Help! Cat In Buster Collar = Misery For Both Of Us

I am feeling terrible, has anyone any advice please?
I had my cat, Catherine, spayed last week. The vet said that she must not lick the wound for fear of getting it infected or the stitches being damaged. Well of course Catherine kept licking it. At her check-up the vet gave me a "buster" collar to put on her. She has now had it on for two days and she is utterly miserable. She is a tiny cat and she canâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t get her mouth to the end of the collar to eat properly. So I am feeding her by hand. I have tried to get her to drink water in a similar fashion - but she is just not interested. So Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m really worried that she is not getting enough fluids.
Also, I guess because her whiskers are inhibited, her mobility is bizarre. She looks like a stroke victim. Sometimes she walks backwards. It would be funny if she wasnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t so sad.
I canâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t bare to see her so unhappy. What should I do?

A) Stick it out for 5 more days until her stitches are taken out?
B) Give her some breaks with the collar off and watch that she doesnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t lick the wound?
C) Take it off completely?

I am worried that if I give her breaks it will just compound the misery.
What Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]d like is some sort of medical risk assessment.
Surely as the wound heals the risk gets much lower?
I would really welcome advice from those that have gone through this experience.
If you really know the score please email me at:-
[email protected]
best wishes,
Steve

When our Angel had her surgery the vet didn't say that her cleaning the cut was bad. I was told just to watch it to make sure it didn't start to bleed or get all red and sore with a infection. She didn't have stitches that had to be taken out though. If I am correct she had stitches that desolve under her skin and the skin was basicaly super glued together.

I could see if she had regular stitches she might try to pull them out herself though.

I believe you can trim the collar so that she can reach her food and water. I would call the vet and see what he/she thinks about your situation.

I have spayed tons of cats and have never had to keep a collar on them. If you are around I would take it off of her but if you leave or when you go to bed put it back on.

My kitty Sadie recently had surgery. She needed a collar. I trimmed back the front about an inch. It fit tight enough around her neck so it did not need a tie.

When it was meal or medication time...I would take it off, supervise her closely until she was done, then put it back on. I tried to leave it off but she could reach her suture area so I had no choice but to have her wear it for 10 days..

She did not like her collar at all. I don't think that when she was spayed she needed one.

If you are thinking of not using one at all .... you should probably ask you vet first.

Here is a link to Sadie wearing her collar after I trimmed it.
Also other kitties wearing their collars. Add a picture of your kitty if you have one.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75060

What one vet here did was give the cat a body bandage that covered the site without stopping air getting to it. Here is a picture of Ellie wearing hers. But my other cats have never needed anything.

Originally Posted by jennyranson

What one vet here did was give the cat a body bandage that covered the site without stopping air getting to it. Here is a picture of Ellie wearing hers. But my other cats have never needed anything.

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I just had to say how cute Ellie looks with her body bandage!

To get back on track, we didn't use a collar on our Mika. The vet just told us to keep an eye on her that she didn't do EXCESSIVE licking. Some licking wasn't a problem. Personally, I would take off the collar and just keep an eye that she isn't over-licking and making it red and/or it is getting infected.

Leo has an e-collar on right now because he's having some issues with scratching hair off the top of his head, which incidentally, also interferes with his ear meds.

When I'm home, I take it off of him. If I'm around to make sure he's not scratching, then I don't think it's entirely necessary to put him through the hassle of the e-collar, especially since all of his current maladies are stress-related. I think if you are home, you can take the collar off.

I used to be really strict and make them wear it cos the vet said - the first cat I didn't know you could take it off, so she was hand fed. The second was taken off for meal times, but I didn't realise how easy they were to take on and off, so that was fun, and the third was also taken on and off for meals, and for an hour each day - both went straight to the wound though, so I kept stopping them, as I didn't want to risk them pulling a stitch out. The last two happened after I found cat forums, one never had a collar on, one had one for 4 days (long enough for her insides to gel), and seh was perfectly fine, despite being a hyper cat!!

If your vet gave you an e-collar because she was licking her incision, I would strongly advise you leave it on when you're not around to supervise her.
You can take it off so long as someone's present to monitor and prevent her from excessively licking the area should it occur.
I know you feel bad that she has to wear it; however, if she's a "licker" and you take it off and leave her unsupervised, you will feel a lot worse if it does get infected etc.

Everyone's vet needs to get a supply of the soft e-collars.

I personally never had e-collars with any of my cats after a spay and have never had a problem.

I think if you and the cat are both missrable then you should take it off when your near and make sure she don't lick the area too much and play with her.
When I had my old cat Tiggie nutered he never had one of thoughs e-collars things and went outside 3 hours after he came home from the vets and he was fine.
Most cats are stronger than most people give them credit for so take it off and give the girl a chance is what I say.

Originally Posted by captiva

Everyone's vet needs to get a supply of the soft e-collars.

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