cat excessive licking of e-collar

[flying_neko]

My male 6mths kitten just got spayed 2 days ago. i caught him licking his surgical wound for quite a number of times so i decided to put on a e-collar for him. He ended up licking the e-collar excessively. Is it because the e-collar is transparent so he thought he is grooming himself? He don't seem to be drinking enough water too so i am worried that he may end up with a fever. His ears are quite warm already.

[opus88]

I think the bandage would really irritate her and she would pick it off real quick...besides the incision does need air, I don't think licking at it is a bad thing, unless she excessively licks and causes an irritation.
good luck...I 'hate' those collars too

[flying_neko]

won't your kittie try to remove the bandage? If she doesn't then i think should be ok...

[SmokeyTheKittie]

I just got my 6 month old kittie spayed yesterday. She's on pain killer and antibiotics. She's doing great..... She has stitches on her belly that needs to be removed in 2 weeks. is it ok to put a bandage over the incision area where the stitches are from keeping her from licking it or removing the stitches? I refuse to put an e-collar on her.......

[flying_neko]

thank you :D

[opus88]

hi i am glad the wound has healed up and the collar is off they are so stressful for poor kitty.
i just judged by if he could reach the area in question or not...cut away a bit at a time and watch, if the collar is at the point where he can't get at the stitches but is still able to reach his food and water bowls you have reached the exact length, these collars are long....generic size so we need to make fit for each individual..glad all turned out well

[flying_neko]

thank you. I have already removed the collar for him since the wound has healed. :)

anyway, how do you judge if the size of the collar is of the right size? My cat has longer legs than most cats so he is still able to lick his paw and a little of his tail with the collar on.

[opus88]

he maybe unable to reach into his dish to drink water with the collar on, when it was necessary for my cat to wear one I cut away abt 1/2 of the length of the collar, so it was just long enough that he couldn't get his tongue out to lick but he was still able to drink from his bowl
make sure he has a full bowl of water and one that maybe is a little higher than his usual bow.
I think you could also try removing the collar, if he isn't able to drink that is worse than the licking....kitties NEED to have water.
are the stitches really irritated? have they become infected?
normally its not a problem to allow kitties to lick a certain amount, that promotes healing...unless the area gets really irritated.