Kyrill, our Cesky Terrier pup, was neutered on Tuesday. He was really good at leaving his incision alone at the Vet Office, but started licking it once we got him home, so I got a cone from the vet.
Kyrill hates it. It is made even more awkward by his shape. Kyrill has a long snout, so he needs a good sized cone to keep that long snout away from the incision. His legs are really short, though, so unless he holds his head up high, the cone drags on the floor. The cone also pushes away or obscures things he wants to pick up. This makes eating and drinking difficult.
We tried a soft cone that looks like a life preserver, but it wasn’t wide enough and allowed access to the incision.
I considered a dog recovery suit just for this purpose, but I couldn’t find one in town, and if I ordered one, it would take too long to get here. I also didn’t relish the idea of wrestling him into an infant onesie every time he needed to go outside. We can’t crate him easily with the cone on, so he hangs with us and looks miserable. We hope for quick healing so the cone can go away.
What are your experiences with the cone of shame? How do your animals handle being under the weather?
Trail Baboon 
I’ve never used one on pets but I know of some people who should use one. The Birds get unusually quiet when feeling uncomfortable.
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Oh, poor boy! Could you wrap him in a giant Ace bandage?
Never had to use one with our various cats, and we were pretty lucky – they didn’t get sick much. I know there were digestive issues, because we ended up with a specialty food for kidney problems… K-D?
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Later in the day yesterday he figured out how to use the cone like a scoop or shovel and push things around.
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Maybe he can think of it as a new toy…
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If you get him to direct that at snow, you can hire his services for snow removal!
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Rise and Shine, Baboons,
Most of our animals have had a cone one time or another without any unusual behaviors, with the exception of the late, great Felini the cat. He had a cone and HOWLED mercilessly. We all suffered.
Yesterday I was booked all day and did not answer anything. Someone mentioned that I had been to a lefse museum in Oslo. It was actually the Volksmuseum in Oslo that features each Norwegian province. Each province had their own recipes, patterns for lace, and costume decor. We saw them making lefse there and using the fireside lefse baking stone. It was fluffier than lefse I have had in the USA, and I liked it very much, but I have forgotten which province that recipe came from. Later at an Easter fair in Bergen, there were food tents featuring lefse and “pancakes” with brown cheese. That lefse also tasted different than anything I have had here. (I do like rumagrot with lingonberry sauce, and Krengle, a pastry my great aunts used to make for us).
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Was the brown cheese gjetost? There is that and a sibling cheese (that I can’t remember the name of) – gjetost I can get at my local Kowalski’s, but the other I travel to Ingebretson’s to get. I had it with soft waffles when I was in Norway.
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Husband loves Gjetost.
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I do not remember the name. Sorry.
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Are you still in Iowa, Jacque? Hope your mom is transitioning peacefully to whatever is next on her stardust journey.
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No, I am back here in MN. Weirdly she was as alert and talkative as she had been for months when we saw her.
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She’ll leave when she’s ready. Glad that you had another visit with her.
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He gets some respite when Husband takes him for a walk, sas we take the cone off for the walk. He is getting back to his old self, trying to steal our socks and gloves and drink our coffee we leave on the lamp table.
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yeah, Humphrey has had the cone several times. He’s a delicate flower. He always looks miserable, plus he hits it every time he comes through the door. And yes, it’s hard to eat or drink. We usually don’t get more than a day or two out of it. Then we just harp on him not to lick.
None of them will act sick. Maybe sleeping more, but they won’t let on they’re not 100%.
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When my basset hounds needed a cone, it was horrible – for exactly the reasons you mentioned: the snout is long, so you need a long cone, but the legs are short, so navigating the world is challenging and stairs are right out… with Hound #2 I used a snug t-shirt that I cut and tied to cover the ouchie spot, but I had to toss and replace with a fresh one pretty frequently. All of my dogs have been pretty stoic when they are under the weather and, except for surgery, I have to watch for subtle behavior differences to know something is “off” – like spending the day curled up in the crate instead of curled up on the dog bed in my office or only being 80% goofball instead of 100% goofball…
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Kyrill would rip and tear anything cloth, so I didn’t try the t shirt.
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try getting an aloe plant to squeeze the gel onto the wound
it will help the wound heal and tastes so bitter he’ll only lick it once
stuff in the bottle often has medication in it that stings but plants are ideal
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You can get bottled aloe vera gel that is alcohol free. Look for one that says something like “99 percent pure” on the label. It doesn’t sting and doesn’t dry the skin.
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i have never coned anybody
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My big boy, Baron, was the sweetest, most beautiful dog, but not filled with brains . The first time he had to have a cone he was knocking around in the vet room, and the vet said “oh he’ll get used to it.” She meant a smart dog. I had the hugest bruises, one right above my knee, and one on my hip because he kept walking into me with it.
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We had to cone a cat some years ago. He was miserable. His instinct to groom himself (even apart from the incision for which he was coned) was so strong that he would groom the inside of the cone at times. We were ALL relieved after the required number of days passed and he was set free again.
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I am happy to report that the cone is removed, Kyrill is playing joyfully, and we will only scold if he licks.
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I’ve never put a cone on any of my cats I was sent home with one once, but it wasn’t necessary. None of my cats ever paid any undue attention to incisions after surgeries. They were more interested in sleeping.
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I looked up videos of the Coneheads from SNL, but I didn’t want to link the long videos they had. 🙂
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