My kitten's spay incision is leaking. Is it healing or reopening?

Thank you for proving a picture. I do not like the look of Cali's incision, I'm concerned about the discharge and opening. There should not be this amount of discharge, and the fact that it's smelly indicates infection. I would take her into a vet immediately. Please take her into an ER vet clinic; if there isn't one in your area, there will be a vet on call for emergencies. The information to reach that vet is found on a clinic's answering machine or website. Best of luck.

It does not appear wide open, is not red and is not bleeding or draining. It looks good for 6 days post op. Monitor for redness,swelling, discharge, bleeding or for dehiscence (opening). Monitor also for lethargy, loss of appetite or fever. These are all symptoms that should be addressed by your veterinarian.

Thank you for sending the picture! I can see the puckering on KC’s skin that you’re concerned about, but this area looks pretty normal to me. The abdomen is closed in 2-3 layers depending on the surgeon’s preference, so even if there is a little puckering of the skin incision, the abdomen itself is still closed. I also don’t see any evidence of infection or inflammation since there doesn’t appear to be any swelling, redness, or discharge. For now, continue to keep the e-collar on KC and do your best to keep her relatively quiet. I realize that’s an impossible undertaking, so just do your best! I hope that everything goes well!

That does look a bit scabby, and I see what you mean about the incision maybe being open a bit. Rechecks on incisions typically are free, so call the vet who did Kitz's spay, and see if they can check it out. Best of luck.

If this is how her incision looked when you took her back in for the recheck, then your vet probably thinks that it will heal on its own - we call this second intention healing. This is a reasonable way to heal a wound that only affects the skin. If the vet thought that the wound extended deeper than just the skin, then Bonnie would need to have the sutures replaced. The down side of healing by second intention is that it takes much longer for the wound to heal - it could be several weeks of having her wear the e-collar. Because of this, often my clients will prefer that we go ahead and sedate and clean up the wound to place new sutures. Healing would then be expected in around 10 days.

Hello, thank you for your question about Curie. The yellow fluid that you are describing sound consistent with an infection and pus fluid. If Curie is already on antibiotics and the incision is still intact I would recommend continuing to monitor her. Ideally, allowing the infected fluid to drain should help her heal. You could also try warm compressing the area to help draw the fluid out. If the incision comes apart again or Curie becomes lethargic or has any vomiting/diarrhea I would have her rechecked by your veterinarian. Hope this helps, good luck!

That seems to be healing nicely. The signs to watch for that would mean something is not going well are; Redness Pain Swelling Discharge Foul smell Also changes in pickle like weakness, vomiting, pain behaviours