Does my cat have a hernia?

Hi,
My cat was operated on Thursday. My vet suspected that there may have been a trapped foreign object in his small intestine as he was hurting when they felt the area. I saw him eating something and swallowed it before I could get into his mouth. They weren't able to fin anything on xray but they could feel something and they thought it may have been something in his small intestine. It proved to be his lymph nodes which were very enlarged due to a stomach inflammation which were hurting him. His small intestine was pale and it had crumbled up into a tight ball so the vet surgeon took it out and massaged it and when she thought it was looking as it should be she put it back in as it should be laying she said and she was pleased with it. The incision is about 6-7cm long and they've used 5 stitches in all. I got to take him home the day after the operation was done as he was looking very perky they said. He was sitting up and is easting well. He's been tot he toilet and everything seems to be working. Yesterday (Saturday) I noticed that the lower part of the wound looked a bit bulgy when he was laying on his left side and it looks and feels like it may be a hernia, is this common after an open operation? Can they get this easily after operation? It's about 3cm and it looks a bit red around the area. I'll take him down to the vet tomorrow first thing for them to have a look at it but he doesn't appear to have any pain although he sleeps a lot. I am still concerned and I am wondering if you may know if they will have to go in and check all the organs again in order to fix it if it is a hernia?

Many thanks in advance.

Hi Marie,

Thanks a lot for your quick reply.

It's been a worrying week with lots of sleepless nights... Just want him to get well soon.

This was really helpful. When he wakes up I will try and see if it disappears when I lightly push it in, it feels a bit like a big bulging vein, quite soft I thought when I felt it. I'll take him down tomorrow and see what they say.

Many thanks!

Angela

Thank you - I will do!

Many thanks,

Angela

Hi Marie,

Just to let you know the vet had a look at Pinky's bulges/swellings and confirmed that it was a reaction to the material like you said it could be.

The only thing that is worrying is that he seems to be eating a lot less than he normally do and hunches about 10 minutes after his meals and goes away to a quiet area. I am wondering if the problem may be in his stomach and if you have heard of this before? He gets inflammations in his tummy quite easily and they've treated him with steroids but don't want to give him any more now when his wound is healing. He eats a little instead of a big meal which he used to do. It's not the Pinky we used to know.

They said they felt his stomach when they went inside but couldn't feel anything abnormal so I am just wondering what could be causing him to eat less. If you have any ideas, I would be very grateful!

Many thanks,

Angela

Hi Marie,

No I don't think they did a biopsy of the lymph nodes or anything else but they checked if the rest were enlarged but it was just the local ones in the stomach which they said would most likely be due to an inflammation.

I asked them to check inside as well with an endoscopy to check if they could see anything but they didn't do that as they said it would be difficult to see?

They told me that they took all the blood tests to check if everything was alright first after he completely went off his food last week. And all the blood tests, which included his liver and kidneys, viruses and aneamia (I think they said) were fine and he's not had any fever when they've taken his temperature.

He has had inflammation in his tummy before but the vet didn't want to give him any more steroids now (I think he got a long lasting one last week) and see how it goes.

It can't be that his wound is hurting him when he eats because of the operation which he's had? His voice isn't the same as normal it's a bit more quiet than normal as well and I am wondering if it may be due to the operation as well?

Many thanks!

Thank you Marie.

I was down with him today and they had a look at it and said it's a reaction to the stitches which I guess means it must be some sort of infection? They just said it will go down after a couple of weeks or so.

I think I will go down with him to check it to make sure tomorrow. When I spoke to the vet surgeon after he had his operations he said she wasn't going to give him any more antibiotics as he had a shot of antibiotics a couple of days before (when i came in with him) in case there was an infection. Is this a normal procedure that they can't/won't give them any if they've already been prescribed some beforehand?

I will make sure to speak to the vet surgeon tomorrow and ask if he can take another blood test just to make sure. t won't hurt. (Well it's not fn for the cat to go back and forward all the time but I don't know if it is normal to have bumps like that under the incisions.

I forgot to mention that he was given some steroids at the same time as he got the antibiotics a couple of days before the surgery as well so I am not sure if that can inhibit the antibiotics from working properly?

Thank you Marie!

I see what you mean. I will check this with them tomorrow. Unfortunately I don't have the invoice for the medicine they gave him that time but it's really helpful to know and I can ask them if it was the longlasting one which they gave him.

I can't thank you enough for your help.

Many thanks!