kitty wearing a post surgery collar--how to manage eleven more days?

[ginnyinWI]

What do you think: which is more stressful for a kitty who is supposed to wear one of those cones for two weeks because she had surgery on her forehead with stitches she isn't supposed to scratch:

1) leave it on her most of the time, except for meals and a bit of cuddling, so she can adapt and be left to herself, or

2) take it on and off all day, giving her a lot of breaks from it, but then watching her like a hawk and following her around to make sure she isn't scratching?


I am of opinion #1, and my husband thinks we should follow #2. We have been doing it his way the last few days (he was off work by coincidence and did a lot of the watching), but I think Kitty is starting to feel stressed from feeling like we are stalking her!

[Lithos]

1. Your vet can prescribe anti-anxiety medication

Or something similar which will help make it easier for your kitty. The longer she wears it, the better the healing will be.

L-

[ginnyinWI]

2. thanks

She seems most stressed when she is being bothered all the time by us humans. Today we will try it my way--collar on 95% and see if it helps.

[PotatoChip]

3. How is it going so far?

Did you go with option 1, 2, medication, or some combination of the 3?

I had to deal with that once with my dog. We tried so hard to make it work, but had to give up after a full day of him bumping into things, getting stuck in odd places, ect. The final straw was when he ripped open a couple of the stitches by bumping into the edge of the coffee table. And yes, after that, we did try moving furniture out of the way, but he was still way too encumbered- was afraid he'd somehow hurt himself again on some other unforeseen thing.

Hopefully it is not as difficult w/a cat. You definitely have my sympathy if it is.

My dog was a very large German Shepherd, so needless to say, that cone thing was huge! The wound was on his belly, so to ensure that he didn't get at it, we watched him closely, and covered the area with gauze during the day hours, but made him wear the cone at night to air it out.

Obviously not an ideal solution, since it probably would have healed faster with 24/7 hours of open air, but at least it got aired out at night. It healed in a reasonable amount of time.

Good luck!

[ginnyinWI]

4. she's doing pretty well

She's worn the collar at night and most of the daytime hours, with a break in the morning and evening for eating meals, and a little while after, if someone is willing to watch her.

I think it's harder on us humans watching her than it is on the cat herself, who more or less just accepts her fate. She's not afraid of the collar and doesn't try to squirm out of it, and in fact has adapted her sleeping positions so that she can sleep comfy even with it on. Still tries to squeeze through spaces where she doesn't fit though. It's not a large size--she is a normal cat, see sig pic, but still, it is there and she bumps it on things.

The risk is that her back leg will just reach up and scratch the stitches as she heals and gets itchy. So far it is nice and dry--antibiotics are going their job--and she's on track.

After today, 9 1/2 more days to go.

[PotatoChip]

5. "After today, 9 and 1/2 days to go"

Yikes!

Sounds as if you and your kitty are handling it very well though.

Based on how well she is doing already, she will probably be barely noticing the collar when the healing gets to the itchy stage... The worst part, I dare say.

Then, day 10. Yay!

Love the pic!

[ginnyinWI]

6. "itchy" started tonight!

Surgery was Wednesday and now it is Sunday--four days. I had her on my lap without the collar tonight, and stopped her from scratching her stitches twice--so now we really have to be more careful. Like only let her be without the collar if we are holding her or are within arm's reach of her while she is eating and drinking water without it. Yikes, indeed!

Once the collar is on, she's very good about it, so that will be the way to get through this. Yup, 14 days. Because of the extensive repair work the vet did, and the way the skin on the forehead isn't as loose as, say on the tummy, they said to use the collar for the full two weeks. He did do a good job with the stitches though--and they are dissolve-able. She was such a bad patient before surgery that they decided they didn't want to go through having to remove any stitches later on!

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Our vet told us to just keep it on.

This is true for the cats and the dogs. Once the thing is one, they get used to it to the point they at least accept it. Taking it on and off confuses them.

Our last episode was the Border Collie after a bad hot spot on her forepaw. She had it on for a week. She survived.

[ceile]

8. Leave it on at all times

Don't take it off at all. She will adapt faster and it will be less stressful.

[ginnyinWI]

9. I believe you are right.

I'm currently arguing for that with my husband who keeps feeling sorry for the cat. But the more she wears it, the more she accepts it. She can now eat and drink with it on, and do everything else she needs to do. Getting to be quite an expert. One more week.