E-collar After Spaying

mammameeko

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My two year old Lynx-point was spayed last Tuesday morning(5/9), and I was told to leave the e-collar on for 7-10 days. Tomorrow will be a week since she was spayed and we are getting ready to drive across the country and I would hate for her to have to have this e-collar on while we are traveling in the car. Her incision looks the same as it did when we brought her home, not any worse or better. I tried to take the e-collar off yesterday and she went right for the incision. It makes me so nervous, I do not want her to hurt herself or for it to get infected. My husband keeps saying she will be fine because it has been 7 days, but I think I should push it to 10 days or more before I take it off. :dunno: This is my first time with a spayed cat so I am just looking for insight from someone with more experience. Thanks!
 
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How does the incision look? If it's completely closed with no inflammation, it would probably be okay to leave the collar off. Our shelter vet doesn't use e-collars at all after spay surgery; I've only seen two cases where cats' incisions have had to be bandaged because they were worrying the incision, and the bandages came off after a week.
 

Antonio65

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Hi, Have you any photo of the cut so that we can give you an idea?
I used the e-collar on a spayed cat only once, because the cat was going to bite the stitches, but she kept the collar on for about 5 days. Ten days seem a long time to me.
 
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mammameeko

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Thanks for replying! It does not look inflamed and they said the stitches are on the inside and they used surgical glue on the outside. Ten days seemed like a long time to me too, I guess I was just hoping it would look more healed than it does by now. I really have no idea what to look for either though, so for all I know it looks the way it should at this point lol!
 

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mammameeko

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So does it look like it would be okay if I took the e-collar off? It's been exactly one week since she was spayed.
 
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mammameeko

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I took it off and she went right for the incision. She licks at it so rough it makes me nervous. I know she is trying to clean it though.
 

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The incision looks very normal. I don't see any red puffiness or swollen tissues. Is it warm to the touch there=more warm than normal? If not then I wouldn't worry about it-plus don't forget that it probably itches so she's licking. When are you leaving for the drive? Maybe another day with the collar? My girl hated the collar. it was a BIG nightmare to keep her from licking.
 
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mammameeko

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This is what it looks like now from her licking it.
 

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mammameeko

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We start our drive tomorrow morning. She is so mad lol and it's hard for her to eat with it on. I feel so bad I want to take it off but God forbid she rips it open while we are on the move..
 

foxxycat

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yep collar back on. Silly cat!! you can get a soft collar or a blowup one. Those are at petsmart I think or petco. one I got at another vets office but I didnt' like the string on the soft one. I was afraid she'd get tangled up. We ended up using yarn to tie it on around her shoulders/hips because she kept backing up out of it.
 
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mammameeko

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I'll have to go and check the other collars out. I have just been taking it off when she eats and staying in the room with her to make sure she just eats and doesn't lick it. I put it back on before I took that pic, So it's staying on. I guess all cats just heal differently and my girl takes forever to heal. Better to be safe than sorry though.
 
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