Advice on aftercare for spay surgery.

[franksmom]

Well Ava was spayed today and is back home (I picked her up about 3 hours ago). She is pretty groggy and will only eat a few treats and has not had anything to drink yet (though she was given IV fluids during the sugary).  She also hasn't used the litter box yet. I have read a lot of threads on here and this all does seem pretty normal as she did have major surgery about 8 hours ago. I think I may giver her a syringe of water later if she doesn't drink and the vet recommended I do the same with some AD later.

My main concern is the surgical shirt the vet said she has to wear for 10 days. I opted for the shirt instead of the ecollar because I knew she would hate that but she also hates the shirt which is more like baby onsie or jump suit. I took it off because she really hates it and I wanted to try to get her to use the litter box and she is now sleeping next to me on the couch and has not tried to lick her incision. The incision also looks amazing as she had laser surgery and there are no stiches or glue for her to open up. Her breeder also told me that she never uses e-collars or shirts and I have read the same on here from some people. I was thinking of just putting it on when I can't monitor her- what do people think?

 

[denice]

I didn't use either for Alice.  She left her incision alone and healed up fine.  I think it just depends on the cat.  The vet told me that if she started messing with the incision than I would have to put the dreaded e-collar on her.