Alternatives to Cone of Shame?

[basildonbond]

Basilpup was neutered on Thursday - he spent about 24 hours feeling Very Sorry for himself but after a good snooze yesterday is back to his usual bouncy self. The only problem is he keeps trying to lick the wound so is wearing a rigid cone which he hates (not surprisingly!)

I tried an inflatable donut-style ring which lasted all of ten minutes before he managed to chew a hole in it

So my questions are:

1. How long do dogs usually have to wear the sodding things?

And

1. Are there any alternative options which actually work and which aren't going to cost a fortune?

Our black lab hated wearing one after he'd been spayed, he would bash his cone around the house til it broke. I came up with a sort of nappy :) I got and old t shirt and put his tail through the neck hole and his 2 back legs though the arm holes and pulled the body of the t shirt up around his chest and then I tied it around him with and old tie or whatever suits you. It worked, except when he needed a wee and I'd take it off and go thorough the whole palava of putting it on him again.

You can be creative with the logo and colour of t shirt :) We were falling about laughing at our dog in his new outfit and he wore it with a definite air of resignation and resentment

They are supposed to wear it till the stitches come out, about 10 days.
you can get Soft-e collars
same principle but not rigid
here
your vet may have them
they sometimes don't work as well though as the dog learns how to bend round it!

We found that age 10 boys boxes shorts worked very well on our puppy. Tail through the fly and legs through the legs. Also tried the t shirt but no matter how we tied it he could get it off

We tried a cone on our dog and he got it off in two swipes. Just how tight do you have to tie them? Our vet said to attach it to his collar, which you can get two fingers under.

The cone's attached to his collar so he can't get it off (not for want of trying ..)

Will try the pants idea, thanks

It really depends on the size of the dog but the best thing I found was a babygro (all in one sleep suit). Put it on the dog with the poppers running down the back, you can cut the arms and legs to the right length.
Cheap and you have a happy dog. Impossible for them to get it off. Vet was really impressed and now recommends it. Good luck.

There is always this type,

www.petsupplies.com/item/bitenot-collar/220104/

stiff and prevents dog from twisting head round. I always think that in an emergency I could fashion one of these out of stiff card and secure with normal dog collar on top! Haven't had to use my idea yet lol

I know someone who used one of these medical pet shirts when her bitch was spayed and said it worked really well.

I've heard it doesn't work so well for very long-backed dogs light Greyhounds and Lurchers, but is ok for most other breeds. A few of the reviews say they've used it for neutering.

basildonbond our dog took his collar off along with the cone. He did have a major operation on his spine a few months ago and we've only just put his collar back on so it's probably not as tight as it might have been in the past but maybe he just has a big neck and a small head!

It's unfortunate because he keeps hurting his paws at the moment and then licking them until they are sore.

Our pup is currently wearing one of those medical shirts after his neutering op. Have found it so much better than a cone of shame, just have to remember to unpopper it before he needs the toilet
It is just like a baby vest.
The vet offered the vest rather than a cone, does cost slightly more than a cone. Only issue we had was that our pup had slightly upset stomach the day after the op, so had to get undoing the shirt and rolling it up down to a fine art. The shirt does wash, luckily.

Our male dog has had both the Soft E Collar and the Comfy Collar and was fine with both. Our female dog burst one and escaped from the other but actually really liked the Cone of Shame. She used it as a weapon to attack our male with and also to dig up mole hills.

It takes about three days for the stitches to 'take' so if he nibbles it now it won't be so bad. The wound is not going to burst open or something awful. The only problem is of course that some dogs start obsessively licking their sore spots which makes it even worse in the long term. There is this stuff you can buy that tastes bitter when licked which should help soothe irritation and discourage licking. My cocker hates the collar too and kept us awake all night by bashing into things like a sulky teenager....