Cat change in behaviour after spaying....

Frowzy

I'm a bit worried about my cat, we had her spayed just last Friday and she's been moody and withdrawn since.

While I was putting it down to the op and soreness she's actually getting worse and won't let anyone pick her up or pet her. She was extremely loveable and cuddly beforehand and I'm worried that she won't go back to herself.

I was trying to pet her the evening and noticed a bad smell off her breath, I know her breath shouldn't exactly be sweet but I'm wondering if this could be a sign of infection?

Any advice much appreciated.
F

Themadhouse

She is going to be still very sore and shouldnt be picked up. I would crate her or keep her in a confined area if you are not doing so already. Just be patient and gentle with her, it can take a few weeks for a female to recover fully. Dont worry too much, she will come back to normal very soon.

Themadhouse

Is she on a different food since her spay? When was she last checked out fully by the vet?
BAd breath can be a sign of gum issues but tbh we hav eone here that has bad breath and her teeth and gums are fine!
It could be the meds, or a change of food if she has had one, other than that when you bring her to get her stiches out just get the vet to have a look in her mouth.

Frowzy

Thanks a mil for the reply, you're most likely right, I'm just worrying too much too soon. She's miseable here, shivering. I've put her on a hot water bottle to warm her up. I'll see how she goes for another day or two, she's not due back to have her sticks out until next Tuesday so if there's no improvement I won't leave her suffering the weekend.

We haven't changed her food, she eats whiskas pouches and crunchies, and drinks water.

I have another cat who's been grouchy since she had her leg amputated a couple of years ago, and she's being off with her too so have to keep them apart... They're worse than the kids

DBB

There's little doubt she'll still be tender, and consequently irritable, for a few days to come.
But also, the anaesthetic can also make cats (and people!) quite grumpy and out of sorts for some times after the op.
Best to leave her be as much as you can for now, and do as much nice hands-off stuff as you can with her so she knows you're still her pal!

Themadhouse

You might want the vet to check her gums. pouches are not going to keep her gums healthy. I would look at a better dry food if you could. Is it just now that you notice her breath smelling?

Yup, make sure she has a warm place to curl up. I know myself after an op I always feel cold for a while. Does her incision look ok? No seeping or bleeding? Did she get done on her flank/side? No lump?

Themadhouse

Yuor girl will smell of vet and very unfamiliar to your other cat which is why there is a bit of friction. It is normal when a cat has had an op or has been in the vets for a while.

planetX

Shivering is the most worrying part of your post - I would pop her back in to the vet so they can check her temperature and any signs of infection.

Frowzy

Thanks for all the replies!

What's her flank side? The wound is on her left.

We're both at work today but I just rang the vet and he's going to give me some painkillers for her on my way home this evening. He gave her a long lasting antibiotic injection when she had the op so he can't give her more at the minute.

Lots of TLC and some painkillers and she should be ok. Fingers crossed.

Thanks again,
F

Frowzy

Turns out she has an infection :-(

She was miserable when we came home so I rushed her into the vet and they kept her. She has to have her wound washed out and go on a drip. Poor thing, hope it's only for 1 night.....

MaryK666

Frowzy, any updates on your little girl?

She really shouldn't have developed an infection this soon after the op if the wound was properly dealt with during surgery and I'd be concerned about that.
It must be such a worry to you but my advice would always be to take them to the vet at the first sign of anything - at all - being out of the ordinary, especially after a major surgery. And as with planetX, shivering rang major alarm bells as cats do not shiver like humans do.

They're only little and can go downhill so quickly. And the bad breath didn't sound like particularly good news either so hopefully they'll be able to get the infection under control and get her home where she belongs before too long.

I'm keeping everything crossed for her and hoping for some good news soon.

Frowzy

Hi Mary

Thanks for your concern!

Unfortunately she's spending a second night in hospital. I was told that she's on a course of injections and needs 24 hour care.

I'm a bit concerned TBH, I'm also not too happy because when I collected her after the op she wasn't wearing a collar and was told that unless she started picking the stitches that she wouldn't need it. In fact I was told that if she was licking the stitches that'd be a good thing because she'd be keeping it clean. I saw a different vet when I took her back and she told me that likely she's introduced the infection herself by licking!!!!

I'm dreading how much all this is gong to cost as the insurance doesn't cover costs related to spaying....

MaryK666

Aw the poor little girl. You must be worried sick about her.

We had our little girl done earlier this year and she didn't have a collar either. Mind you, she is so tiny (and even more so back then) that I doubt they'd have got a collar to fit her.

She had regular stitches at first and licked the beejebus out of them, constantly, and even managed to chew one out so we took her back and the vet put in staples on top of the stitches which worked a treat.
She still had a go at getting them out but didn't have any luck, little madam. When he took them out, he showed us the teeth marks where she'd had a good go at trying to remove them.

Never at any stage were we told to stop her licking the wound because of the danger of introducing infection. Animals will automatically lick a wound to clean it and there should be no danger to them from doing that unless it's an open wound. I think that might be a bit of a get-out clause on the part of your vet.

I'd be interested to know where you are and where your vet is based?
We have the most awesome vet in the world, although I might be just a bit biassed as he's saved a couple of our cats lives over the last few years so I'll always be eternally grateful.
They're actually a small practice but they have two really good vets who know their stuff and who specialise in cats and dogs and have extensive training in dealing with them as opposed to just experience in general veterinary medicine. They don't charge the earth and they also have a payment plan option - which is just as well, as our tribe have cost us the price of a small house over the last few years. We couldn't get insurance on a few of ours for various reasons so we just didn't bother with the others and we're lucky that we never have to find huge sums of money all at once if something goes wrong. It's such a weight off our minds.
PM me if you'd rather not put vet details on here and I'll get back to you when I can.
In the meantime I'll get my tribe at home to say some cat prayers for your little girl and hopefully you'll have some better news today.

Irishchick

I have to say that i have never seen an infection induced by licking. Saliva contains phagocytes that engulf bacteria and help to clean the wound.

If the animal has been prescribed adequate pain relief they usually don't bother much with the stitches. In the past year I think I've seen one cat that made an attempt to remove a stitch.

planetX

Poor kitten, fingers crossed for her. I have a kitten recovering from a spay too, she's just opened a stitch. It's so stressful, I hope your kitty pulls through.

Frowzy

I'm not a happy camper! Our little girl is spending a third night in hospital!! We went in to see her today and she seems an awful lot better but she has to have another injection tonight and a final one in the morning as well as having the wound cleaned out again...

Now I don't want to cast aspersions on our vet clinic because I've gone there for years and they've always been great to our pets, but as I said I was getting concerned about mounting costs, however there will be no charge for all the treatment! I am of course delighted but my suspicious mind can't help but wonder if something was wrong other than an infection...

Maybe I'm being too negative and they're just being caring to a long time customer.

Either way our girl is on the mend and is coming home in the morning :-)

planetX

You wouldn't want to think too much about the infection rates in our hospitals then..... vets probably have better statistics.
It could've happened with any major surgery, maybe something wasn't properly sterilised and the clinic feel responsible enough to waive the costs. Whatever, great news that your cat will be ok (I just had to hold my kitten while she was stapled:eek::(:(:()

Frowzy

She's finally home and back to her loving huggable self

A happy ending at last!

Frowzy

..... or not!!!

We went in to get her stitches out last night and she was kept in again :-(

The wound started to weep when they took the stitches out so she was put back on a course of injections and is being kept for another two nights :-(

MaryK666

Oh my God Frowzy, that's absolutely awful. The poor little girl.
I think you need to get her to another vet, a good cat vet, for a second opinion as soon as they let her out of there.

That kind of recurring infection would point strongly to bad hygene in the surgery and the fact that it has come back again would mean that they didn't get it sorted properly last time.

Where are you in the country? I can recommend two really good cat vets, one in Kildare and one in Meath, so PM me if you need contact details.

My tribe are keeping everything crossed for your little girl.

planetX

That's awful - I agree about seeing another vet, but write down exactly which antibiotics they've been using on her. It sounds like it's a resistant strain, and I'd be reluctant to have any more procedures done at that surgery.
Might also be an idea to check out whether your cat has any problems with her immune system?

Frowzy

Thanks for the replies guys x

Mary, I'm really too far down the country to go to vets in your area but thanks so much for the advice. There's not many vets in our area for small pets, there's not that many vets and most just do agricultural animals. That said however, I do have great faith in the vets because my family have being taking pets there for 30 years and really we never had a problem. We even had a cat with leukaemia before and they really did everything they could for her before we had to make any difficult decisions.

Having spoken to the vet I really think that they underestimated the seriousness of the infection and how much it had taken hold, and to be fair we did put pressure on to have her home because the kids were so upset.

The update is that she spent a further two nights in hospital and came home this evening, today was two weeks since the operation and she seemed to be healing well. She was so excited to be home and the kids were ao excited to have her home they spent the whole evening pmaying with her. Unfortunately at sbout 8pm the wound reopened and started weeping pus again, I cleaned it with hot water and cotton wool and rang the vet. I was tod to keep an eye on it, ring if it got worse and bring her back in the morning. Unfortunately at 10pm I noticed that it was opening more, I had been trying to keep an eye on her licking it but did have to put kids to bed!! Anyway I rang and was told to bring her in straight away. So she's back in hospital for the weekend.

I wonder if, like some humans, she's just one of those who take a long time to heal? I'm going to pop in in the morning and speak to the vet. I am fed up with her being in but I'm not going to push for her to come out too quickly and leave her there on antibiotic injections until she's fully better.

Fingers crossed, I'll let you know what happens.

Lizard_Moon

MaryK666 wrote: »

I think you need to get her to another vet, a good cat vet, for a second opinion as soon as they let her out of there.

That kind of recurring infection would point strongly to bad hygene in the surgery and the fact that it has come back again would mean that they didn't get it sorted properly last time.

Post Op infections are a risk with any surgery- veterinary or human- and are not necessarily a reflection on the standard of the surgery. The fact that the vet was waiving the costs indicates it is likely a rare occurrence at their practice. This is not a recurring infection but one that has not fully cleared.

As vets we will start an antibiotic treatment course with the drug that normally works. Then if it is not working or the culture results indicate drug resistance the antibiotic will be changed. Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem, and regardless what they say the misuse by people and not vets is the main cause!

OP I hope your cat is doing well.

Frowzy

I would just like to say a big Thank You to everyone who has replied with advice and concern for our girl!

She spent the whole weekend in hospital and I brought her home Monday afternoon. I really don't think that there are any issues at the clinic as they have been more than helpful. They sent her home with a hood/collar on and gave us a loan of a big cage for her so she wouldn't be running around too much with the kids. So she seems to be healing well. Is it possible to glue a wound closed? It seems to me that that's what her wound is like now, but it's definitely healing finally and her fur is growing back.

I have to bring her back on Thursday to be checked. The vet said that she was a little concerned and that if she wasn't healing this time that it would be necessary to have her immune system checked out which would involve blood tests. I hope that's not the case as we had a cat with Leukemia before and the cost of sending the blood tests to Dublin was huge, although perhaps the insurance will cover it! I'm hoping it won't come to that and all will be well.

Hopefully final (happy post) coming on Thursday :-)

The Sweeper

Hey Frowzy - if your kitty won't heal she may have FIV, and yes your pet insurance should cover the cost of testing for that. Best now is for her to rest in the cage and heal. You can ask the vet if it may help to boost her with Nutrigel in her food (high calorie, vitamin-rich supplement comes in a tube, you could probably buy it at the vet).

Signs of a repeat temperature - which you may know by now - include hunching up into the tiniest ball possible, half closed eyes, lack of desire to move, and growling or yowling in pain when touched or lifted, along with a generally flat and disinterested demeanour.

With a repeated internal infection I would be concerned something was left inside during the operation - a tiny bit of gauze or swab may be enough to cause repeated infection. If her infecton recurs and she tests negative for FIV and FeLV, I'd be requesting a second opinion for the risk of retained surgical products - which is a miniscule risk on a routine procedure, but when you've ruled everything else out...

Frowzy

She's fine

no more infection, no more cage, no more collar!!!! Yippee.

Any as you can see from the attached pic, she missed her big sister.....

gufnork

Frowzy wrote: »

She's fine

no more infection, no more cage, no more collar!!!! Yippee.

Any as you can see from the attached pic, she missed her big sister.....

I'm delighted your beautiful puss is on the mend. I would warn people to be wary of these long lasting antibiotic injections. There seems to be a lot of controversy over one called convenia. My 3 year old cat has had it without any problems but my brothers 8 month old kitten was given several doses of it over 10 day period. A constant battle of high temps and rapid declines with tiny periods where he seemed on the mend. A 2nd opinion from another vet confirmed toxicity from the convenia. The kittten died. I had thought it a wonder drug until then but we were never warned of the danger so I wish you and puss the very best of luck.

planetX

gufnork wrote: »

I'm delighted your beautiful puss is on the mend. I would warn people to be wary of these long lasting antibiotic injections. There seems to be a lot of controversy over one called convenia. My 3 year old cat has had it without any problems but my brothers 8 month old kitten was given several doses of it over 10 day period. A constant battle of high temps and rapid declines with tiny periods where he seemed on the mend. A 2nd opinion from another vet confirmed toxicity from the convenia. The kittten died. I had thought it a wonder drug until then but we were never warned of the danger so I wish you and puss the very best of luck.

I don't understand - if it's a long lasting antibiotic there would be no point giving several doses

gufnork

planetX wrote: »

I don't understand - if it's a long lasting antibiotic there would be no point giving several doses

No, that's something we didn't understand either. The vet originally diagnosed him with an unknown virus. Gave him a shot of convenia, was then given a couple more shots over a short period of time. Was sent home after a week of treatment on a drip at the vets and declined again. We then took him for a second opinion when he worsened. The second vet said he was toxic from the convenia. Apparently it can be difficult to differentiate between the symptons of an allergic reaction to convenia and a virus. The cat then had to be put to sleep.

We hadn't realised the potential dangers with this particular drug. I think it's something people should be aware of in case their pet has a similar reaction.