Warning - some descriptions of injury in this post please don't read if squeamish!
My beautiful greyhound boy is currently recovering from a very nasty injury caused by running through a barbed wire fence. The incident itself was one of the worst things I have been through and I'm still processing it myself. He severed a vein and tore muscle in his shoulder (thankfully no signs of nerve damage at present) and I was alone with him when it happened and had to call for help, which due to our location took some time to arrive and it was very scary as he was losing a lot of blood (although I did my best to stop the bleeding of course). When rushed into the vet he was taken almost immediately for surgery, which took two hours. All in all a horrible day when I felt it was a very real possibility that I might have lost him. Waiting for the post-surgery call was the longest few hours of my life.
Thankfully he was able to come home the next day, with a cocktail of meds and with an incredibly swollen leg. He's been back to the vet twice due to concerns over the extent of the swelling, but thankfully yesterday it finally started to recede and I've started to relax a bit that he will make a full recovery. His wound is looking great and he is due to go back for stitches to be removed in 10 days. We have followed the aftercare (five short walks a day and wound washing)/medication schedule to the absolute letter and hopefully that is paying off.
Unfortunately however he has a stitch stuck under his skin and this has caused a new wound next to his original injury. So, while the original wound is healing beautifully, he now has a wound the size of a 10p on the front of his leg which is open, sore, and weeping heavily. As a result I think he's going to be stuck wearing his cone of shame until the stitches come out and this new wound can finally heal. He's becoming increasingly miserable and is very agitated by not being able to lick this horrible wound. He also bloody hates the cone of shame!
I'm feeling a bit drained at the thought of another 10+ days of this (although ultimately worth it for him to still be here and well, which I do keep reminding myself) and worried about how he will cope. I'm doing what I can to keep him happy - I've used an old long-sleeved top to loosely cover the leg and give him some freedom from the cone, but can't keep him in this for long as the weeping soon soaks the material and it needs washing (going to try and find a few more suitable tops for him so can alternate them). I've prepped frozen kongs and lickimats for him so he can have these to break up the day (and tomorrow going to get some more nice natural chews from the petshop to keep him busy). He's obviously going out for five walks, but only short ones so not too thrilling - but I'm letting him do as much sniffing as he wants for stimulation when we are out. Weather is not ideal as he loves mooching in garden usually but if it's raining he is VERY reluctant to go outside!
Any other tips for surviving this phase?