Lump and soreness after spay (pics of site)

[littlelostpenguin]

My little girl Bellatrix was spayed Thursday. Shes 6 months old. Tonight I noticed some swelling under the incision site and a small bit of redness. She just used the litter box ok and had some food but she is a bit sore. I'm posting here because I'm not sure if I should be running her to the emergency vet or if I should just call her vet first thing in the morning. There is no drainage or seeping, just the lump with a bit of redness. Thank you so much for any advice.

 

[cat nap]

My little girl Bellatrix was spayed Thursday. Shes 6 months old. Tonight I noticed some swelling under the incision site and a small bit of redness. She just used the litter box ok and had some food but she is a bit sore. I'm posting here because I'm not sure if I should be running her to the emergency vet or if I should just call her vet first thing in the morning. There is no drainage or seeping, just the lump with a bit of redness. Thank you so much for any advice.

Is the swelling site hot when you touch it?

Has Bellatrix been very active, jumping, running, and playing around?

This is a hard call, since it looks like a seroma has formed, which sometimes happens when the surgical site is healing.
A Seroma is fluid that has filled inside of any open spaces ..that have remained when healing tissues.
It also can be a reaction to the absorbable sutures that the vet has used.

The part that worries me is the redness.
(I don't remember seeing threads, on here, where the seromas were red.)
Honestly, if it were my kitten I would take her to the ER vet, since it would be faster, and they would know for sure.
But that's probably because I'm a bit too overly cautious, when it comes to my animals, too.

How many hours would it be, until you can call your regular Vet? (since I'm not sure what time-zone you are in.)

 

[littlelostpenguin]

Is the swelling site hot when you touch it?

Has Bellatrix been very active, jumping, running, and playing around?

This is a hard call, since it looks like a seroma has formed, which sometimes happens when the surgical site is healing.
A Seroma is fluid that has filled inside of any open spaces ..that have remained when healing tissues.
It also can be a reaction to the absorbable sutures that the vet has used.

The part that worries me is the redness.
(I don't remember seeing threads, on here, where the seromas were red.)
Honestly, if it were my kitten I would take her to the ER vet, since it would be faster, and they would know for sure.
But that's probably because I'm a bit too overly cautious, when it comes to my animals, too.

How many hours would it be, until you can call your regular Vet? (since I'm not sure what time-zone you are in.)

She did jump up on a counter a little while ago. It isn't warm to the touch. And vet will open in about 4 hours. The biggest problem with taking her to the emergency vet is I would have to wake up my 9 year old daughter and take her too since it's just us. Kitten is snuggling right now and purring. Thanks again.

 

[cat nap]

She did jump up on a counter a little while ago. It isn't warm to the touch. And vet will open in about 4 hours. The biggest problem with taking her to the emergency vet is I would have to wake up my 9 year old daughter and take her too since it's just us. Kitten is snuggling right now and purring. Thanks again.

Oh, 4 hours....then really no worries there.

(I thought it would be much longer...like 10 hours)
Plus, it's good that it's not warm to the touch.
Maybe she just scratched it a bit, then....or licked it, a bit.

In this case, I would just wait until your regular Vet is open, and call them....and send them the photos, through email or text.
(Ask the Vet tomorrow if you can place a wet compress on it, like a rung out cloth, with either warm or cooler water on it.)
Mention that she is still sore, too, since that usually goes away after three days, but I guess every kitten is different.

Snuggling and purring sounds great.
Would love to see a photo of your Bellatrix, from the front, too. But you're probably exhausted, so perhaps another time.

If you can keep her from jumping and running so much, then that would probably get her to heal faster...but with 6 month old kittens, I really don't know what you could do.
(Mine were spayed and neutered at 5.5 months, but started running and jumping after the anesthetic wore off.
They told me they would be less active during healing. Not at all.)

 

[littlelostpenguin]

Oh, 4 hours....then really no worries there.

(I thought it would be much longer...like 10 hours)
Plus, it's good that it's not warm to the touch.
Maybe she just scratched it a bit, then....or licked it, a bit.

In this case, I would just wait until your regular Vet is open, and call them....and send them the photos, through email or text.
(Ask the Vet tomorrow if you can place a wet compress on it, like a rung out cloth, with either warm or cooler water on it.)
Mention that she is still sore, too, since that usually goes away after three days, but I guess every kitten is different.

Snuggling and purring sounds great.
Would love to see a photo of your Bellatrix, from the front, too. But you're probably exhausted, so perhaps another time.

If you can keep her from jumping and running so much, then that would probably get her to heal faster...but with 6 month old kittens, I really don't know what you could do.
(Mine were spayed and neutered at 5.5 months, but started running and jumping after the anesthetic wore off.
They told me they would be less active during healing. Not at all.)

Thanks for the peace of mind!! I will call them first thing. Here's Bella. One pic from last week and the other from just now. Can't see her face in the now one though.

 

[littlelostpenguin]

And for good measure, here's her and her brother coco from an hour ago.

 

[cat nap]

Thanks for the peace of mind!! I will call them first thing. Here's Bella. One pic from last week and the other from just now. Can't see her face in the now one though.

Oh, she is Beautiful!
A house panther...
My favourites are black cats, but all cats are really pretty.

Yeah, in the second photo, I can only make out her cute paws, legs, and pretty pink, reddish sparkly collar.
Though, it does look like she has a bit of white on her chest??

And for good measure, here's her and her brother coco from an hour ago.

I love the sink photo.
I only noticed the cats first.
And then wondered what they were doing.

Hahaha...drinking from the sink.
Adorable.
But Coco...just looks like he's watching the water fall away.
It's amazing how fascinated they get by running water.

Update this thread, if you can, tomorrow after you speak to your Vet.
Would love to know that your Bellatrix is okay.

How did you choose the names for your cats?

 

[littlelostpenguin]

My daughter picked coco's name cause hes dark like chocolate. We knew we were getting him since he was 3 weeks old. Bella was a bonus as where she was going to go didn't work out so i offered to take her too. Shes named after a harry potter character. They both have a tiny bit of white. His ear hairs are white. She has a bat symbol on her chest.

 

[cat nap]

My daughter picked coco's name cause hes dark like chocolate. We knew we were getting him since he was 3 weeks old. Bella was a bonus as where she was going to go didn't work out so i offered to take her too. Shes named after a harry potter character. They both have a tiny bit of white. His ear hairs are white. She has a bat symbol on her chest.

Those are good choices, and make a lot of sense.
And omg...that 'bat symbol' on Bella's chest...is just awesome.
It honestly looks like a bat. lol.

(it's been nice chatting with you. I have to go now, since I have to drive my sister to work in the morning.)
Take care, and thanks for the photos.

 

[littlelostpenguin]

I called the vet and was able to send pictures. Since she isn't acting different, I'm just going to watch her and check back in tomorrow. They said it was probably a reaction to the sutures. Thanks so much for talking with me last night. It helped me feel better when I was feeling confused and helpless.

 

[vince]

Looks like you're doing well. Just wanted to add that I've had this issue with cats before and it went away on its own in a week or so. The cats didn't react at all to it.