Urine In Incisions??!

[galatashdev]

Hey everyone,
My cat just got spayed and front declawed one week ago tomorrow. Everything seems to be fine and healing great, but just one problem. She hasn't been the biggest fan of that Yesterday's News...Some days she is some days she isn't. So I did some digging and found an article on here where someone said they put a puppy pee pad in the box over the litter. So I tried it and she liked it a lot better but she steps in the urine. We've been trying to avoid that as much as possible but today it splashed up onto her a bit, and she smells like urine. The vet left instructions that specifically say to not bathe her until her sutures are removed...So I'm afraid the urine will complicate the healing. Even though everything seems like it's pretty much scabbed over and not open...Any suggestions? Is there a way I can clean her up?

 

[orange&white]

Dilute vinegar in water very weak (1:10) and wipe with a very soft damp cloth like microfiber. Avoid her spay area. Don't soak the cloth, but wipe several times with a rinsed and wrung out (barely damp) cloth. Be prepared for her to hate the smell. When it dries, the smell also evaporates.

Also, I would probably use shredded newspaper for a few days. You can tape the puppy pee pad to the bottom of the box (so it doesn't bunch up with digging), and shredded paper on top. Should resolve the splashing issues.

 

[Jojo119]

You can probably get away with a warm damp/wet cloth. Lightly dab the area around the stitches. Make sure to give your vet a call tomorrow morning. Maybe they can give you something to clean her up with.

 

[lavishsqualor]

Was there a specific reason why you chose to declaw her?

 

[galatashdev]

I'm not sure what exactly that question has to do with my question, but we did not want to and we know it's horrible but it was a mutual decision that me and my S.O. had come to an agreement with. Our first cat had to get declawed because of apartment complications and when we got our newest it was something we had to discuss.

 

[galatashdev]

You can probably get away with a warm damp/wet cloth. Lightly dab the area around the stitches. Make sure to give your vet a call tomorrow morning. Maybe they can give you something to clean her up with.

Will that take away the smell? Thanks!!!

 

[orange&white]

Diluted vinegar will take away the smell...but the cat will not like it. Plain water won't get rid of the smell.

 

[galatashdev]

I tried 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar with the 10 1/2 teaspoons of water and it definitely did not work. Does the solution have to be stronger? I also bought cat wipes that are vanilla coconut scented and that didn't seem to work either. It actually got worse now that she's wet. Any other suggestions, she likes to sleep next to our heads and I am not having her next to us if she smells like urine. )-:

 

[galatashdev]

Also before you suggest to not have her sleep with us, I don't want her to be by herself because when she gets aggravated by her cone she likes to try to bite it and she gets her bottom jaw stuck at the bottom and we have to get it unstuck )-':

 

[orange&white]

Yes, the smell would be stronger until she dries, and I would wipe her down several times rinsing and wringing out the cloth. You can use a stronger ratio of vinegar, but the more you use the less the cat will like it (of course, it will also neutralize the odor better).

Is her spay scar almost healed? You may need to have her sleep in a kennel until her paws and spay incision are healed enough to give her a full bath.

 

[orange&white]

Also before you suggest to not have her sleep with us, I don't want her to be by herself because when she gets aggravated by her cone she likes to try to bite it and she gets her bottom jaw stuck at the bottom and we have to get it unstuck )-':

Sorry, we were typing at the same time.

 

[kashmir64]

Also before you suggest to not have her sleep with us, I don't want her to be by herself because when she gets aggravated by her cone she likes to try to bite it and she gets her bottom jaw stuck at the bottom and we have to get it unstuck )-':

Some members here have suggested custom fitting a onesie instead of the cone of shame. This would be easy to wash and you can make more than one. It would also keep the wound clean.

 

[galatashdev]

Sorry, we were typing at the same time.

That's okay!! I wish there was a better solution. If we didn't live in an apartment and had to pay for laundry, I wouldn't care if she slept with us cause we could wash everything but I can't do that often so I really don't want her to be stinking up everything, lol. We just sprayed her with waterless shampoo by Burt's bees and I massaged it in really well but it still stinks!!! We let her have the cone off so she could lick her feet but obviously that isn't going to be an instant cure! I guess we will try the kennel and see how she reacts. The reason we stopped putting her in there as well is she would cry all night and would paw at the little mesh door and I was afraid she would prolong her healing by doing that. ): Thanks for all your help!! Anything is better than nothing and everytime I try to look it up there's suprising not that many people who have an issue with a cat getting urine in it's fur.

 

[orange&white]

How is she healing? Neither of those surgeries should take much more than a week for the incisions to heal over.

 

[galatashdev]

How is she healing? Neither of those surgeries should take much more than a week for the incisions to heal over.

She is healing just fine! Everything looks good, she's been eating and drinking and everything just fine. Tomorrow is exactly a week, but the vet wants to wait two weeks until she can get the cone off and her sutures removed. We went through a new vet when we moved but when our first got spayed/declawed, they put the dissolvable stitches in, so once they fell out they were out. And it didn't take very long for her to heal, but I don't know how these new stitches work.

 

[orange&white]

Another week then. I was thinking maybe she was healed enough to give her a bath, but you probably don't want to soak the incisions in water, especially with stitches.