My hound mix will be having surgery to remove a cyst on his back in the next few weeks, and he’ll need an E-collar to keep him from messing with the site until it’s healed.
I know there are alternatives to the awful plastic ones, but which ones are better and why?
I find it FAAAAR easier to cover the area, if possible. If the area is on his back, can you just put a coat on him?
If that won’t work, I’ve had the best luck with the basic plastic cones from the vets–preferably the ones that snap and have fabric at the collar.
I’ve also used the BiteNot, which is a very wide plastic padded collar to keep them from turning their heads (it’s sort of like a hard cervical collar for people) and they always seem to rub something horrible.
Simkie I may be able to cover it. It’s in the loin area, about 2-3 inches to the right of his spine. I am not sure what kind of bandage will be on it when he comes home, or if there will just be stitches, but our vet said she could send us home with a plastic e-collar or I could pick up one of the soft ones. I just haven’t had to use one in years (back when plastic was the only option) and I wanted to know what people’s experiences were with the soft cones and inflatable “boil boot” type collars.
I’ve had a couple dogs with procedures in that area (ish), and they have always left it alone, UNLESS it’s a pretty big surgery and there’s pain and itching with healing (For example, this one on the rump didn’t trigger any issues and I left it open and the dog naked, but the follow up was more of a problem and we had to go with a cone of shame.)
If I were faced with another surgery and it was going to be difficult to cover with a regular dog coat (I use Fido Fleece and RC Pets) I’d go buy one of these. It looks a bit silly, but I think it would be better than the cone.
Agreed on the far easier. Cone of Shames are a noisemaking dilemma in my home.
My dog recently had a drain in his back and I went to Petsmart (they’re on sale!) and bought him a few long Fleece dog shirts and put it smack over the incision and drain site, sutures and all. Your dog will probably come home with some telfa/hypafix on top but it falls off quickly. The fleece saved us from a cone!
My dog had to wear an e-collar off and on for almost 3 months last year. The technicians at the vet’s office had told me that some dogs did poorly with the soft “Comfy Cone” because they couldn’t see out the sides. That didn’t bother my dog, but the cone folding in around her face when she would lie down trapped the heat from her breathing in the cone. She was hot when she wore it; and clearly unhappy with it. The smallest possible plastic collar with padded edges worked best for her.
I had good success using one of my own t-shirts on our rhodesian ridgeback when she had surgery, we tried the “lampshade” for about an hour, it was a disaster, and the dog was miserable. So, I just put one of my t-shirts on her, tied it up tight around her waist, and it worked beautifully.
OK. We have plenty of old T-shirts around that we can use for that if we need to. I will probably get a cone of shame (one of the soft ones) to have in case the T-shirt doesn’t work, but I have a feeling this dog will not tolerate a cone well. My other dog would probably be fine (not much bothers him), but this dog is sensitive.
I’ve even used two t shirts–one over the head and one backwards, over the tail and hind legs–to give full coverage. I’ll pin them together to secure everything. It’s a bit of a pain in the ass, as you have to undo it all to let the dog out to go potty, but it’s still been preferable to the cone. If I were faced with that again, I’d either rig something up with velcro instead of pins or just buy the body suit.
Good luck! He may not need ANYTHING, depending on how big a deal the surgery is and how he tolerates recovery. 
There’s an inflatable eliz. collar that works very well, not too unlike the standard horse neck cradle type of thing. The dog can go in and out without banging things and can more easily drink and eat. I saw some at Petsmart I believe.
Yep, I think Petsmart has a neck pillow type of neck restraint, like a big fluffy collar that makes it so he can’t turn around.
We always had a lot of success with the old tshirt method. :yes:
Id just get a cheap cone of shame. Chances are, if its on her back she wont even bother it. Try a T-shirt if she is inclined to “try” to lick the area, but you probably wont even need the e-collar.
After our TPLO cases go home, they are all instructed to wear the cones of shame. Flexible cloth ones dont work in larger dogs and a t shirt wont cover the knee. However, they usually only have to wear it for a few days and then the incision is fairly well sealed.
My pup is currently sporting a “Comfy Cone”. I’m not 100% sold on it, but the noise from the clear plastic one seemed to frighten her and was more uncomfortable for sleeping.
A toddler tee shirt works really well. I buy several cheap ones so I can change them out to wash.
Really I have found that as long as you keep them on pain meds for the first couple of days, they don’t tend to chew. It is when it is hurting them that they lick and chew.
When I have to use a cone of shame (for eye enuculation for example). I use the soft cone of shame. I have used the blow up “collar” that restricts their head movement and that works well for some situations but if a dog is long enough, they can reach their rear area even with those on.
I’ve used the inflatable ones with success before. I think they’re overall less frightening due to the fact that it doesn’t so much limit their vision and they can still easily eat and drink.
All the people with the dogs who don’t chew! I’m always amazed with the vet for even bothering to ask if I want a cone, but apparently some dogs do refrain. Not mine, boy We’ve had a variety of differently sized plastic ones (which at $25 a pop are NOT cheap) because they get filthy and crack (particularly when they’re rammed into mother’s back of the knees when going downstairs) and now we also have a Comfy Cone. I like the reduced agony when she uses it as a battering ram, and she seems more comfortable with it.
Thought I’d update this thread. Truman the hound had his surgery on Monday, and everything went well. He didn’t offer to mess with the site (1.5" incision, 4 staples), but because the staples aren’t all flush with the skin, I was hesitant to put any sort of cover on it, because I was concerned a T-shirt or blanket might get caught on one of the staples that wasn’t flush. He spent Monday night in his bed, in our bedroom, with the inflatable e-collar on. Tuesday went well also.
Today he started wanting to chew at his incision, so he started wearing the inflatable e-collar all the time, not just when he was unsupervised. That worked OK till about 20 minutes ago, when he very deliberately pulled the inflatable e-collar off right in front of me. It had been adjusted to be as snug as possible, so unfortunately he is now in the Comfy Cone (aka, the Cone of Shame). He is not impressed and is alternating between DH and I with his pitiful stares, but so far he hasn’t managed to get it off yet.
Only eight more days … :lol:
:lol:
Hang in there, Truman and Truman’s People!
My rockstar agility dog WILL NOT wear a cone of any sorts, the last ditch effort I tried he did 3 backflips in a kennel and ripped it into 3 pieces in under 2 minutes. Which needless to say pulled out his IV cathereter, and kind of defeated the pupose of wearing it in the first place…
So he wear a basket muzzle whenever he shoudl have on a cone, either for an incision, or more likely, for his IV fluids to keep whatever he decided to eat to keep moving on through. Which usually winds up looking a lot like this…
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q210/horsegal984/Eclipse%20and%20Oz/115_3263.jpg
It’s a good thing I like him… partially cuz he’s a better jumper than a lot of horses I know!
http://s137.photobucket.com/albums/q210/horsegal984/Eclipse%20and%20Oz/?action=view¤t=115_2932.mp4
Katherine
Vet Tech
Oh hey, I did not think of a basket muzzle! Duh! I have one for him (it was originally for learning to play nice with the stray kitten who adopted us).
We’ll see how the cone goes. If he starts having a tantrum, I can try the muzzle. Good call! Always nice to have another option. :yes:
He is definitely feeling better today though; I thought now that he’s 5, we might be OK with the 7-10 days of restricted activity, but he’s wanting to act like normal today and we’re having to be more vigilant with him. DH, who works from home, is going to be batty by next week, when the staples come out … :uhoh:
I may have to bake up some sweet potato strips and stuff them in a Kong.
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