Ok ladies. I have called our vet and I am waiting to hear from her. But she is in surgeries all day today and it may take a while for her to get in touch. I thought you may have some input. We had to have a rather large cyst removed from our lab's back leg. The vet warned us that it was going to take some vigilance on our part to make sure she heals correctly. And told us she would definitely need a cone to keep from licking it or ripping out the stitches. As a side note, our dog has some obsessive licking issues (lick granuloma) and so we knew this would be a tricky few weeks. When she came home wrapped , we were surprised to see she didn't seem to have any interest in her leg. We coned her at night and when we weren't with her, just in case. THe bandage came off (had to, apparently it needs the air to heal properly) and she wanted to gnaw on her leg. So we put the cone on her. Only to discover that she could reach her leg. Tried one of those soft comfy cones...she ripped it off in about 2 seconds (she has a velcro wrap for her leg, so she knows how to escape from velcro). Bought a larger cone and it seemed to work. The cone also stopped airflow around her ears and has been causing a terrible infection (we have meds for it). Plus with the larger cone she can't eat or drink, so we have to watch that too. Well last night she figured out how to pop it off. She puts the cone under corners of the furniture and pulls. I tried securing it with duct tape, but I have to take it on and off so she can eat and drink. And she learned pretty quckly to just pull harder. Called the vet and they suggested a donut collar. They mentioned it would be better for her ears too. I bought the largest one they have. She can reach her leg!! Any other ideas mamas?? I didn't see any other cone types at the pet store.
Ha ha. Love it ladies. I want to try the sweat pants, just for the shear entertainment value. :)
Benedryll is not an option. She is on too many other meds right now. She usually takes Benedryl for her allergies and I was advised against that right now.
Thanks JL. That's exactly the cone we have for her. The first one was too short (lengthwise)around her head, she could reach her leg. The second one is massive and stops the licking, but she has figured out how to pop the thing open. Even with a collar on there snugly. She gets it open and it hangs enough that she can get to her stitches. This dog is like a Houdini escape artist! We paid for a customized leg wrap for her granuloma. Cost us a pretty penny. Custom fit. Practically guaranteed not to come off and she had it off in five minutes. And socks, especially baby socks, are something she does eat on occasion. Not willing to risk that. May have to try the bucket idea next. Sigh...it's gonna be a looonnng two weeks.
We have resorted to duct tape. THe larger cone is the only one that she can't reach her wound while wearing. So it's duct taped like crazy. It's pretty ridiculous. Vet said we'll worry about her ears after the collar comes off next week. Any time we give her a break from it, she has to be cut out. :)
any chance you could put a loose pair of sweatpants on her?! HAHA its the only thing I could think of. Just cut a hole for her tail, and her but if u wanted and maybe she could wear those for now? Good Luck!
I'm curious about the size and type of cone you're using. Our dog had the exact same surgery this summer, and the vet gave him a cheapie clear plastic cone that was the size of a satellite dish... no joke! He's an 80 lb Lab and couldn't do a thing with that satellite dish on his head. He was miserable. He couldn't lay down, couldn't eat or drink from his bowls, even if they were flat on the floor or in the pedestal stands, and certainly couldn't lick anything.
The first two days, I really didn't notice just how miserable he was (he's stoic so doesn't whimper or let you know he's bad off). It wasn't until I caught him tipping to the side as he drifted off to sleep while still sitting on guard on his haunches. Poor thing couldn't lay down! I didn't realize he sat up all night, so I took it off when I could watch him, and he slept like a rock. I could have set off TNT and I think he would have slept through it.
Anyhoo, maybe you have too short of a cone or the wrong sized cone for your dog. We didn't have problems with ours pulling it off. It was too big and slippery for him to wedge it under furniture, let alone use his paws to pull it off. Plus, the vet used a long piece of gauze, artfully tied around his neck and collar so he couldn't pull it off or get caught on things and accidentally choke. There are holes in the cone near the neck area, designed for stinging guaze or some type of cloth through it, so it can be safely secured to the dog. The instructions should show how to do this.
Here's a picture of what we had. Ours was something called an E-collar in size XL and cost about $12. Very stiff and sturdy too. If you read the reviews, you'll notice those who had problems later discovered they had purchased the wrong size for their dog so it wasn't effective. I think the key is getting in a very large size.
http://www.amazon.com/Cardinal-70301-Laboratories-E-Colla...
Give her Xanax until the leg heals? LOL
Okay, maybe not. I don't know. In the past when one of our boxers (who was very cancer-prone) had to have lots of surgeries, she would always escape from the cone too. I figured that dogs in nature lick their wounds to heal them, and if she ripped her stitches out, OH WELL. None of her wounds ever festered and she never bled to death even though she did lick them and she always did rip the stitches out. I know that's probably not helpful but I just never could get her to leave the darned cone on!
Put the cone on her leg?
Honestly that is the only idea I have. Just cut it up so it fits over the part of the leg with the stitches and tape it on.
I discovered with my cat that the only thing he could reach with the cone on was his stitches. So we took it off. Turns out he was content to actually clean his body so no harm done. Not sure what we would have done if he included his stitches in his daily cleaning. :(
I had a client once whose dog had a growth removed off his rear end and gosh darn it, that dog was just like yours - we used every trick in the book and that dog got around every single one of them. The owner finally ended up making his own "cone" by cutting out the bottom of a plastic bucket and sticking it over the dog's head and somehow keeping it duct taped around the dog's collar.
If you put your dog's collar through the loops at the bottom of the cone, and make the collar small and snug enough, she shouldn't be able to get it off too easily. You can also put her food and water bowls on top of something (like a stack of phone books) so she can reach them and the sides of the cone are not hitting the floor. You could ask about keeping the incision covered with something like a baby sock but you want to make sure she can't rip it off and end up eating it (I've seen it happen, resulting in a more expensive and more invasive surgery!). You can also ask about some mild sedatives to help her calm down and be less apt to be bothered by the whole business. Good luck to you! I hope she gets better!
I had the same problem as you! We ended up buying an inflatable collar. It basically looks like a tube kids use to swim... but it is dog-head size :-). So, you blow it up and put it around their head. There is an attachment that allows you to use their collar with it. You must use it or the dog will be able to slip the tube over their head.
Since it is inflatable, it is harder for them to reach those spots on their legs. Our dog had the problem on her stomach and she couldn't reach it. I hope it works for your leg issue...
We bought ours from Pet Smart. I had to ask the workers where to find it because it was not in an obvious spot. If you have a Petco, here is a link to what the tube looks like:
http://reviews.petco.com/3554/100555/procollar-procollar-...
Good luck!
The leg prob itches , give her a benydryl , it will stop the itching.
Google for the proper dosage.
I had a male dog that could get around everything I put on him when he got fixed I even tried a pair of baby pj pants. he got them off.
