Maddy was spayed yesterday

[Kelly Gallagher]

Well it was a loooooong night. She whimpered on and off the entire night last night...but it's more from the silly cone on her head than anything else. She is not dealing well with it at all! I tried using the inflatable collar last night but she got that off...she has also gotten the cone off this morning as well. I don't think she is going to leave the stitches (staples) alone so I'm very reluctant to take the cone off. The vet was VERY explicit...under NO circumstances am I supposed to remove it for 10 days!!! I don't know how we are going to make it. She did eat this morning with it on and she will walk down the 4 steps to go out...but she is VERY reluctant to potty with it on. UGH! I tried the boxers but they don't seem to cover where the incision is...any suggestions???

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

An old T-shirt? something you can tie loosly around her? a depends diaper? Just throwing some ideas out there. I do know that they adapt quickly, so give it some time. Poor baby. do you have any pain meds to help her stay calm?

[Kathy Wilson]

Is the cone clear? Recently on the Animal Planet they had a program about this. They said the stress level is lower if the cone is clear because they can see through it.

[Sandy]

I used the backwards men's muscle shirt....I have pictures up of Toby in it. He did not deal well with the cone either.

[Lynne B]

I couldn't keep a cone on Beck when he was neutered,so I put bitter apple on both sides of the incision, I used a q-tip so that I wouldn't get it in the actual incision, he didn't lick it at all with the bitter apple on there.

[Kevin Lackey]

I did the old T-shirt with Brody. Put The T on backwards so Maddy's tail comes out the neck, and her legs out the sleeves. Then you can tie the shirt snuggly around her tummy

Make sure you use a cool T-shirt since you're stuck looking at it. Brody got a Jimi Hendrix one.... ;)

[Kelly Gallagher]

I may give the t-shirt idea a try. I think she will be able to get out of it though...this little girl is VERY good with her paws..she uses them like human hands! She finally took a drink of water...and she devoured her food this morning so that's good. She actually has a pain patch on her and she seems to feel fine...she doesn't seem uncomfortable at all...just the constant whimpering from the cone. She just now fell asleep on the kitchen floor so maybe she's starting to accept it. I'll keep you posted...thanks for the suggestions!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Maddy, please keep us posted!!! Peri is getting spayed on September 18th and I am sure we will run into similar issues!

[Carla, Lucca and Izzy]

Lucca hated his too but we kept it on and he got used to it within a day. At first he couldn't even figure out how to navigate the doorway. Poor Maddy. Keep it on and she'll adapt.

[Tammy & Gracie]

I had this problem with Gracie pulling out her stitches/staples. She could do this even with the cone on. We made several trips to he vet for restitching. It gets easier, I understand without any side vision (with the cone on) many dogs can't be at all comfortable walking or doing daily things. If this is the case a clear cone should work. The vet tried several sedatives to keep Gracie calm before finding one that helped. The one that finally made her leave the cone and her stitches alone was clomipramine. I understand that is a drug for anxiety or obsessive/compulsive behaviors. It worked like magic and did not make her druggy or anything. If it keeps up, you may ask her vet.

[Kelly Gallagher]

Thanks.. will keep that in mind. She doesn't seem to be able to get to the incision with the cone on..thank goodness...but I wouldn't put it past her..she's pretty flexible - lol! She's calmed down quite a bit now and seems to have accepted the cone...at least for now. She's eating, drinking, sleeping and going potty normal at this point so hopefully it will only get better. Thanks for the input!

[elyse]

We did keep the cone on for 10 days also but actually, Harley got quite used to it and did really good navigating around the house. The first few days were really sad though because she bumped into everything. By the second week she just got used to it. It was so funny playing catch with her. When she missed it would just go into the cone and she would get her toy anyway.

[Kelly Gallagher]

LOL - I can hardly wait to play catch next week!