling of any kind that I can tell. However, the area around the incision is quite lumpy. I think it looked that way when I first brought her home and the lumpiness seems to have gone down a bit, but should her tummy feel totally flat? Is it just part of the healing phase?

Although the vet did say he was very surprised by *how much fat* such a tiny girl was carrying in her little primordial pouch... could it be fat deposits that got sort of bunched together? When she lies down on her side, there’s now a crease along her midline.

It definitely doesn’t seem infected and she’s totally back to her normal self and very active. The lumpiness feels fairly firm to the touch and is mostly right around the incision.
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Agree with denice and don't think there's anything to worry about. The site looks absolutely normal and healthy. But if there is any doubt in your mind, the vet is the place to go to seek the answers.

My cat tore open her skin I had to bring her to the MSPCA I though she ripped her stitches I freaked out she's home now I'm battling it out with her with keeping the cone of shame on she's on gabapentin right now I have to go get the rest they forgot to give me the antibiotics and the pain medicine idk if I should bother to keep putting it on her or not

Spookyandsammy said:

My cat tore open her skin I had to bring her to the MSPCA I though she ripped her stitches I freaked out she's home now I'm battling it out with her with keeping the cone of shame on she's on gabapentin right now I have to go get the rest they forgot to give me the antibiotics and the pain medicine idk if I should bother to keep putting it on her or not

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Antibiotics? DEFINITELY!!! Cats' skin is tough, but just like ours, there are many subcutaneous layers below the outer one. They rarely get wounds, and when they do, the wounds absolutely need to be kept free of germs/bacteria. Antibiotics work for them as they do for us, preventing infection.

Spookyandsammy said:

The the thing is is I have no ride

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It's essential. Get an Uber or a Lyft or whatever you can. In the meantime, keep her wound as clean as possible by flushing with hydrogen peroxide. If you have human triple antibiotic, that would be okay to use until you get the veterinary meds, but you need to get them right away.

Yes I'm just gonna leave her be so she doesn't get infection and continue giving her the gabapentin I don't have alot of money to a credit card that's the problem but I'm doing the best to my knowledge to take care of her she has a appointment the 31st at the mspca to check everything

Spookyandsammy said:

Yes I'm just gonna leave her be so she doesn't get infection and continue giving her the gabapentin I don't have alot of money to a credit card that's the problem but I'm doing the best to my knowledge to take care of her she has a appointment the 31st at the mspca to check everything

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Check her site daily and if you see any redness or swelling, or it feels warm, she must go to emergency AT ONCE. That would indicate infection. I have to be very frugal and don't drive, either, so I hear you on all that.

It's so hard I check it e

I check it every day I mean sorry

Spookyandsammy said:

I check it every day I mean sorry

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VERY important to do so, though.