Maisie has had spay surgery + a tooth extraction meaning she can't exercise very much OR chew on things. No toys. No kongs. No bully sticks. NADA except wet food and soft treats. This morning I had to attend class to hand in an assignment, so Maisie had to be crated. I tested her last night in the crate with her collar on, she seemed very quiet all night and fine when she came out in the morning. So I left her in the crate with a bowl of wet food while I went to class. Came home, she was asleep, all seemed fine. About 20 minutes later, I hear a chewing sound. I go to see what she's got… she is chewing on her plastic collar for heaven's sake!!! I pull it off her, trim down the hard edges, then she goes collar-less for the rest of the day. I think that's the end of it, and am also pleased she seems to be enjoying her crate today - she keeps going into it. And coming out. With pieces of plastic she clearly chewed off her cone while in the crate this morning!!! She willingly traded for a soft treat and her tooth sutures seem just fine but MAISIE!!!! So now her buster collar has been seriously modified… my boyfriend took it apart and put it back together so the plastic tabs were on the outside, and then duct taped it down so there is nothing for her to chew at. We also replaced the string bit holding it around her head with her actual collar to make it stay on properly as I was worried she would bat it over her head! Maisie with her "modified" buster collar… I don't think a cloth one would have helped as she would want to have a chew of that too, but honestly!
Re: Cone of Shame Antics Tuppence modelled both types of buster collar after she had cut her leg last year. I think she chewed through three plastic ones, liberally mended with parcel tape!
Re: Cone of Shame Antics Aw the poor baby with both cones on!! I found yet ANOTHER piece of plastic lying on her bed this morning… goodness gracious. These dogs are much too wild to be contained by these cones of shame! I'm of two minds of how to leave her in her crate now… on the one hand, chewing on her cone again could hurt her mouth sutures… and she hasn't shown ANY interest in her sutures… except I feel like if left alone for hours without anything to do (as she can't have toys in her crate due to the tooth thing) she might investigate her sutures!
Re: Cone of Shame Antics How many days post op is she? Has she bothered her sutures from her spay at all? I've never had to leave a dog in a cone after a spay....after injury, yes - after spay - no. If she isn't messing with her suture site at all, I would personally remove the cone and keep tabs on her for several hours and see how she does. In no time, you'll be past all this and it will all be but a distant memory!!!! ;D ;D
Re: Cone of Shame Antics She's been without the cone for a long time during the day - pretty much whenever I'm with her and she's not asleep, she's been without the cone. I'm just hesitant because she might decide it's interesting to poke at her tummy sutures if she's bored in the crate, even if she shows no interest during the day. Oh and she had the op on Friday morning, so it's been about 4 full days. Her sutures come out next Tuesday.
Re: Cone of Shame Antics I'd probably trust her with it if she were mine....by 4 days, the surface healing is well underway and the newness has worn off....I'd balance the "she might lick the sutures" with the "chew up the cone and risk hurting her mouth" and see which is the lesser of the evils if you have to leave her unsupervised. Good luck to you both! ;D ;D
Re: Cone of Shame Antics You could always try her in a tee-shirt to protect the sutures? A bit like Willow's string vest, with a hole cut for her tail?
Re: Cone of Shame Antics Our oldest lab had the same collar on when he was spayed. It was a disaster! He couldn't eat properly. At meals we put it off. Some years later he had major belly surgery. They thought he was having a ileus. Then he stayed at the vet's house for a couple of days without any colar on. When we got him back the stitches were still there and he didn't bother! Annemarie from the Netherlands
Re: Cone of Shame Antics She survived 2 crating periods with it fully intact and not bothered. She's not wearing it anytime she is out and about though so she's quite comfy. She's not bothering her stitches at all at the moment, but since she doesn't seem to be able to chew on it now in the crate, she is wearing it in the crate. I thought about using a t-shirt of some sort but I think that would actually be much more interesting to her to chew on, as she loves chewing on soft things.
