E-Collar Advice

[Guest poofmagk]

Our girl recently got stitches on her front leg near her chest and she keeps licking it and re-opening the wound. We have one of the clear plastic e-collars from the vet. Our boy just stood and panted for hours would not move an inch when he was healing from a surgery so we gave up on it with him. Our girl wears it a bit better, but she can't figure out how to move around with it on, and won't fall asleep with it on, just sits there and whines. I have tried the folded up towel around her neck, which I thought was going to work, but unfortunately she can still reach her wound with the towel on so that is no longer an option. Due to the placement of the wound a t-shirt is not an option.

 

So I am wondering if anyone has a greyhound that can't handle the plastic e-collar that has had success with one of the soft e-collars such as this:

 

http://www.petco.com/product/119138/Contech-ProCone-Soft-Recovery-Collar.aspx?CoreCat=OnSiteSearch

 

Or any other suggestions that I'm not thinking of?

 

Thanks!

[GreyTzu]

Muzzle with duct tape or a stool cup works for many greyhounds.

[spottydog]

We wrapped our boy's scratch that he kept enlarging with some vet wrap and then he left it alone.

[Guest poofmagk]

That is what we ended up doing for our boy's surgery, I was just worried that she might rip the stitches if she tried licking with the muzzle/stoolguard.

[a_daerr]

Another vote for muzzle + stoolguard.

[Guest Dancer]

I've used vet wrap( luv it!)…but the muzzle + stoolguard idea sounds like it would work

[Kestrel]

We tried muzzle/stoolguard on Kenzie recently when we were trying to keep her from licking an incision on her front leg. I think she was still able to rub or scratch it with the muzzle though, so it was still getting really irritated. We ended up using a soft, segmented collar pretty similar to the one in your link, and it worked well for her.

 

We called it the "daisy of shame" since the sections looked like petals:

 

It was long/wide enough she couldn't reach the incision, but soft enough not to bother her too much. She did sometimes bump into walls, but she was comfy lying down at least:

 

Hope you find something that works, and that your girl is doing better soon!

Edited April 25, 2014 by Kestrel

[KF_in_Georgia]

Muzzle with stool guard, and don't let her play on your sympathies. You can put an oversized long-sleeved shirt on her so she can't scrape the wound with the muzzle. Just roll up the sleeves so she doesn't tangle her feet in them, and tie up the shirt-tail so she doesn't trip.

 

If you don't have a stool guard, use duct tape over the holes she could get her tongue or teeth through. If you do have a stool guard, you still might want duct tape to cover any roughness when you fasten the guard to the muzzle.

 

Oreo in her jammies by KF-in-Georgia, on Flickr

 

My first girl was injured in about the same place yours is hurt. You can see the scar she got when I felt sorry for her one night and left the muzzle off while we slept. She sneaked out of my bed and down the hall, where she removed vet wrap, bandage, 4 stitches, and all.

[Sambuca]

Muzzle with stool guard always works for us. I would also put a shirt on her and stick a maxi pad to the inside of the shirt for extra padding and to soak up any fluids coming out. Maxi pads are great and comfortable bandages for the dogs.

[kudzu]

That is what we ended up doing for our boy's surgery, I was just worried that she might rip the stitches if she tried licking with the muzzle/stoolguard.

That can happen but only one rubbed so much with the muzzle that she pulled a staple out. Didn't happen with the stitches that replace the staple. Another used the muzzle to rub an area of skin infection. Still we've had mostly success with muzzling & mostly failures with e-collars.

[sobesmom]

Any and all of the above. I HATE plastic E-collars. Get as creative as you need to.

[Neighsayer]

Fold a towel around the neck. Hold it on with vet wrap. How wide and how thick depends on the location of the wound. It is bulky, but the dog can't move their head down far enough to lick the area. This worked great when I had my two broods spayed last year. They were recovering together in an ex pen in the living room, and there wasn't enough room in there for two plastic lampshades. They sell the bite not collar, which is a more expensive version of the homemade variety above. I used one of each, and the towels worked just as well. I don't think the bite not is sold in stores. Good luck!

[silverfish]

We use a Bite-Not collar if we need to, but our boys don't bother wounds at all. Sid licked his foot once or twice after his corn surgery, but when I told him to leave it he did, and we didn't wake to soggy feet so he must've not even licked when we weren't looking.

 

We've found the Bite-Not great for all but front leg wounds, it's a good alternative to the cone, which NONE of my greyhounds has tolerated well (didn't try the soft one, though).

 

Have to say, you can also cover wounds with a t-shirt or leggings and it's usually enough to stop them getting at them. We did that with Jeffie's three 'Ooops, I ran into a brick wall which I knew full well was there' gashes, just to make sure he didn't chew them during the night.