Help with e-collar

[leni]

Ok, so I got Sasha spayed Monday, and brought her home yesterday morning. Her uterus was a little longer than normal so her incision was a little longer according to the vet. It's about 2- 2.5 inches long and has 4 stitches. It was nice and clean and she was fine.

Well around 11 last night she started pulling and licking on the stitches. Everything was closed then so we tried some other homemade ideas to keep her from getting to it, even tried an infant onesie that we modified to fit her tail and such. She got out of or removed everything we tried. I got no sleep last night watching her. She'd be fine for a bit, then she'd start grooming herself, and then she'd go for the incision.

Around midnight the incision was starting to look red in about 1/2 inch of it. Today, it's all red. Not an angry red, and nothing is leaking out of it, but you can tell she's been pulling and licking at it. I got one of those soft e-collars at the pet store this morning and out it on her, and she wiggled out of it in less than an hour. I tried a different collar to attach the e-collar to and it still seems like she can wiggle out of it. I am home today, sick with the flu, but I can watch her today, but I got the collar so she can leave her incision alone so we can sleep, and I'm supposed to work the next few days so I won't be able to watch her then either. It's called the Comfy Cone, and I got the small one. I just wanted to know if there's anything I can do? I really don't want her to rip her stitches out or get them infected and even though she doesn't bother it all the time when she gets her mind into it she really yanks them hard. :hair: I'm going on no sleep here so any suggestions would be most welcome

 

[SamiJami]

This is the e-collar the vet had already put on Altair for his amputation. I snapped it so that you could see the size of the hole for his neck that was comfortable so maybe it'd help you judge.

Some people don't use cones and just let the chin do what it wants. I didn't do that with Altair. He got his cone off every day. I'd give him 3 strikes at his stitches and on it went. After about a week, it was only off for a minute or two Even though I felt bad that I couldn't give him a bath for 2 weeks and that he had to have the collar on all of the time, he made it work and it was better in the end. Good luck!!! I hope this helps.

 

[Stackie]

This is the e-collar the vet had already put on Altair for his amputation. I snapped it so that you could see the size of the hole for his neck that was comfortable so maybe it'd help you judge.

Some people don't use cones and just let the chin do what it wants. I didn't do that with Altair. He got his cone off every day. I'd give him 3 strikes at his stitches and on it went. After about a week, it was only off for a minute or two Even though I felt bad that I couldn't give him a bath for 2 weeks and that he had to have the collar on all of the time, he made it work and it was better in the end. Good luck!!! I hope this helps.

This isn't for a chin, it looks like it's for a cat.

Leni, could you call the vet to see if they have any other options or better fits for her? Or perhaps one of those cloth diapers they use for dogs? I'm pretty sure they make them for cats. However I'm not sure if it would rub against the incision and irritate it.

 

[leni]

Yeah, Sasha is my cat. Stacie, I was going to call, but then of course she quit messing with it and went to sleep and frankly so did I. Not exactly feeling at my greatest today. She's been wearing it a while now, occasionally she will halfheartedly try to pull it off but I think she's accepted it. When I feed her I just push it back and she seems ok, but I definitely have my vet's number on hand if she decides to go after it again. I just wanted to know if anyone else had had a kitty who was determined to act this way, since most other people I've talked to, their cats didn't mess with the stitches at all.