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Hi! I'm new to posting in TCS, but a long-time lurker in the forums ever since I adopted two kitties this year. Both were strays in my (very rural) area, which unfortunately has a huge feral / intact cat population. I got both of them fixed this week, as they were just approaching the 5-6 month mark, and I didn't want to contribute to the kitten problem here. While Mog, my male cat, is doing wonderfully with his recovery, my baby girl Toulouse (Lucy for short,) has developed a seroma at her incision site. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with these things, or advice with spay complications in general.
A little (edit: a lot,) about the situation: Wednesday was the day of her spay, and the vet told me when I brought her home that she might be sedate, and lethargic for the first day or so. I was suspect because the vet had me dose both of my cats with Gabepentin before their procedures, and it had very little "sedating" effect on her that day, but was obvious with my other cat. Oh, and she was LOSING HER EVER-LOVING MIND in the carrier. That, too. Usually she is silent at the vet, appraising all outside her carrier with sharp eyes, and tons of Torti-tude. When I checked her out of the vets, she was wide-eyed, and vocal, and actively trying to get her cone off already.
So, night one was hard. She was thrashing about, hating the cone. Or maybe she just hated the effects of the anesthesia. I had done my prep work, and my husband and I are lucky enough to have the space to keep both cats separate from each other and from my dog in their own recovery rooms. Lucy's was basically empty except for her litter box, food and water dish, and a mountain of pillows which made a ramp up to her favorite chair, with her bed and blanket on it. The chair is super cushy and wedged in the corner of the room, so there's nothing for her to jump off of, since the pillows lead to the floor on both sides. STILL, she is creative, and found new and exciting ways to frighten me and my husband by thrashing around on the floor, bunny-kicking her e-collars (I had gotten a couple because we found that Mog needed both the soft cone style and the "donut" style collar at the same time until he quit trying to get them off.) She was yowling, and running into the wall, and rolling around. She was jumping around in, and EATING the paper litter pellets we were using to keep regular cat litter out of the healing insicion, even though she had food. I called the vet back and they said some cats don't like the anesthesia, and to turn down the lights and ensure she can't get at her stitches.
A very long 12 hours later, she was much calmer, and finally sleeping. Although I hadn't really slept, haha. She had eaten and used the litter box normally, and was finally tolerating her cone, so we left for work thinking she'd be fine on Thursday (last night.) When we got home, we made the rounds feeding and checking everyone, and when we got to her, we both gasped.
She had a very large lump right under her incision area, and the area itself just did not look happy. My husband and I took turns being the one who was worried, and the one who thought the other might be over-reacting. We argued about whether the lump was the size of a AA or AAA battery. Or an adult human thumb. Or a dutch fingerling potato. Lol. We also tried to take a picture of the area, but noticed that as she moved and tensed her abdominal muscles, the lump looked different. It flattened out completely sometimes. There were also a couple of red "lines" coming away from the incision, which we know is a sign of infection, in humans at least. We didn't know what to think, because on one hand, she had just been through major abdominal surgery, and we imagined some swelling to be normal. But she also had been prescribed Onsior, a NSAID, and the Vet didn't say anything about lump-level of swelling. The lines could be bruises from her earlier thrashing, and since there was no drainage, or heat, or pain at the site, we thought it was a toss up. We ultimately decided to call first thing this AM since she was basically acting normally, and skip the E-vet.
I took her in today, and the vet also gasped when she saw the lump, which had grown since last night. She palpated the area, saying that it feels like mostly fluid, but there was a harder mass near the top that she wasn't sure about. She felt that they needed to x ray the area to make sure none of the underlying layers of stitches were broken, and none of the fatty tissue was protruding, which would be serious. A frantic 15 mins where I internally berated myself for not taking her to the E-vet last night, and $250 later, they came back. Her x ray complete, they said it was just a fluid-filled seroma and would resolve on its own. They didn't want to drain it, since they said it would just fill back up, and the body should re-absorb it in time. They gave me more Gabapentin to keep her more sedated, since they think that her activity level the first night is the cause, and told me to watch for leakage or growth in the seroma.
Admittedly, I am pretty worked up at this point. I am very attached to Lucy, as I have had her since she was 4 weeks old. I found her abandoned by her mom under our house, and bottle-fed her back to health. Maybe its the sleeplessness, or the shock of thinking my baby kitten's intestines were coming out, or the constant worrying, but I just feel that it doesn't seem right to go from "she might be dying" to "its fine, it'll go away on its own" so quickly. Is a seroma really nothing to be that worried about? Is there any chance that it can be misdiagnosed in the x ray? Everything seemed to happen so quickly, and because I rushed her back there with no appmt. today, I didn't get to see my preferred vet at this clinic. Can anyone give me stories or advice on dealing with a seroma, or after-spay complication? How long does it take to go away? What, other than enlargement, should I be checking for? Or any other ideas to keep her calm during this recovery period? Thanks so much to all!
TL;DR - Kitten has seroma at spay incision after 2 days recovery, diagnosed by the vet via x ray. Anyone with advice to keep her calm / comfortable, or other people with experience on seromas?
A little (edit: a lot,) about the situation: Wednesday was the day of her spay, and the vet told me when I brought her home that she might be sedate, and lethargic for the first day or so. I was suspect because the vet had me dose both of my cats with Gabepentin before their procedures, and it had very little "sedating" effect on her that day, but was obvious with my other cat. Oh, and she was LOSING HER EVER-LOVING MIND in the carrier. That, too. Usually she is silent at the vet, appraising all outside her carrier with sharp eyes, and tons of Torti-tude. When I checked her out of the vets, she was wide-eyed, and vocal, and actively trying to get her cone off already.
So, night one was hard. She was thrashing about, hating the cone. Or maybe she just hated the effects of the anesthesia. I had done my prep work, and my husband and I are lucky enough to have the space to keep both cats separate from each other and from my dog in their own recovery rooms. Lucy's was basically empty except for her litter box, food and water dish, and a mountain of pillows which made a ramp up to her favorite chair, with her bed and blanket on it. The chair is super cushy and wedged in the corner of the room, so there's nothing for her to jump off of, since the pillows lead to the floor on both sides. STILL, she is creative, and found new and exciting ways to frighten me and my husband by thrashing around on the floor, bunny-kicking her e-collars (I had gotten a couple because we found that Mog needed both the soft cone style and the "donut" style collar at the same time until he quit trying to get them off.) She was yowling, and running into the wall, and rolling around. She was jumping around in, and EATING the paper litter pellets we were using to keep regular cat litter out of the healing insicion, even though she had food. I called the vet back and they said some cats don't like the anesthesia, and to turn down the lights and ensure she can't get at her stitches.
A very long 12 hours later, she was much calmer, and finally sleeping. Although I hadn't really slept, haha. She had eaten and used the litter box normally, and was finally tolerating her cone, so we left for work thinking she'd be fine on Thursday (last night.) When we got home, we made the rounds feeding and checking everyone, and when we got to her, we both gasped.
She had a very large lump right under her incision area, and the area itself just did not look happy. My husband and I took turns being the one who was worried, and the one who thought the other might be over-reacting. We argued about whether the lump was the size of a AA or AAA battery. Or an adult human thumb. Or a dutch fingerling potato. Lol. We also tried to take a picture of the area, but noticed that as she moved and tensed her abdominal muscles, the lump looked different. It flattened out completely sometimes. There were also a couple of red "lines" coming away from the incision, which we know is a sign of infection, in humans at least. We didn't know what to think, because on one hand, she had just been through major abdominal surgery, and we imagined some swelling to be normal. But she also had been prescribed Onsior, a NSAID, and the Vet didn't say anything about lump-level of swelling. The lines could be bruises from her earlier thrashing, and since there was no drainage, or heat, or pain at the site, we thought it was a toss up. We ultimately decided to call first thing this AM since she was basically acting normally, and skip the E-vet.
I took her in today, and the vet also gasped when she saw the lump, which had grown since last night. She palpated the area, saying that it feels like mostly fluid, but there was a harder mass near the top that she wasn't sure about. She felt that they needed to x ray the area to make sure none of the underlying layers of stitches were broken, and none of the fatty tissue was protruding, which would be serious. A frantic 15 mins where I internally berated myself for not taking her to the E-vet last night, and $250 later, they came back. Her x ray complete, they said it was just a fluid-filled seroma and would resolve on its own. They didn't want to drain it, since they said it would just fill back up, and the body should re-absorb it in time. They gave me more Gabapentin to keep her more sedated, since they think that her activity level the first night is the cause, and told me to watch for leakage or growth in the seroma.
Admittedly, I am pretty worked up at this point. I am very attached to Lucy, as I have had her since she was 4 weeks old. I found her abandoned by her mom under our house, and bottle-fed her back to health. Maybe its the sleeplessness, or the shock of thinking my baby kitten's intestines were coming out, or the constant worrying, but I just feel that it doesn't seem right to go from "she might be dying" to "its fine, it'll go away on its own" so quickly. Is a seroma really nothing to be that worried about? Is there any chance that it can be misdiagnosed in the x ray? Everything seemed to happen so quickly, and because I rushed her back there with no appmt. today, I didn't get to see my preferred vet at this clinic. Can anyone give me stories or advice on dealing with a seroma, or after-spay complication? How long does it take to go away? What, other than enlargement, should I be checking for? Or any other ideas to keep her calm during this recovery period? Thanks so much to all!
TL;DR - Kitten has seroma at spay incision after 2 days recovery, diagnosed by the vet via x ray. Anyone with advice to keep her calm / comfortable, or other people with experience on seromas?
Thank you again Lilahbear. I gave her some of that sedative, and she went into the carrier on her own, so maybe I'll let her stay there while I get some sleep too, lol. She is eating / pooping normally, so that advice makes me feel better, too. You've been so helpful! Thank you, and Lilah, so much! 
We took her back in today, and they said that she's running a fever now too. They put a pressure bandage on to help with the swelling, and gave me a course of antibiotics. I'm taking her back on Wednesday (day after tomorrow,) which would've been the normal 1 week checkup for her spay. If she's not improving by then, they want to open her back up. 
