How do I keep an e-collar on my cat?

Hi everyone, I have just brought my cat back from the vets as we've had her spayed and she has an e-collar on (one of those cone shaped things).

The thing is she is going mental trying to get it off. She's managed this already and proceeded to lick her wound, we stopped her and put it back on.

I was just wondering if anyone has any ideas as to how we can keep it on her?

Thanks

We put our kitty's e-collar on by threading it through her normal collar. It was the only way to keep it on her for the past ten days.

Hi Sara

My kitten just got spayed too and I wasn't given an e collar for her. They said just to keep an eye on the extent of the licking and they would give me one if it exacerbated the wound.

Her scar has heald very nicely, despite losing one of the stiches and she has licked it minimally. I've just kept her inside for a bit to stop her rolling on the pavement and rubbing it. If your cat is really unhappy with the collar try without.

and good luck!

Don't forget that licking a wound is not a bad thing as this is what helps to keep it clean, it only becomes a problem is they over lick and prevent it from binding.

You should have got a male cat (well we got a female that turned out to be male!!), he had his boys lopped off and has spent the last 2yrs feeling confused.

We brought our cat back yesterday from being spayed. They put a collar on her. But I could tell she was really stressed with it on. so within 5 minutes of being in the house I took it off her. She had a very quick lick of the wound and then left it alone completely. If you can trust her not to lick it then I would try her without it for abit. Sometimes they cause more stress and therefore arent worth being left on (unless your cat really does go mad licking the wound)

If you really need to keep a buster collar on a cat you need one of two things- either a length of non-stretchy bandage that you tie very securely (i.e. not in a bow- little feet can undo bows!) or a dog collar without a stretchy panel which is put through the loops and tightened up properly.

The most important thing is that cats are extremely bendy and therefore the only way to keep it on is to tighten the collar far more than you think you need to- if they can get the band over their ears even a little bit then they can get the collar off.

Of course there's no reason why they have to keep it on 24/7 as long as you can watch carefully what they're doing whilst it's off and stop them from overlicking the wound and you can get the collar back on for when you need to leave them unattended.

Glad I've never had to deal with this- it's distressing watching an animal trying to remove a cone collar. Fortunately, ours havent needed one and have had dissolving stitches.

From what I hear., there's no need to keep the collar on 24/7 -it wouldbe really uncomfortable to sleep in anyway and only if the animal is worrying at its wound

Thanks everyone for you comments. We decided to keep the collar on Elvis (our cat) because she was ok for a while but then started licking too much. So it has been on her neck since friday.

However, I have just received a call from my OH (he's at home n I'm at work) sayin Elvis is back at the vets. She had somehow managed to hide under the bed (still with the collar round her neck) and reach her wound, bite it open and chew on the muscles. My OH got her back to the vets where they said it was serious but easy to do.

So, fingers crossed!

Thanks everyone for you comments. We decided to keep the collar on Elvis (our cat) because she was ok for a while but then started licking too much. So it has been on her neck since friday.

 

However, I have just received a call from my OH (he's at home n I'm at work) sayin Elvis is back at the vets. She had somehow managed to hide under the bed (still with the collar round her neck) and reach her wound, bite it open and chew on the muscles. My OH got her back to the vets where they said it was serious but easy to do.

 

So, fingers crossed!

Ooh ouch! poor Elvis, don't they cause us some worry these furry friends

I hope that she is soon feeling better... the best cat spay I ever had was where the wound was glued they made a fantastic job and no follow up appointments, no collar so simple and easy, perhaps there is a reason why they don't all do that I don't know, vets seem to mainly prefer stitches.

Bloody stubborn cats.

A friend of mine has their can spayed and they either had the wound glued (as moonbird says happen to their cat), or the stitches were on the inside, so no need for a collar. Maybe you should ask your vet about this is yours is going to end up harming itself.

They did that with our dog and they used something over it which was like a piece of clingfilm that protects the wound like a second skin.