How long do my kittens need to keep their cones on for following neutering?
Antonia asked:
My two female kittens were neutered on Friday and came home with protective cones on their heads. How long should they need to have these on as the poor little mites are very fed up. The vet said not to let them lick or chew at their stitches but I can’t believe that the cones have to stay on for 10 days until their stitches are removed! Any ideas?
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My two female kittens were neutered on Friday and came home with protective cones on their heads. How long should they need to have these on as the poor little mites are very fed up. The vet said not to let them lick or chew at their stitches but I can’t believe that the cones have to stay on for 10 days until their stitches are removed! Any ideas?
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:02 am
If the vet told you to keep them on for 10 days, you need to keep them on for 10 days. Cats will do anything to try to nurse an area that is sore, and it just makes it worse and can lead to infection. Please just keep the cones on.Amy
September 24th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Just so you know, females are spayed, and males are neutered.
That said, leave the cone on until the stitches are taken out. If they manage to start licking the stitches, they can pull them out and that may lead to an infection at the surgical site, and I know you don’t want to see that.
The cones can be taken off for short periods, like at feeding times, but should be put right back on after, or immediately if they start to lick.Polgeria
September 26th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Some cats need the cones, some don’t. None of mine ever did. You can try taking them off and see if they try to pick at their stitches. If they don’t you can leave the cones off. Or at least leave them off while you’re around to supervise.Frankly
September 27th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Keep the cones on for ten days if that’s what the vet said. If you take it off and they take the stitches out they can do themselves some serious damage. My rat had to be put to sleep because the vet didn’t cone her and she ripped out her stitches. If the stitches are removed they will be left with open wounds which can get infected and you don’t want anything like that happening to your kittens. A minor annoyance is better than severe illness.K
September 29th, 2009 at 12:18 am
Your vet told you that because wanted to cover the worst possible situation - and cover his or her rear end if anything might happen.
We have spayed 6 females and neutered 11 males over the past 21 years and we have never used an Elizabethan collar and we have never had any problems with the incisions. No vet has ever sent one of of our cats home with a collar.
Your vet has given you very bad advise.
Telling someone to keep a cat in a Elizabethan collar for 10 days after being spayed it tantamount to animal abuse.
It is absolutely fine for a cat to lick the incision, that is their way of keeping it clean.
You should take the collars off now and watch them to see what they do.
If they leave the incision alone, or just lick it, you can leave the collars off.
Only if they tear at the sutures do you need to put the collar one them.
Again, your vet has given you incorrect advise. I have never heard of a vet telling someone to keep a collar on a cat until the sutures are removed - it is nonsense. The incision should be well on its way to healing in 3 or 4 days - I can’t conceive of a vet saying you should keep the collar on until the sutures are removed - this is a first for me.
Remove them now.
Watch to see how they do for the next hour or so and I’m sure you’ll see that they don’t bother the incisions.
A cat in an Elizabethan collar is miserable. Everything - eating, sleeping, walking, using the litter box - is difficult.
As I said, we have spayed 6 females and neutered 11 males and we have never used a collar and we have never tried to restrict their activity and we have had no problems with an incision coming open.
Please take the collars off them now and spend some time observing them. I am certain that they will do no more than lick the incision and that is perfectly alright. They will keep it clean.
Another person said “If the vet told you to keep them on for 10 days, you need to keep them on for 10 days” implying that the vet knows best.
That is nonsense. Vets are not perfect. There are varying degrees of competence amongst vets.
This vet is trying to completely cover his rear end. He is worried about something that is quite, quite rare - the cat tearing open the incision - and is giving no thought to how miserable the cats will be if they have to wear those collars for 10 days.
Please, take them off. Don’t make them wear them for 10 days or even one day.
The collars are not needed.
I just told my wife about your question. Here response was “What? That’s ridiculous. Look at the number of cats we’ve had and none ever wore a collar.”
She had a lot of cats when she was young and none of them were ever sent home with a collar and they didn’t have any problems with the incisions.
So - take the collars off your kittens and observe them for a while. I am sure that they won’t tear at the incision and don’t need to wear the collars.
Now, there are times which Elizabethan collars have to be used, such as when a cat is scratching or over grooming an area and it is getting raw or torn up, but they are not needed with the vast majority (say 99%) of cats after they are neutered or spayed.
As to the correct word to use - neuter or spay.
Someone corrected your use of the word neutered since you applied it to female cats.
Normally we speak of spaying a female and neutering a male but it is proper to use the word neuter to refer to both females and males - check a dictionary.Bob N