Help!

C

cmaster

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My Molly had 2 waxy growths removed yesterday while she was under anesthesia for dental cleaning. Oh my gosh, the vet shaved such big areas that I cried when I saw her. I had no idea! Last night we thought we'd solved the problem of keeping her from chewing. We rolled a towel, put it around her neck, and duct taped the towel. It worked like a charm until about 30 minutes ago. Now I'm having a hard time keeping Molly from chewing the incision. A long time ago when Lacey was young a vet sent me home with the cone for her, and it traumatized her so much she just stood and trembled, wouldn't move. We had to just keep a close on her, but a soft no no to Lacey would work. They don't really do the trick for Molly though.
What have all of you used with your shelties?
 
Where exactly were the growths removed? If it's on the tummy you can use a child's top, or even better, a baby onesie.
 
I use something like this: http://www.petco.com/product/100555...able-Protective-Collar.aspx?CoreCat=LookAhead

It stops the chewing on the stitches and allows them to navigate, eat, drink, etc. normally. A standard buckle collar goes on the inside of the ring and there is a velcro strap on the outside.

My dogs aren't thrilled by it but take to it MUCH better than a cone. Sometimes we need to do that tough love and make them wear things they don't like for their own health, including cones, in order to protect them.
 
The incisions are on her left side, one on her hip and one midway close to her back. Our local pet store has the inflatable collar. My husband's picking one up for us to try. Thanks for the help!
 
The inflatable collar lasted 5 seconds before she got to her leg. She's nine, but quite agile! So I exchanged it for a cone. She doesn't like it, but she's not scare of it. I'm just hoping it works. She comes pretty darn close to the incision when she tries. When my husband gets home, we may try some sort of clothing item also.
 
Watson pulled his cone off and managed to for gently eat the end of the drain he had in... so gently he left the stitch in. He did not like the gigantic cone on his little head so he fought it... I trimmed it down with scissors... I must have taken about three inches off. He left it alone after that. Maybe if you haven't already tried trimming it that could help. She won't be able to reach. I also allowed him to go without as long as i could watch him.
 
When Melli cut her front foot about where the dew claw is, I put her in her rain slicker and it worked fine (it was winter then though). I kept her real close including while I slept. For a long time I would wake up shouting "no licking". She couldn't get to it, but I said it so many times anyway. I like the clothing option.
 
Mollie doesn't seem to mind the cone from the pet store. I took her back to the vet yesterday because I was afraid she was getting to the incision on her hind leg, but the doc said all was well, and that the cone seemed to fit ok, but he gave me one of his stiffer ones just in case we needed it. I'm going to go buy her a raincoat tomorrow though. Storms are predicted this weekend, and she's not supposed to get wet. We've never been through stitches, etc. with any of our babies, and these two weeks may do me in. She made me laugh yesterday though. You know how they love to sniff each others butts...well, she the cone was right up on Lacey's butt as Mollie sniffed. It was a funny sight.
 
You could also try a recovery collar, which is like a soft e-collar. Tully had one when she had the hip replacement, only she wore it like a cape instead of a cone (that's how they put it on her at the vet).

The one she had was the Trimline Veterinary Recovery Collar. There's also other soft collars like the ProCone, ElizaSoft & Comfy Cone
 
New problem

The cone isn't slowing Molly down, and the incisions are healing nicely.
However, where the cone edge rubs when she tries to chew is rubbing a spot on the shaved area which will be raw if I don't come up with a solution.

None of the clothing that I found worked because of the incision near her back. The velcro fastening them would be right on it.
 
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