Cone of shame

It's been a big day for us as fur parents as our 5 month old kitten was spayed and microchipped today. Just as she was getting the hang of the cat flap and accustomed to the freedom it offers, her coming and going privileges have now been revoked. AND she was starved all night. How cruel are we?

The operation went well and kitty was discharged with strict instructions to stay quiet and inside for ten days. Hmmm. Have you ever managed to keep a 5 month old kitten quiet? No, neither have we. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

After her first meal since last night, kitty decided to start the clean up job. She is a very appearance-proud kitten in the best of times, meticulously licking herself clean well after we'd consider the job complete. She set to on her wound ... despite my best attempts to distract her, I could see that there was no way I'd be able to keep her tongue away from her stitches for more than a few seconds and that there was only one thing for it: the dreaded cone of shame.

After a few failed attempts to singlehandedly hold kitty down and do up her collar and cone, I realised that we were getting nowhere fast. Being home alone until later in the evening meant that my partner couldn't help. It was time to call for backup. A friend and fellow cat mum came over and together we negotiated kitty, her collar and the plastic cone. The first time we did up the collar, she fell forwards onto her face (cone), wriggled backwards and ran towards the door with a "you can't catch me" look on her face. Wrong! We tried again and finally managed to do up the collar, during which time we heard several very angry, low growls.

Kitty is not impressed.

Admittedly, I did take a quick video of her trying to run backwards out of her cone but will protect what's left of her dignity by not posting it here. It's more than a little amusing, though. ;-)

Kitty is now sitting sedately on the arm of my chair and feeling suitably sorry for herself. I get the feeling it's going to be a long ten days for the three of us.