My cat licked her spay incision open. Should I take her to ER?

[limilka]

She got spayed 3 days ago (Thursday), and they used absorbable thread.

Last night I took off her Elizabethan collar because she was stressed wearing it, and I put the surgical suit on her instead.

I woke up three hours later and saw that she completely got rid of the suit, and of course she had licked her incision open.

The vet won’t open until tomorrow. And I would really appreciate your opinion on if I should take her to the ER today. And how should I care for her wound in the meantime. I’ll attach pictures at the end.

I feel so so bad knowing that I could’ve avoided this if I were more cautious.

 

[fionasmom]

Care of Surgical Incisions in Cats | VCA Animal Hospital | VCA Animal Hospitals
This article might help. Italics are from the part of the article itself that addresses open incisions. Given that all the sutures have been pulled out, I believe that you need some kind of contact today with a vet. If the ER will talk to you and accept the pictures, that might be a start. If they tell you that the believe that you can wait until tomorrow, make sure that you do go to your vet on Monday.


Contact your veterinarian immediately if you notice:

• continuous dripping or seepage of blood or other fluids from the incision
• intermittent blood seepage that continues for more than 24 hours
• swelling, excessive redness of the skin, foul smells, or discharge
• your cat has removed some or all of the sutures

Here is the other part of your question according to the article

Do not bathe your cat or allow the incision to get wet. Do not apply any cream, ointment, disinfectant, or other substance to the incision unless specifically instructed to do so by your veterinarian. NEVER clean the incision with hydrogen peroxide or alcohol, as these products will damage the cells and delay healing.

Don't start to try to treat it yourself with any product that is not prescribed by the vet, including OTC pet products that claim to heal wounds.

 

[stephanietx]

Are you sure they didn't use glue with internal dissolvable sutures? I don't see any suture marks or internal sutures poking through, and her incision doesn't look irritated to me.