Question About Cat Using Stairs With E-collar

[Frank123]

Yesterday I had taken my 6 month old kitten to be spayed. Upon discharge among the instructions was that she was to wear her collar for two weeks and also could not use stairs during that same time period. The collar she was given was one of those plastic "cone of shame" type collars. I'm wondering if because this type of collar restricts her vision that it may cause a safety hazard if she tries to walk down stairs? If that's the case would I be better off switching her to a shallower collar that doesn't restrict her vision as much. Right now she has been restricted to a spare bedroom on the Upper Floor of the house for the past couple of days. She is used to having run of the entire house and I would hate to keep her confined to a single room for an entire 2 weeks. Especially a kitten with a lot of energy.
Thank you in advance for your response.

 

[Kieka]

It probably is because of the vision issue. I've trimmed a few inches off the collar we keep on hand. They are made to work with dog muzzles and cats are shorter faced.

As an aside, if your cat has trouble with the collar please ask for alternatives. I recently went through a neuter on a rabbit and the cone was a nightmare for him. A quick question and I had suggestions to make him more comfortable while still protecting his wound.

 

[tinydestroyer]

I recently had both my cats spayed and neutered, respectively, and we used the Kong Cloud Collar as an alternative to the "Cone of Shame."
KONG Cloud Collar for Dogs & Cats

We ordered a couple of different kinds, as we weren't sure what was going to work. I've included some pictures and links so you can see what I'm talking about.
The Cloud / Donut kind was, by far, their favorite option, as it allowed them to move more naturally, and kept their perepheral vision intact. However, we had to "double up" by using that one and a softer version of the e-collar for the first day or so with our older kitten, (the black and white one,) because he could slip off the donut kind off by itself. After he noticed that he couldn't get the collar off by himself anymore, we were able to remove the "cone" style one and just leave him with the donut for the remainder of the week. Some tips:
1) the softer verion of the e collar is nice, because you can flip it back to make a "bell" over their body. They can't reach their stitches like this, but they can go down stairs and eat more easily.
KONG EZ Soft Collar for Dogs & Cats

2) The donut kind, as I said, was their favorite, but it is easier to slip off in the first stages while they're getting used to it. It's important to have a well-fitting collar for this. They could also easily use it to sleep on - almost like a pillow, and had no trouble turning around / moving in the cat carrier if I needed to move them or take them back to the vet.

3) Although I was unable to use this myself (as I later had to deal with some complications with my pet's spay,) many cats do better with the "recovery suit" style of protection.
Suitical Recovery Suit for Cats
You can DIY one of these from a baby onesie, by using it backwards (tail goes in the "head area, and cut a hole for the head.) Here are some instructions:

4) It is important to leave whatever kind of protection you decide on for the full week, especially for female cats!!! When trying to diagnose the spay complication with my cat, we heard a litany of issues that can happen if the cats move too much or lick the incision site.

Good luck!