Our dog has had a cyst on his tail for a number of years, it's grown slowly over this time and recently came to a head (literally). To cut a long story short, the cyst started leaking (sorry) and the vet prescribed antibiotics after draining some of the contents. That was a few weeks ago and unfortunately it hasn't healed properly, the dog has got at it a few times and now it is a nasty mess. He's booked in to have a small op to remove it on Thursday and in the meantime is back on ABs and wearing the plastic lampshade collar.
The problem is, the lampshade collar doesn't fully prevent him from reaching his tail and if left alone for a long period (which he will be tomorrow when everyone is out at work/school) he will have time to work at it and I'm concerned he will make it even worse.
The vet has said that he'll need to wear the collar for a few weeks after the op until it has healed. She also said healing could not be guaranteed due to the location on his tail and the difficulty with finding enough skin to stitch over the wound.
He'll have someone with him for a good few days after the op, but obviously we all have jobs/school to go to so there will be times when he is left (which he is used to).
Can anyone recommend a better alternative to the e collar? We've tried the inflatable ones in the past but he could easily reach his back end with those (used after he was neutered as a young dog).
TIA