Tiny kitten- alternative to E collar

[4horses]

My foster kitten (now adopted) was spayed today. They recommend an E collar. Nothing I have fits hers. She is not quite 2 lbs. They said she was 8 weeks. I don’t know if I believe that. I tried cutting and punching holes in the smallest one I have and she just kicks it right off.

Has anyone tried velcroing on a piece of cloth? Other ideas? She does not seem to be bothering her belly, not yet anyway. She still suckles on blankets. Poor baby.

Picture is from before her spay. She’s all fluff with the long hair.

As for the good news, she makes excellent eye contact and is just starting to talk and otherwise seems healthy.

Name ideas are welcome.

[3PonyFarm]

She is cute!

[Zu_Zu]

She is a Blue Ribbon Beauty ! So adorable and is going to grow into a lovely cat !

Congratulations !

[Simkie]

She may be bitty enough for a sock “jacket.” Just cut a hole in the toe for her head, and two holes a little further down for her front legs. It should be long enough to cover her incision, but leave her bits open for pottying.

She’s adorable!!!

[OzarksRider]

I’ve never used, nor has any vet recommended, a collar after any of my cats were spayed and they all did just fine.

[shiloh]

I only had one cat that wanted to pester at her stitches and a sock jacket worked perfectly for her.

Of course, the whole “I can’t possibly walk or stand or function in this contraption” act was hilarious. She had to wear it until the stitches got removed because she was a little idiot. I had to make two. Because.

[chestnutmarebeware]

Agreed! For either cats or dogs. The instructions were always just to make sure they weren’t bothering the stitches, and if they were, then mitigation efforts would be added. But none ever did.

I take that back. One cat several decades ago started chewing at them 4-5 days before stitches were due to be removed. They were clearly started to itch. Vet said to come in, wound was examined and pronounced “healed enough” and the stitches were removed right then.

[MunchingonHay]

My bestie fosters kittens. She’s on her 3rd litter of kittens this year currently and they are still all under 2lbs so they can’t get altered yet. Her last two litters did not wear any sort of collar. She just watched them and checked the incision sites several times a day. She also works from home so watching them makes it easy.

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

Here you go! I bought one of these for Hammie when he was little and has his surgeries (never used it, though):

Amazon.com : Jevnd Extra Small Kitten Cone After Surgery Neuter, Soft...

Agree with everyone else, though - these are good to have on hand, but I’ve never had a cat bother the surgery site after a spay. Honestly, my vet uses internal dissolving sutures now, so we don’t even have to have them removed.

[shiloh]

O. M. G. that little face in the ad - too cute. You know it fell over and refused to walk after that or ran off having a spazz.

[chestnutmarebeware]

Honestly, I could watch videos of cats falling over while wearing stuff all day long!

[atlatl]

I was going to recommend a surgical suit, but sock-jacket is essentially the same concept.

[4horses]

I decided not to put anything on her. I tried the sock idea and then I worried she might get tangled in it so took it off. She didn’t think she could walk in it and just flopped over.

The good news is the incision looks great. She’s very active so I’m not too concerned about post operative problems. Trying to keep her quiet is going to be challenging. I tried putting her in the bathroom but it gets too hot in there with the door closed so I moved her to my bedroom. I also have been putting her in her crate in the living room but she cries until I pick her up.

My other cats hiss at her but don’t swat at her so introductions are going extremely well in my opinion. They eat side by side happily. A good thing everyone is food motivated. Marvel has realized she has food all the time and is keeping a close watch on my door so he can sneak in and steal something. He is the most friendly so I expect they will be good friends soon enough.

[shiloh]

Kittens are like the energizer bunny. They just go go go until they fall over sound asleep. Baler ran thru the house like a little idiot and then would just fall asleep where he had stopped. Even getting neutered didn’t slow his speedy little butt down.

[Mosey_2003]

@chestnutmarebeware

Agreed! For either cats or dogs. The instructions were always just to make sure they weren’t bothering the stitches, and if they were, then mitigation efforts would be added. But none ever did.

That’s what I thought we were always told and now they’re telling me my big spunky dog will need to either wear a collar or pajamas and be supervised for 7 days post neuter and it’s really concerning me. I can’t tell if things simply changed over the years or if it’s because he’s a mature adult and we’ve only had younger pups done in the past.

[dressagetraks]

What an adorable munchkin!

I’ve never used an E collar, and I’ve only had one cat ever bother the stitches. HRH Rosalind, her imperial Siamese (pure bred) majesty with the Shakespearean-sized ego and drama, left them totally alone until one day before the removal appointment. Then she diligently removed them herself. I took her to the vet to check, and he was amused, said she did a pretty good job of it. She had just hit the limit of having those things in and was required to do something about it. She hit limits well.

Here is Rosalind. The expression tells you everything about her.

[chestnutmarebeware]

In general I think vets are becoming more ‘cover-your-butt-in-these-litigious-times” about routine spay/neuter aftercare.

But when I adopted an unneutered 2-y-o large male dog about 15 years ago, even then my vet had me take extra care for longer after the surgery because she said it’s more risky on older dogs than on puppies/adolescents.

[shiloh]

How is Tiny Kitten?

[4horses]

It’s been a week as of today. She is doing great. The incision has continued to look good. She zooms around the house like a wild child and is banned from playing with the bigger cats until she is completely healed. She does climb in bed with me at night and tries to attack me and get me to play with her. Then she falls asleep usually next to my shoulder. She’s a sweetie.

[shiloh]

And you can’t be mad at her because she is so cute. Baler used to do the same thing - up on the bed Play with me! play with me! then fall asleep farting terrible kitten farts. LOL