Okay, so the cats are wearing e-collars to prevent licking the stitches. Well and good: I’m okay with that, though they’re less than thrilled.
Right now, licking is bad. They can pop open the stitches and otherwise introduce infections. We don’t want that. Eventially, however, they will be healed enough so that licking will do no harm.
My question is, when is that window? How do I assess their behaviour and appearance in order to decide what’s best? I’m assuming the vet’s answer of two weeks is conservative. I’m trying to balance their misery (it’s been four days) and the kitty psychological benefits of licking with their ability to self-harm. My last cat, apparently in another veterinary era, had no cone and no pain medicine, but I don’t know what changed between then and now. These had both and they’re clearly more upset.
Further: in brief, supervised no-cone episodes, they go straight to licking. So they clearly need them.
One is now extra spooked by everything, especially windows (a window-washer with sunglasses and a squeegee appeared two days ago and she hasn’t gotten over the terror). I assume it’s a combination of the cone magnifying sounds / scents and the inability to easily crawl under things; she’s normally quite a placid cat.
Cats are 5-months-and-a-bit old.
We are considering other options (sprays to discourage them, etc.), but for the purposes of this thread, please assume that the only two options are cone + no licking and no cone + licking.