Why is my cat's spay incision not healing and getting wider?

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question about Safe and for providing pictures, they are very helpful. This is what's known as a flank spay, and it is a place where vets will do spays on cats. One of the advantages is that you don't have the weight of the abdominal organs on the incision as it's healing. Yes, you are right this wound is wide open. She does need to see a vet asap to get this closed. 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. I hope this helps!

I agree with you, it does look like Zara's incision is opening a bit but the rest of it looks great. I do think this is something that needs to be seen by your vet to be safe, but it does not need an emergency visit. You can wait until Monday to have her seen. If the incision opens wider, she starts bleeding from the incision, you notice the area becoming red, swollen, or warm to the touch, or you notice internal tissue coming out of the incision, then that is an emergency and I would rush her into a vet right away. I'm not sure if she has an Ecollar or not, but if she does, keep it on her to keep her from licking at the incision. If you don't have one, I can put a link below on how to make one at home. Best of luck, I hope this helps! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ffR-LzyW1M

Hi and thanks for your request. From the picture it does not look like it is extremely inflamed but the leakage is concerning, especially if particularly persistent. It is unlikely that the wound is open and if she is fine in herself there is room to wait and monitor her. I would recommend to have her checked if the leakage persist in the next 24 hours.

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!

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.

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.

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.