Reaction to sutures after spay

GoldyCat

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I took my three adult cats to be spayed last Thursday. Goldy has healed up beautifully, you can barely even see the scar now.

Shareena and Miss Patchwillow had fairly severe reactions to the sutures. They both have big lumps around the sutures and Shareena's incision looks like it's been bleeding a little bit. I took Shareena back to the vet yesterday because she was not moving around very much and generally acted like she didn't feel well. He said his main concern was that they might develop an infection and gave me clavamox for them.

They've had two doses now and Shareena is definitely feeling perkier this morning, jumping up on things instead of just lying curled up on my bed. I can't see any difference in the swelling around the incision yet on either of them.

Has anybody had experience with suture reaction? How long can I expect the swelling to last? I don't want to panic and take them back to the vet if things are progressing normally. I'm just not sure what "normal" is in this case.
 

white cat lover

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I'd call your vet with your worries. Yes - paranoid - but my vet is used to it outta me.
 

twokatz

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One of my girls had a reaction to sutures also. The lump got hard, red and hot and she was also put on antibiotics. She didn't feel good and didn't want to eat or drink because of the fever and pain caused by the inflamation. I got her SubQ fluids which helped a lot. Watch that she is eating, drinking and going potty and starting to feel better. The swelling can last for a bit, mine went down slowly over a 2 week period before it looked normal. Don't be afraid to call if you are concerned, especially if kitty just ins'nt herself.
 

mews2much

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Lucy had a bad reaction and got a bad infection.
That is why I am so scared for Cleopatra tomorrow.
I hope your cats feel better.
Lucy had to have more surgery when she was infected.
 

strange_wings

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I had one get that way too. I don't think she reacted to the sutures so much as was grooming at her belly and introduced some bacteria . Because there was a tiny pucker that I didn't like to begin with I was already watching her belly for the slightest signs of infection and caught it pretty quickly.

I think I've read that some vets use glue and I know they do so with human surgeries - so why they can't at least put a bit of glue over it to help keep bacteria out for a few days is sort of beyond me.
 
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GoldyCat

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The girls have been on the antibiotics for 24 hours now, and I think they're both improving. Miss Patchwillow has always been a much calmer kitty so it's hard to tell when she's not feeling well. She's not acting much different than usual. Her incision is healing well and the swelling seems to be going down.

Shareena is back to her usual feisty self, pouncing on the other kitties and wrestling with them. Her incision still doesn't look great but it hasn't gotten any worse. Yesterday was the first day she would let me check it without biting me. She still doesn't want me to touch it, but she'll at least let me stretch her out so I can see it.

I'm going to be gone all day tomorrow. If Shareena's incision isn't looking better by Friday morning I'll take her back to the vet then.
 

rang_27

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Maggie had a reaction to hers. There was not sign of infection it looked really clean, but she had a big lump. I did call the vet just to be sure. The vet said it was a reaction, but since she was acting fine and did not have an infection I didn't need to worry. Within 24 hours of removing the stitches the lump was gone.
 
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GoldyCat

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My vet used the dissolving type of suture, so there's nothing to remove. The lump on Miss Patchwillow has shrunk down a lot and her incision is healing very well. I don't know if that's related to the antibiotic or if it would have happened anyway.

Shareena was definitely not feeling well, and her incision wasn't healing either. That's in addition to the huge lump. Within 24 hours of starting the antibiotic she was almost back to her normal (trouble-making) self. The incision is looking much better, even though it's not healed as much as the other two kitties' and the lump is still there. She's got another 3 days on the antibiotic and I'm hoping everything will be looking good by then.
 

jenny_may

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My cat Lily had a horrible reaction and the vet said it had caused her muscles to dissolve. She had to be operated on and almost died. She developed a hot lump around her surgery site about 5 days i think it was after the surgery and the vet didn't realise it was such a bad reaction and just gave her some anti-biotics but a few days later it was really bad and i almost lost my kitty. there is a thread somewhere in here on it...

I just thought i'd say... - although i dont think the reaction lily had is a common reaction!
 
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