This is the end result of a left flank spaying operation which looks very untidy. The incision looks messy and so do the stitches. There are question marks about the quality of the veterinary care in this instance.

This photograph of a female cat who was spayed on the day that the photograph was taken is horrible. It looks like a bullet wound rather than the incision made by a veterinary surgeon in a spaying operation. I don’t know if the operation was botched but I would be concerned.

The veterinarian made an incision in the flank of the cat on the left-hand side which is quite normal apparently although most people are used to seeing the incision made in the belly. I understand that most US vets make the incision in the belly. As the cat is sitting it almost looks like a wound to the leg not the flank.

Perhaps I am being too squeamish. Perhaps this sort of wound is normal but it doesn’t look like it to me. The comments below the photograph on the Cats and Kittens Sharing Group on Facebook indicate that they agree with me.

Some of them say that the cat’s owner should change her veterinarian and, for example, a lady whose name is Beverley McKiernan says that she has had 12 female cats spayed and none of them looked anything like this. She suggests that the cat’s owner, Sarah Jayne Bryan should get her looked at again. As a layperson and not a veterinarian I would be inclined to agree. It just looks like something’s gone wrong.

Another commenter, Rebecca Aldridge, said that it looks horrible and that her cat, Lola, came back from the vets with nothing but tiny stitches and no blood whatsoever.

Lynn Higgins said that it is a messy job and that the spaying operation should result in nice clean cuts and neat stitches. She suggests also that Sarah needs to take her cat to another that for a second opinion.