Help with cone after injury please
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Permalink Reply by Vicky Hay on
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Have you tried wrapping the foot in gauze and surgical tape? It's a major hassle and requires sticking the tape to the dog's fur by way of making it harder for the dog to remove it, but sometimes if you can cover the irritated area for a few days it will heal enough to stop itching or hurting and then the dog will stop licking & chewing. For awhile. Maybe.
Good luck with that... It's very iffy. Sometimes it works and sometimes it's yet another frustration for the human. And it does involve having to delicately trim the sticky tape off the dog's fur when you remove it with a sharp pair of sewing scissors -- truly a PITA.
Cassie will occasionally lick her right front leg till she gets a hot spot there. Seems to happen when the spring shedding season starts -- there are no other consistent factors leading up to this entertainment. I have in the past wrapped her leg and managed to keep it wrapped long enough (say, three or four days?) to break the habit. She's gotten pretty accomplished at getting it off now, though.
I had a German shepherd who liked to lick the pads of her front paws raw. I would make a kind of bootie by wrapping a substantial amount of gauze around the paw and up the leg, almost as high as the knee, then covering it over by wrapping with layer after layer of white surgical tape. Vet showed me how to do this. He said not to put any antibiotic or cortisone ointment under it -- just wrap and wait. At times when I thought the dog was responding to an itch, I have used one of those over-the-counter cortisone creams under such a wrap, but never noticed that it made any difference in the speed of healing. You have to be sure not to wrap it tight enough to interfere with circulation.
BTW, Cassie actually responds to a command to "Stop Licking." Have you tried training the dog to quit licking on request? It doesn't stop her forever, but it will interrupt her for awhile. I think I started that with "NO! Stop licking!" when she was caught in the act, and over time the "Stop Licking" part has stuck. Sounds crazy, but it actually happens.
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Permalink Reply by Denise Hawkins on
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Thanks for the reply. He will stop when I say leave it or stop but there are times when I am not right beside him, and he is clever enough to go into hiding too! Wrapping the foot would probably be a no go as we need to cream his paw twice a day and he hates having his feet touched, to the point he goes for us if we try, so creaming him has become a stealth attack ( he is a rescue so no idea why he does it) Having done some research, it looks like it is a granuloma. He is a very anxious and highly strung boy at the best of times, but we can usually soothe him. This it seems has become an out let for him and I am really stumped as to how we are going to stop this, I fear that once the cone comes off and he can get to the paw again, we will have this for the rest of his life. Feel really bad for him, he is clearly not a happy boy right now
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Permalink Reply by Beverly Butler Redford & Tucker on
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Amazon has a product called a wound boot. I got one for Tucker because he was obsessively licking one paw to the point it was raw. I don't like using a cone for this (although i have) because Tucker has a hard time figuring out how to get to the water bowl and i hate getting stabbed in the back of the leg with the cone. You can also try putting a baby sock on him and using a shoelace to hold it on. He will try to take it off, but you can get cheap socks.
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Thankyou for your reply, I cant find it on amazon, maybe its because we are in the UK? He wont let you touch his leg at all really, so am not sure that this would be any better than the cone, especially as we have to cream the leg twice a day. he has now ripped 2 holes in the cone, but it has reduced the time and the angle he has access to
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I wonder if it's considered a prescription item in the UK? Would it be worth asking the vet about it? Or are there pet stores or tack & feed stores that might carry them?
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Not sure we even have those kind of stores here x
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Permalink Reply by Chris Payerl on
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We had to do this a couple of years ago with Sophie, but she managed to pull the sock off when tied on with a shoelace, or taped on with masking and duct tape. Stinker! We bought some little rubber (?) boots called, I think, Bootz or Booteez or similar. I seem to recall there was a "z" in the name instead of an "s." They looked like deflated balloons without the long neck. We'd put the ointment on, then a gauze, then a baby sock, then the boot. It was a procedure, but that was the only way to keep her from licking it. We had to watch to be sure she didn't chew a hole in the boot, but she didn't seem to like the taste or texture. They came 12 or so to a pack and were reusable to a point.
If he's nervous/anxious, might it be better to try to do something about that to prevent the foot licking in the first place?
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Permalink Reply by Tami Fraley on
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Have you tried the Wound Boot? I am still wondering what I might be able to do the vet might not know about.
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Permalink Reply by Cathie on
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You said it was healing beautifully until the tablets stopped and now he's back on the meds (antibiotics? steroids?), plus the cream and the cone. Sounds like the cone is causing more stress for an already anxious dog. I know how frustrating this is for you as the caregiver!
As unpleasant as the cone is, most dogs (and owners) do seem to get used to it - eventually. There are different types of cones available, maybe another style would be more tolerable for him. Here's an article on alternatives:
http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/pet-injury-protection-alte...
I hope his paw heals quickly so he can be cone-free once more!
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I think Scooter, my 6 year old is having a similar issue. This is the second time his right front paw turned pink on the paws and a black toe on top where it seems a viral infection goes up the leg. He has had one surgery after antibiotics did not work and today is looking at a second. Our vet gave him anti itch pills and pain pills if he go too ancie the last time. I kept wrapping it with that strech bandage and eventually gave up. But it finally healed.
This time I don't know. The saddest thing is that Scooter, at age 5, had some disc issues, could not walk. He had back surgery and was in a wheel chair for one year exactly. We kept lowering the wheels on the back to help him put more weight and strengthen his rear legs and with the grace of God and Scooters hard work he now walks. It is a funny walk, more a balancing act but he even runs! Now his front paw is messing up and he needs those to have any quality of life! The vet does not know why this is recurring.
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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After Wynn opened his wound from his neuter and had to be seen in the middle of the night he also had to wear a large cone for 3 weeks! He even learned to run with on after about a week. I would ask your vet if you could give him Benadryl(a people over the counter drug) that helps with allergies and itching(or at least make the person or dog more tired) In the US this is many times what is prescribed for dogs and it's not expensive. Also our Austrailian Sheperd would lick his belly raw after his neuter and the vet gave us something called NoLick...didn't work the greatest but did help some. My 1st choice would be to check out the antihistamine!!!!!! Good luck!
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