# Fur not growing back after spay�



## Magnus89 (Jul 20, 2009)

*Fur not growing back after spay…*

It’s been almost a year since Mirage’s spay and her hair has not grown back at all. I’ve read it was only supposed to have taken a couple of weeks to just a couple short months? I mean literally, all she has down there is a 2mm "long" fuzz… no real fur, and no inkling there ever WILL BE any real fur growing back.

This isn’t a huge deal, but I can’t help feeling a little worried – I know this isn’t due to anything serious or even life-threatening, since it has been a year and she’s been perfectly fine health-wise. I’m just thinking now that the place we had this done at might have damaged her hair follicles by using crude removal methods…

Now, she is a Maine **** and Siberian mix, as far as I can tell. Long haired, has course and soft hair types, in case any of that makes any difference at all. Also, she did have an abscess in her neck in 2008, her fur was also shaved off for the surgery but it thankfully grew back just fine and didn’t take all that long at all...


----------



## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Wow. That's odd. Most places use clippers to remove the hair and unless the clippers were hot and burned her, damaging the follicles, I can't see that as being a problem. Also, anything that would have damaged the follicles like that, you'd have seen signs of the damage/injury shortly after having been shaved.
What has the vet said? A couple months, yeah ... but a *year*? That's crazy!
heidi =^..^=


----------



## Magnus89 (Jul 20, 2009)

Well, I was thinking either they did superficial damage or they did something wrong internally to facilitate this problem. She now has a pretty sizable lower belly after the spaying, it's not proportionate to her body as it was before the surgery (it set in pretty imminently). She saw another vet, to correct their shoddy "glue" work that would have allowed her guts to fall out if not stapled properly and they didn't say anything about the appearance of this pouch. So if that's not it, I don't know what it is.

I haven't spoken to either vets about this yet, since I kept figuring it would sort itself out... I'm thinking about chewing out the "low-cost" clinic for this first, see what they say about it, and then having a word with the more competent vet. One of them ought to know what's going on, but I can't spend $100's on figuring out why her fur won't grow back... it's not life-threatening, I already know that much so we're good there.

Perhaps it was just the stress of the operation, coupled with the glue allowing the wound to open and then being wrestled down and stapled back up that caused this? Or maybe her diet?

All I know for sure is, this wasn't an issue before that clinic did whatever they did to her. Her fur grew back just fine the first time it had to be buzzed off... to be honest, they didn't seem to be so concerned about taking care of the animals there, she came out with bloodied up claws from scratching and scratching at the metal carrier screen telling me they didn't watch her at all in there, and if that's the case with the aftercare, they probably didn't take a very delicate time with her in the prep work either.


----------



## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Mmmm, doesn't sound like a very nice place, with that description.

To address a few points: 
Hangy-down-belly.
The hangy-down belly isn't caused by spay/neuter. It is genetics and the reason you are seeing it now ... is not because she was s/n, it is because she has grown into an adult and her genetics dictated she have extra skin to move comfortably around in as an adult cat. I have a male cat, *very* fit, not fat at all, and he has The Biggest, Swingiest, hangy-down-belly I've ever seen on a cat. ...and being male, he's never had abdominal surgery to explain 'the pooch' under his belly.

Spay Incisions.
There was little danger of your cat's guts falling out *unless* she managed to chew through _the internal_ stitch layers. I believe there are at least two layers of fascia and muscle that must be stitched closed, using absorbable sutures, before the outer skin can be closed with either sutures, staples or glue.

The Bald Belly.
Well, I agree with you about it not being life-threatening and not worth much notice if it doesn't appear to bother her. One thought that came to mind about her bald-belly ... is I wonder if it is an allergic reaction to a pest or food ingredient. We had a cat who would lick/pluck his belly bald if we were beginning to get fleas. I *never* saw any fleas on our cats, but when I'd see Toby licking his belly bald, I'd treat everyone w/ a spot-on product and he'd calm down, leave his belly alone and re-grow his fur. ... just something to consider.
heidi =^..^=


----------



## Mom of 4 (Jul 29, 2006)

As for the bloody claws. It can happen at wonderful places too. 
We took our Golden Retriever to stay at one of the top rated kennels for about 36 hrs. My brother used this kennel for his pets. They have two scheduled play sessions a day and every dog is groomed before it is picked up. Someone is always on site, in the kennel area.

Bennett hated it. He tried to dig his way out of the kennel, wearing his nails down to the quick in front. By the time we picked him up, he could hardly walk. Took a month of steroids and antibiotics to get him back to normal.

I know that he could easily have done this in a matter on minutes. For his sake, we never put him in a kennel away - too stressful for him.


----------



## Kobster (Feb 1, 2007)

Could she be overgrooming on her belly and thats why the hair won't grow back?


----------



## Magnus89 (Jul 20, 2009)

Heidi n Q said:


> Mmmm, doesn't sound like a very nice place, with that description.
> 
> To address a few points:
> Hangy-down-belly.
> ...


No it wasn't, at all. I will never take another pet to a low-cost clinic run by a county again. You end up paying more than it would have cost to just go to a good vet to get the OP done when they screw up anyway.

I'm not entirely sure, before the spay she was a year old and was very lithe and had no belly down there at all. But just a couple weeks after bringing her home it started to grow in. It's not her entire lower belly, just the lower half of it right around where they cut her. I'm thinking maybe it has something to do with her... well, you know, female glands there. Some female cats get that after their spays, some don't and I'm sure it's probably with where they decided to make the incision, it might have to do with cutting a duct or something allowing the... glands to become full of fluid or something like that. I'm not worried about it, but wish it hadn't happened.

That's exactly it, as soon as the top later burst open (and bled and bled and bled), and even with an E-Collar, she was able to lick at it and bite at it and it was starting to get deeper and wider. This happened at 11PM on a weekend, I had no choice but to toss her in my car and rush down to an E-Vet. They told me before, on the phone, that they'd assess the damage and only treat if it was really bad and it was pretty bad, so they cleaned the wound and then stapled it back up. I know if I hadn't take her in and had them fix her up that she probably would have reached through the fat layer, or even the muscle layer by morning. Scariest ordeal I've ever went through with one of my pets I can tell you!

It could be from a food allergy, but not a pest allergy - we don't give our kitties any medications for pest control because they are totally 100% indoor, so there's no risk to them from parasites. However, she does seem to hack up a bit on a normal basis so perhaps it's time to consider another food brand. We've been buying Kitten Caboodle... not the best, but with the bad economy and being out of work for over a year that's what we could afford. I'm considering a raw diet for them now so perhaps that would help. It really COULD be a nutrient imbalance... just not sure what it could be.



Mom of 4 said:


> As for the bloody claws. It can happen at wonderful places too.
> We took our Golden Retriever to stay at one of the top rated kennels for about 36 hrs. My brother used this kennel for his pets. They have two scheduled play sessions a day and every dog is groomed before it is picked up. Someone is always on site, in the kennel area.
> 
> Bennett hated it. He tried to dig his way out of the kennel, wearing his nails down to the quick in front. By the time we picked him up, he could hardly walk. Took a month of steroids and antibiotics to get him back to normal.
> ...


Oh I'm sure, but it shouldn't have happened. They should have sedated her or done anything to keep her from inflicting that much damage, they didn't watch her or care for her at all. They kept her in the carrier all day, I think that was the problem. I was expecting them to put her in one of their larger cages, I didn't think they'd leave her in the carrier! But she's OK now, her claws are all healed and there's no permanent damage.



Kobster said:


> Could she be overgrooming on her belly and thats why the hair won't grow back?


No, she does groom herself there but not enough to have caused that. I think she's licking there to try and stimulate the hair to grow back but it just won't. >_<

I really feel bad for her though. First her claws, then her incision bursting open, being stapled up fully conscious, and now this... it's just not fair. =/


----------



## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

Is it possible she's overgrooming more than you're observing? Cats will overgroom because of stress; it's a kind of calming behaviour for them. Then often it develops into an obsessive behaviour where they just can't seem to stop, even tho the initial stress has gone away. I've had cats with this type of bare belly/inside hind legs baldness from overgrooming. Eventually, something changed in her mind, and she stopped it. Can't recall what that might have been, as it was some years ago now.


----------



## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Magnus89 said:


> I'm not entirely sure, before the spay she was a year old and was very lithe and had no belly down there at all. But just a couple weeks after bringing her home it started to grow in. It's not her entire lower belly, just the lower half of it right around where they cut her. I'm thinking maybe it has something to do with her... well, you know, female glands there. Some female cats get that after their spays, some don't and I'm sure it's probably with where they decided to make the incision, it might have to do with cutting a duct or something allowing the... glands to become full of fluid or something like that. I'm not worried about it, but wish it hadn't happened.


My apologies, but I still do not think the surgery, and/or site of, has anything to do with the hangy-down-belly. What you describe is exactly what is on our Louie, a male cat who has never had an abdominal surgery. When he trots up the hall to me, that belly sways and swings a good 4" left and right as his hind legs kick and pull to set that belly to swinging from side-to-side.
The only thing I could see relating to females and spaying is if the cat's hormone balance is radically changed and they turn from a thin and fit cat into a bit of a fatty w/ a whole lotta 'extra' to go around their body.

Re: fleas and bald-belly.
Our cats at that time were also 100% indoor and we had no indoor/outdoor cats to carry fleas inside. Except us. Fleas can hitch a ride on human's clothing.
I'm not saying this to prove you wrong, only that being an indoor cat still doesn't protect them because the pests can find other ways to reach them. I believe this is why I never noticed any fleas when Toby would start his over-grooming ... they were very few and all it took was one bite and he'd have the reaction and begin to over-groom.


----------



## Magnus89 (Jul 20, 2009)

catloverami said:


> Is it possible she's overgrooming more than you're observing? Cats will overgroom because of stress; it's a kind of calming behaviour for them. Then often it develops into an obsessive behaviour where they just can't seem to stop, even tho the initial stress has gone away. I've had cats with this type of bare belly/inside hind legs baldness from overgrooming. Eventually, something changed in her mind, and she stopped it. Can't recall what that might have been, as it was some years ago now.


She mostly just sleeps all day in my office on their kitty tree, like right now. She probably grooms 10 minutes throughout the day. Definitely not enough to irritate the skin, it's not even pink as one would expect with that kind of problem. I'm still home ALL day and night, so I'd know. When I'm sleeping, they're both running all around the house playing with each other, or else sleeping with me.



Heidi n Q said:


> My apologies, but I still do not think the surgery, and/or site of, has anything to do with the hangy-down-belly. What you describe is exactly what is on our Louie, a male cat who has never had an abdominal surgery. When he trots up the hall to me, that belly sways and swings a good 4" left and right as his hind legs kick and pull to set that belly to swinging from side-to-side.
> The only thing I could see relating to females and spaying is if the cat's hormone balance is radically changed and they turn from a thin and fit cat into a bit of a fatty w/ a whole lotta 'extra' to go around their body.
> 
> Re: fleas and bald-belly.
> ...


Well, I suppose that puts that worry to rest. She was in heat when they did it, so maybe that's it for the belly.

I don't doubt it's possible for them to get fleas, but we haven't noticed anything different at all in any of our 4 pets (2 dogs, 2 cats). Nobody has been excessively itching, scratching or biting. Weasel (our little dog) has reactions to fleas, and she's not been exhibiting any symptoms. None of them have any redness to any part of their skin, least of all Mirage. The only pest we have had problems with in the last two years is ticks on the dogs - not on the cats, but we've got that under control now as well.

Maybe it's just a nutritional or stress thing. We took in Mojo, a pitt, last June. She's not scared of him per-se (she actually likes to play with him a lot and annoy him by playing "you can't get me - neener neener!" (he's not viscous or violent towards them at all either), but she and Onyx don't come back into the living room and kitchen during the daytime when he's in anymore. Just as well, because they like trying to get outside through the dog door over there and that's put an end to that.

I don't know, as I've said I'm going to really try to start them off on a raw diet however I'm thinking now that maybe I shouldn't owing to the big dog now... might smell that on them and decide he wants a raw diet too. Definitely don't want that. Oy... this is difficult! LOL


----------



## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Magnus89 said:


> ... I'm going to really try to start them off on a raw diet however I'm thinking now that maybe I shouldn't owing to the big dog now... might smell that on them and decide he wants a raw diet too. Definitely don't want that. Oy... this is difficult! LOL


I'm very sorry, I know this is serious, but you made me LOL about the dog smelling the raw food on the kitties and then wanting to turn the kitties into his own Scooby-snack! If you go raw diet, could you do raw diet for the dogs, too? 

Back to the bald-belly ... that *is* odd that kitty goes bald and especially that your super-sensitive dog, Weasel, doesn't have that reaction. So ... if Weasel is flea-reactive, and isn't reacting ... then I'd have to conclude that the problem isn't fleas. Maybe it is a food allergy? That would explain the kitty having issues while no one else is. 
Let us know what happens whenever you do change their diet up. I'd be very interested to hear how it goes for you and all the critters.


----------



## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

Sounds like to me when your not around she is over grooming the area. My cat over grooms his belly when he is stressed. When I have too many fosters, been gone for a long period of time out of town, or just maybe when Im stressed they pick up on it.

sorry to hear you had such a bad experience with the low cost S/N clinic. It could of been a new vet doing the spay. The low cost clinics here are usually pretty good but did have a misdiagnosis on one of my fosters teeth. The vet said they were in bad shape and the foster was only year and half old. When I looked at it I thought they looked OK. I raised the money to get him a dental and the vets that did the dental said the teeth looked really good! Grrrrrr... 

I have a huge distrust with vets now about dentals. Even my son who is a human dentist didnt think he needed a dental from what I had described to him! It all depends who you are dealing with at vet offices and low cost clinics.


----------

