Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Krystle (Luna & Twinkie!) on February 5, 2011 at 3:32pm

Cone should be on whenever you can not supervise him and keep him from going after the wound.  Stitches come out usually 10-14 days post-op and you don't want him licking or biting at the area to prevent infection.

Luna got spayed yesterday, so I'm dealing with the same thing, but opted to use the donut over the cone. Check out my blog to see how she's handling the same issue.

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Permalink Reply by Lauren on February 5, 2011 at 4:10pm

I'm aware that I'm not to have him lick/bite the area. I'm just curious as to how long you're suppose to have it equipped. The surgeon told us that stitches won't be completely healed until about 10-14 days, but he never gave us an estimate of how long to actually keep him from causing any damage to the area, i.e. how long to leave the cone on.

 

Poor Luna though! It is pretty depressing. 

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Permalink Reply by Krystle (Luna & Twinkie!) on February 5, 2011 at 4:15pm

He doesn't have to wear it as long as you're watching him.  Luna only wears hers when she's in her crate or out of my line of vision (ie not in the same room).  As long as the stitches are in though, you want to keep using the cone.

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Permalink Reply by Beth on February 5, 2011 at 6:00pm

If he is chewing you'll need to leave it on when he's unsupervised til the stitches come out.  

 

Our kitten was wearing a cone when we adopted her because she'd ripped out her stitches.  The vet re-glued her and left a hole for drainage (talk about gross).

 

We left the cone on, as instructed, for a full week (if you want to see sad, watch a three-pound kitten try to maneuver around with a cone; even though it was tiny, it made her little head bob and she could not clean herself, much to her clear dismay.)

 

Anyway, after a week the cone came off.  She promptly sat down and licked the incision til it started to bleed again.  It did not require a return trip because all but the top layer was healed, but on went the cone again for another three days. 

 

Leave it on til the stitches are out.  Trust me, you do not want to see an open incision.  

 

Neither my male nor my female Corgi needed a cone, but neither really fuss over themselves.  Some dogs obsess over anything unusual on their bodies.  If you feel bad about the cone, you can get the soft one.  

 

http://www.amazon.com/Comfy-Cone-Collar-Large-Black/dp/B000XY7CKE/r...

 

or the doughnut:

 

http://www.petco.com/product/100555/ProCollar-Premium-Inflatable-Pr...

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Permalink Reply by Lauren on February 5, 2011 at 6:55pm

Aren't the stitches suppose to stay in? What do you mean until they come out...?

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Permalink Reply by Beth on February 5, 2011 at 7:50pm

It depends.  If they are dissolvable stitches they don't need to come out.  If they are not dissolvable, they do.  Usually they use dissolvable on a neuter.   

 

Wait until you see the skin is completely healed over to be safe.

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Permalink Reply by Jane on February 5, 2011 at 7:41pm

Your vet probably used dissolvable stitches if they didn't mention removing them, that's what my vet uses also. I would just call and ask how long they recommend leaving the cone on, I would assume at least 5-7 days if he's really fussing over it.

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Permalink Reply by Lauren on February 6, 2011 at 12:19am

Alright, will do.

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Permalink Reply by The Geek's Wife & her Corgi Ein on February 6, 2011 at 12:24am

Ein wore hers for 5 or 6 days. I only ever saw her go after he stitches once, and the e-collar was such a pain to take on and off that I pretty much just left in on the whole time. She did really well with it, and never bothered the area after I took it off the last time, so I left it off. Ein had dissolvable stitches. It's been 3 weeks now, and she's perfect. No complications.

 

Heather

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Permalink Reply by Lauren on February 6, 2011 at 1:17pm

Sounds like what I'm going to have to do. The cone itself isn't much of a problem getting off and on. I've been having Caius sleep with us since his cone is too big for the crate, and he's been doing fine. Two nights ago, he slept with us on the bed comfortably, and last night, we moved him to the floor next to us on top of his mini-bed because he kept trotting back and forth on our bed. Pretty weird.

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Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on February 6, 2011 at 6:39pm

We adopted our Corgi last month, he'd been neutered the day before, never used a cone, never bothered the sttiches, which were of the dissolvable kind.

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