What type of E-collar have you used after your dog has been neutered/spayed?

[Bev and WILLY]

Willy will be neutered soon and I was wondering what type of E-collar you have used after your dog has been neutered /spayed? Most seem so uncomfortable to wear, and Willy goes in and out the doggy door, so I don't think an Elizabethan collar would work. I just don't want him to rip out the stitches.OUCHY! Has anyone not used an E-collar?
Has anyone tried the BITE NOT collar rather than the cone?

[Bev and WILLY]

Thanks Sharon, hopefully we'll get some good information.

[Lynne B]

When we had Beck neutered there were no external sutures- not quite sure how they did it but the sutures were inside. He started licking himself before he left the vets office and hey put this HUGE collar on him, it was so big he hardly fit in his crate, I took it off of him, and very carefully put bitter apple on both sides of the incision but NOT on the incision, he didn't try to lick himself after that

[Bev and WILLY]

Thanks Lynne. I think that is a great idea. I'll give it a try.

[03pilqobzlvp7]

We had one, but chose not to use it. I didn't catch Duff licking his stiches too much, but Mike was able to bring him to work and keep an eye on him for a couple of days. You could always see how it goes and only use it if you need to.

[Bev and WILLY]

Thanks Sara. I have used the collars on my standard poodles a couple of times over the years, but they were always a pain in the neck ~ for the dogs and me.

[Holly Southall]

Angel was just spayed and our vet "glued" her skin together over disovlable stitches. It is awesome. She does not mess with it at all. They told me if she starts to lick it before doing the collar take a little bit of Biter Apple on either side of incision. We have had no problems and she came home yesterday. The vets office said they don't usually have a problem with the dogs messing with the incision now the stitches are covered with skin and "glued" together. But there is always the exception.

[Bev and WILLY]

Thanks Holly, it seems like the Bitter Apple works.

[Trang Timmerman]

Capers was neutered when he was about 7 months, and we borrowed my friend's comfy cone. It is shaped like an e-collar but made from nylon so it is flexable and can be folded back when the dog eats and drinks. We ended up not needing to use it since he barely paid any attention to the incision.

[Bev and WILLY]

Thanks, glad to hear that Capers didn't pay any attention to the incision. Hope Willy ignores it too.

[Trang Timmerman]

Yeah, we were worried that he lick at the incision, but the first night all he wanted to do was sleep. We got it done on a Friday so we watched him all weekend, and he barely noticed it. By Monday we could hardly see the incision and hair was already growing over it.

[Denise, Winnie, and AngelAbby]

My female didn't have a collar and did real well. My daughter has a male pup who was also neutered this year and he didn't have a collar either. (and he had a different vet.) But each vet is different. As long as they don't continuously lick at it they should be fine. A little licking is expected but that doesn't hurt anything - it's when they are more aggressive with it.

[Bev and WILLY]

Hi Denise. Hopefully Willy be be like the dogs whose owners replied to this discussion, and leave his stitches alone.
Thanks.