patellar luxation surgery

Hello. I am new to this site. I have an 8 month old male cat who has had a dislocated knee for a few weeks, so we had surgery on him this morning. I don't know anyone who has had a cat with this problem, so I'm in search of someone who can talk to me about recovery.

Jax, our cat, has never seemed so sad and well, sort of mad. He handled being neutered way better than this. Also, I'm worried about his stitches. He's licking them. I'm afraid he's pulled them tight because the skin makes like a little levy instead of laying flat. I didn't look at them when I picked him up from the vet-- I get squeemish with all this, so I don't look until I have to.

Once I saw him licking, I looked and that's when I saw a little levy. I then put "yuck" gel (used it for our other cat after she was spayed) around the sight in hopes of deterring him from licking there, however, he still is.

Tomorrow morning I'll check them again. If they look chewed I'll get him a collar I guess. The stitches are along the side of his leg, so there's no fat or any type of tissue to protect/ cushion you know?

If anyone has any input for me I'd really appreciate it!
Thanks,
Bridget

PS
he's on pain meds and antibiotics, so this makes me feel a little better about his situation except the pain meds probably keep him from feeling the pain when he chews at his sutures

It surprises me greatly that you weren't offered an e-collar when you picked him up from the vet. If they wanted the incision to be left uncovered, then I would have thought an e-collar would be necessary to ensure he didn't remove the stitches and open the incision.

thankyou for you reply. He seems to be doing much better today. The stitches are sitll in tact. He licks them but is not biting them, so hopefully he'll recover nicely. He seems very tired, but is not as miserable as yesterday.

I wonder when he will be able to use the leg again? As of now he won't put it down. Before the surgery he used it a little? I hope this surgery wasn't in vain because it was very expensive! Santa is going to be cinchy to the kids this year. Oh well, do they really need more toys anyway?!
Bridget