Kitten has hernia 7 days after spay ?

[painwheel]

Just like my previous cat health topic, there is a veterinary appointment set up in around 10 hours to determine what the next step should be, I'm posting here for more knowledge from cat parents with more experience with injured and unwell cats. It would help to determine if I should bump this up to an emergency visit.

My underweight (2.4kg 5.3lb) 8 month old kitten Two-Face (previously posted about her and her sister having mystery illness; unrelated) had her spay done on the 8th of this month. Less than 24 hours after the surgery I saw pink flesh, kind of swelled, poking out from the incision dips.


^(Day 2 progress)^
I took her to the vet in panic mode, they told me it was a seroma. I had a sigh of relief, brought her back home, and watched the progress go from: it looks okay?

^(Day 4 progress)^


^(Both Day 7)^

To now, being fully aware she is not okay and unsure what to say or expect. The change happened in a matter of 16 hours, her last check had been late night day 6. Discovery of the hernia? happened mid day 7.
It's so big there is no way in my mind it's not a hernia. Kitten will pee but will not or can not defecate and has not for at least 36 hours. Feeding very little now just incase her intestinal tract is being blocked by this. She has had limited movement since she has been home and was put on onsior for 3 days, gabapentin for 5 days after the surgery because she's hyper active normally. Has been off the gabapentin for 24 hours now. Sent images in to vet before closing hours about this hoping for them to determine if this is something to go to emergency about or wait for them to see her 10 hours from now (they told me to send the images and they would call), with no word back from them. She is able to navigate around and wants to interact, gets tired out easily as she has her entire recovery. No vomiting so far either which I was told could be a possibility?

There is nothing I can think about that would have happened for her in body seams to have pulled open on day 7, making me think it had more to do with the surgery/sutures they used and them dissolving too soon. What to expect going into my next appointment? I know to mention how she's not defecating and a full run down on how fast her progress had changed. Is a fast developing hernia like this something I should be taking her immediately to emergency ? When scheduling for the vet they acted like it was something they could sit on until opening the next day (day 8) but I'm not sure if I should trust their nonchalance . I have never had any issues with previous spays or neuters so this is completely new territory for me and seeing her bulge this much when she's so tiny is making me think a hernia might be more serious for her than it would be for other kittens her age.

Quick update on my previous thread as well: Ran full diarrhea PCR , blood, and ultrasounds, no diagnosis for either cat. All 3 vets I saw up until now are under the assumption it was fast viral spike. As for the kittens continuous difficulty with eating and growth, she had tests to judge the function of her organs before her spay and apparently everything was in working order. Blood work didn't show any sign of liver shunt (something I was worried about) or other organ failures. She has tried every type of food with no avail, this is still an ongoing issue and is requiring more appointments with the specialists we are working with. It is even more of a concern now with this failed? spay.

I'm typing this pretty emotionally and physically exhausted so if there is any other matter I should clear up, ask away.

 

[Jcatbird]

I wish I could pinpoint this for you and your kitties. I am not a vet but that feces really did look like the result of a parasite to me. Even if a cat has been treated, often parasites are not cleared from the system or the come back due to eggs. Flea bites can put the parasites right back into play too. Did you get them to a different vet or are the three you mention the same ones you saw before? You said one seemed better but was always booked. Booked or not, I would send this info to that one and beg to be squeezed in.
Fluid build up in a pocket can happen but also a reaction to the stitches can need attention. Has kitty jumped up at all? Activity or Straining to try and poop could cause some problems. Does the vet have any staff on call? I would call again! Message or email too. With the history you posted, I would just want answers. I don’t ever get rude with our vet but I have had to push to get answers or get fit in for appointments. Being a bit of a pest lets them know, you accept nothing less than the best. They get overwhelmed sometimes but I find they appreciate humans that take their furry friends very seriously. Is there an emergency vet you can send those photos to? If so, I would ask them for an opinion. Please do let us know.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I see that you have had your appointment now. When you have a minute, please let us know what is going on, and how your baby is1

 

[Jcatbird]

Our thoughts and hearts are with you.

 

[lavishsqualor]

Curious to know what the vet said.

Sending positive thoughts your way.

 

[painwheel]

Our thoughts and hearts are with you.

Thankyou so much for your suggestions and support !
This is a lot and will read like a stream of consciousness so bear with me. The extra third vet is a new addition to the original two and was the one to run the diarrhea pcr test, review the bloodwork, and did the original ultrasound before the spay. Two-Face came from a very abusive environment so she came to us infested with fleas and tapeworm. We were super fast to act so we barely contained an infestation before it could get too out of hand and has been treated pretty regularly for worms (no signs of any it's just incase) and is checked for fleas ever since. Thoughts in the last thread leaned towards tritrichamonas and I'm still really confused everything came back negative for that especially. Thankfully they gave both cats some metronidazole as a blanket treatment and I'm no longer seeing mucus to that amount or that consistency.

I'm pretty insistent when it comes to these vets and I'm fast to spam call and email with any negative developments. At least for the more pleasant of the three vets I can safely say that any low availability or inability to reply as fast as I need them to is an issue of everywhere being overbooked in high traffic low occupancy areas. With the vet who performed the spay (somewhere I hate to deal with but performs a whole lot of spays because they work with all cat rescues around) I think the low response is trying to wait me out? When we went to the check in for this they had no clue at all what I was there for despite asking me to email the photos and being well aware of what I thought it was at the time of the (five in a span of two hours) calls and then pretended in the very same conversation that they looked at the photos to begin with. They proceeded to squeeze the area for a little while and said they believed it was a reaction to the sutures because she had no extreme pain response. This HUGE ball that was not even located by the sutures originally but was lower and to the side. I told them this on the phone and reiterated several times after the end assessment that it's moving and she absolutely had the means to rough herself up on day 6 when the gabapentin was wearing off and she was starting to get finicky. Followed all of their orders to strict standards all the way down to keeping her in a padded up kennel and cone since day 1, so I'm not sure if it's odd suturing on their part or if there's a will there's a way to rough herself up she will do it type of thing. They were like: " Well , it could be a hernia , but she's not vomiting so that's not something we are going to consider as the immediate answer. And we don't think it's a necessity to investigate it further, she's not upset by it. " With no mention of umbilical hernia, I had to mention that myself which makes me all the more suspicious that this is just them not wanting to have to be responsible for a revision. I'm not conspiratorial enough to think they would cover it up if they thought it was something like intestinal spill out, I'm just suspicious enough to know I have seen posts and reviews about misdiagnosis specifically about spays performed at branch locations with shared vets where the true diagnosis was umbilical hernias due to weak suturing. It's not something I knew was a possibility before so it wasn't anything I specifically looked out for in reviews before the surgery. Had one very successful spay with them and this came out of left field. When I asked about how or what to do to reevaluate their findings, they gave me a really overpriced estimate for an ultrasound they would not be able to perform until 5 days after the appointment. There was no suggestions on what to do for her if she is having a suture reaction except that we would have to wait it out for potentially up to 6 weeks? Even if I think it's a hernia, entertaining the idea that it is a suture reaction, it just seems odd that something like this would be okay to have on her body as little as she is and as big as it is with no concern about it ? I will be getting a second opinion with my preferred vet, and Two-Face will have an ultrasound done there. If in the case of hernia I'm not at all having the surgery performed at this last vet, even if there is a possibility they could offer to discount or pay entirely for revision I'm not comfortable with them putting her under again. It's bad enough that she might have to be cut open again for a second time, will not be making it 3 times. Another thing they told me is that they could feel her intestines and there wasn't anything in them. I can't find any waste in her litterbox so I'm unsure how, but she's still eating small amounts, no vomit, plus this is a multi person household so it is entirely possible someone cleaned her litter box and is forgetting to tell me (I ask them so much and tell them not to interfere but I'm a lot more obsessively vigilant than the other adults are so understandably that might not be something they remember at the middle of the night hours) .

The most hopeful part is she is in well enough spirits and is still behaving like herself. Multiple vets on the rotation so we have options enough and there is an emergency veterinary hospital 30 mins away on top of one vet office 8 mins away that does emergency calls at whatever hours needed.

Thanks for sticking with me through this very long post !

I see that you have had your appointment now. When you have a minute, please let us know what is going on, and how your baby is1

Thank you also for checking in , updated report under quote above . Warning ahead of time it's a lot of rambling .



And for anyone else reading this, I'm still keeping an eye out for any topics with potentially similar looking symptoms. For the very least for some piece of mind. This matching lump is the closest I have found to matching what she is going through, and there was no updates. Curious if anyone else had nearly the same reaction to sutures as the vets are claiming Two-Face is as I can't find any examples, pics, videos, or otherwise to show for sure that a reaction to a suture looks like that and can move away from the initial suture area.

 

[painwheel]

Curious to know what the vet said.

Sending positive thoughts your way.

Was typing out my long borderline diatribe before seeing this post so I'm super sorry I did not include in the reply about what happened at the vet. ^^ Thank you for your interest and for thinking about Two-Face.

 

[Jcatbird]

Okay. We can’t give medical advice but I can tell you that when I was getting over a hundred spays and neuters done, I had three females that had issues from one vet. I stopped letting them do females at all! A seroma doesn’t have to happen. I was also told it was a reaction to sutures and that does seem to happen. I think two of the three were very different from what you show here but also did have fluid trapped. The third looked very similar. All three were given antibiotics though. Also an antihistamine. Although her lump was not as large but it may have been more that she was a large cat and it just didn’t present the same. At first, I was also told what you were told. I persisted too. Then the meds were given. Oh, her lump was also very pink looking. They ended up doing some “re stitching.” ( Hernia, seroma, infection and/or slipped stitching? I will probably never know for sure.) After two weeks of meds, the area improved and she did , finally,heal. However, the lump you show does look much larger than what my cat had. I was told a seroma can get infected so look for warmth of the site or take a rectal temperature. ( yes, I know taking a rectal temp on a cat is not easy!) We may be comparing apples and oranges here but persisting is appropriate. I applaud you for being such an amazing kitty guardian! You are a kitty hero. There are photos here on site of seromas and hernias but judging strictly by a photo is very difficult. Even for a vet. I’ll be interested to hear what your preferred vet has to say.