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My old girl Meisha who's 12.5yo had surgery today as she had a haematoma in her ear and a lump on her eye that needed removing.

She came through the surgery fine but is feeling very sorry for herself tonight.

Her ear has numerous sutures and her eye has 1 so the vet said we need to be very careful with that one because if it pops we are in trouble, she'd have to go under again. So she has to wear the cone for 2 weeks. It's hard to get on and off, especially as her head is the sore spot so I don't think she'll get much time out of it frown.gif

We're going to be trying to work from home for the next 2 weeks to make sure we can be here to help her drink and eat ok and make sure Monster doesn't hurt her.

But does anyone have any suggestions on how to make it more comfortable for her?

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Oh god no. I hate these things.

I've heard in here that there are softer ways to stop them biting and licking their wounds.

Experienced DOLers??

In this case it's more to stop her scratching/rubbing her head which I don't think those comfy cones would stop :(

I'm sleeping in the lounge room tonight so I can help her if she needs to go outside

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if she were mine , I would cut it shorter - to JUST shorter than her muzzle - still can't damage anything - but it would be much easier to live with/in :)

Yes.

It only needs to just cover the itchy bits - she doesn't need all that plastic. Not to mention the racket it causes smashing into doorways (ERNIE!!)

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I have had numerous situations where the dogs have had to wear the cone of shame. My earlier experiences involved me feeling bad and taking it off at different times and making things worse and prolonging healing. Even if you are sitting right with them you only need to be distracted for less than a minute and the wound has been licked or scratched. I had a smallish wound take over month to heal because I kept taking the EC off and she kept getting to it. Finally I came to my senses and left it on. She got so used to it she started use it as a battering ram and barge her way through where ever she wanted to go. They definitely are not too happy with it the first couple of days then it just becomes the norm. I have tried the cloud ones but actually didn't find them quite as effective and they just don't seem as comfortable.

Edited by corrie
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When Brembo had entropion surgery he had sutures around both eyes. We had to keep the E collar on him for 10 days to prevent him from rubbing or scratching at the sutures. We also had to keep the E collar really large as he was a complete Houdini at getting his rear paws in at his eyes. Even at full length he could almost reach his eyes with the toes of his hind paws. At night he slept with me resting his coned head on my shoulder because I'm a soft touch and apparently that was the only comfortable way to sleep with an E collar on lol.

I'd see if you can keep her tethered to you with a soft collar on when you can supervise her and just have the very large collar on her for those times you can't stop her from scratching or rubbing at her head.

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Would a Comfy Cone be an appropriate alternative option?

That link is the first one that came up on google, but I know there are a few different sellers in Australia so if they would work for you I would suggest giving a few suppliers a quick call in the morning and picking one that will ship out that day to you express post smile.gif

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Would a Comfy Cone be an appropriate alternative option?

That link is the first one that came up on google, but I know there are a few different sellers in Australia so if they would work for you I would suggest giving a few suppliers a quick call in the morning and picking one that will ship out that day to you express post smile.gif

For ear and facial sutures I honestly think that the standard Elizabethan collar is best, the longer the safer. I have known dogs to scrunch the soft collar up against a wall and rub their sutures with the soft collar itself GRRR - plus I personally don't like the way it limits vision.

For eye injuries the Optivizor is magical. And it was developed in Australia!!! (no I don't have shares in it LOL)

For sutures not on the head, that's when you can take your pick of Cloud Collars, soft cones , Novaguards, etc.

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Would a Comfy Cone be an appropriate alternative option?

That link is the first one that came up on google, but I know there are a few different sellers in Australia so if they would work for you I would suggest giving a few suppliers a quick call in the morning and picking one that will ship out that day to you express post smile.gif

For ear and facial sutures I honestly think that the standard Elizabethan collar is best, the longer the safer. I have known dogs to scrunch the soft collar up against a wall and rub their sutures with the soft collar itself GRRR - plus I personally don't like the way it limits vision.

For eye injuries the Optivizor is magical. And it was developed in Australia!!! (no I don't have shares in it LOL)

For sutures not on the head, that's when you can take your pick of Cloud Collars, soft cones , Novaguards, etc.

Oh I have seen those and they look awesome! I wasn't sure if they would work with the ear as well though?

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Thanks everyone.

Well she's worked out how to sleep with it on - we were up every hour last night scratching at the collar and trying to get comfortable but then she slept most of the day ok. I'm thinking maybe I should've kept her awake so she sleeps through tonight! laugh.gif

I've had a friend offer the comfy cone but I'm a bit concerned she would bend it back and get to it.

I will see how she goes over the next few days and has her check up on Saturday.

At this stage it's going to be a long 2 weeks!

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Oh how I hate those plastic Elizabethan collars. A friends schnauzer was desexed earlier in the week - and he had on something like this - they said it works well and is much more comfy for the dog.

Edited by westiemum
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