Alternative to "lampshade" style collar

[Walrus]

Hello,

Never been in this part of the forum before but just wanting some advice or a recommendation. we have an aged (and bonkers) giant schnauzer who has a wound on her elbow (she had a swelling which the vet drained and said was a haematoma but it has now broken down where it was drained) - the wound is healing well (but slowly) and is clean but she has been wearing her giant lampshade collar for 2 weeks now and I feel so sorry for the poor girl - we can take it off for a short while whilst she is under supervision but if we turn our backs for seconds she is licking She's a big and boisterous dog and we live in a small 1970's semi-detached and she is crashing into everything, she doesn't seem to have any gauge of spacial awareness so she's trying to get through doors before they're fully open and crashing and she's crashing into the wardrobes in the bedroom when she goes round the bed (she sleeps in our room - i know it's naughty but she's boyfriend's dog and clearly lived in this house before me!). I can't imagine it's doing her neck and shoulders any good crashing into things all the time, plus she is driving my OH up the wall with it!

I've found procone collars and comfy collars online which are softer collars and an alternative to the lampshade so just wondered if anyone had had any success with a softer collar or if anyone had any recommendations.

Thank you

 

[GinaB]

Rua has been wearing one of the inflatable comfy collars and seems very happy in it! I haven't seen her try and lick at her wound (spay) while I'm in so she only wears it while I'm out. It doesn't interfere with her eyesight/eating/drinking and she's not trying to pull it off either. I bought it from ****** which was the cheapest I found it and it was here the next day.

 

[MerrySherryRider]

We used the Comfy collar and it was great. Our dog was much, much happier in it.
Those collars the vets use are awful things, aren't they ?

 

[mattydog]

I have used the comfy cone on both my rottys. It is still a "lampshade" shape but made of soft material and they used it like a pillow!! The only drawback I found was that it is solid black so they cannot see through it. Made the bitch a bit panicky when outside but fine with it inside.

 

[Walrus]

Thanks guys - we like the look of the comfy collars. Poor girl is getting so stressed (and as a result so is OH!) - she's woken us up at 4.30 every morning for about the last 4 days crashing into the furniture and she gets so excited when i take the collar off to give her a break. I worry about the strain on her neck and shoulders as well. She's nearly 13 and has already had one lot of surgery this year (toe and tumour amputated) so we are desperately trying to get her to heal to avoid further surgery.

 

[Umbongo]

I think the comfy collar/inflatable collar would be better to tray than the material type cones. I have seen quite a few dogs manage to figure out how to bend the material cones in a way that they can reach the area they want to lick! Also as they cannot see out the sides of them it can panic some animals.

 

[Onefortheteam]

The inflatable comfy collars Are great, but my dally learnt how to kick it off very quickly! Just be sure to keep an eye on her in it to ensure she can't Houdini out of it!

 

[Dobiegirl]

If you look on youtube there is a video of how to make your own using a very large towel, I tried it for Diesel in desperation but it didnt work for him, what about a muzzle, she could still get about using this, sadly even though I bought one for Diesel I couldnt use it as was so afraid he would rub his wound with it and make it worse.

Diesel had his cruciate op 15weeks ago today and was a nightmare for getting his lampshade off or getting round it, I seem to spend every day at the vets, I tried bandages soaked in bitter apple,calmers you name it I tried it even a doggie onsie. He had his lampshade on and off for 12weeks and he is such a high energy dog too, its something I never want to go through again. He couldnt start his hydro until his op site had healed and I would get it to heal and he would get at it and back to square one. In the end he had the largest lampshade available and it was tied to a harness so he couldnt get it off, he was confined to the kitchen, the table was pushed against the wall and all chairs pushed in under so he didnt collide with anything, even so all our legs were black and blue.

 

[Suelin]

What about a "T" shirt? Soft cotton so as not to rub. Put it on and cut it to size and stitch up so it fits snugly but not tight. The sleeve going down the leg (If you follow) I've done this a number of times and it works a treat and they don't seem to worry about it one bit. If you had 2 you could take one off to wash and one on. Keep it for another time when you've healed this wound. Hope she goes on okay.

 

[Bellasophia]

I ve also had success using a tee shirt,in our case post spay...in this situation you put the shirt on back to front,with the dogs back legs through the sleeves and knot the waist of the shirt. You could sew padding inside the sleeve that will cover the stitch site,even line with denim so the dog can't chew through the material.
Another idea is to just use a cut sleeve like a stocking,and sew tapes to tie around the dog to keep it up and secure.

 

[twiggy2]

another one that thinks a tee shirt may be a good option, my dog worked out how to turn the blow up collar so that she could reach the wound over the velcro strap

 

[Walrus]

Good idea on the clothing front - the wound is on her front elbow so in an awkward place. We did have a tubigrip elasticated tube bandage over it but she gets that off easily and with her collar on when it stayed on it made her leg puff up, I thought it was my OH applying the vetwrap over her dressing too tight - for which he got a telling off but 2 days later her leg was still puffy so i took the tubigrip off and it improved so very wary of having anything round her leg now - a child's stretchy long sleeved t-shirt / jumper combined with a comfy collar looks like it might be worth a go. Thanks everyone.

 

[ribbons]

We've always used T shirts as well. The whippets went into panic at the sight of a cone collar. Long sleeved cotton one should do the trick.

 

[cremedemonthe]

The inflatable comfy collars Are great, but my dally learnt how to kick it off very quickly! Just be sure to keep an eye on her in it to ensure she can't Houdini out of it!

Mine did the same, could not keep it on him for love nor money so went back to the buster collar instead which was so large we thought we could get satellite tv on it

 

[Cedars]

Blow up collar seemed like an amazing idea but my Labrador just seemed too long for it - she could reach her scar after her hip surgery with no problems whatsoever!

 

[Walrus]

Quick update, comfy collar arrived last Thursday and she has been wearing it ever since. Seems much better than the cone and she's not crashing into the doors. I think we're lucky that the wound is on her front elbow as she 'just' can't reach it, if it was lower down her leg or on her back leg I thinks she would be able to reach round the comfy collar to be honest. Fingers crossed now that the wound heals up quickly!

 

[wildandwoolly]

Quick update, comfy collar arrived last Thursday and she has been wearing it ever since. Seems much better than the cone and she's not crashing into the doors. I think we're lucky that the wound is on her front elbow as she 'just' can't reach it, if it was lower down her leg or on her back leg I thinks she would be able to reach round the comfy collar to be honest. Fingers crossed now that the wound heals up quickly!

Sorry, Only just seen this thread but thought our experience might be of interest to someone. After trying, and failing, with all the commercially available surgical collars, we were getting desperate until a friend suggested bubble wrap.
It sounds daft but it worked brilliantly for our long nosed and long legged lurcher. It was a DIY collar made from a piece of large bubble bubble-wrap - either the big round bubbles or the oblongs work well. We folded it over 3 or 4 times to make a band about 5" wide and to make it stiff enough so he couldn't reach his tail and then fastened it with duck tape and it worked a treat - he couldn't reach the wound and, most importantly, he didn't have a nervous breakdown crashing into things. It didn't prevent him eating or drinking,
it wasn't sweaty and best of all it was free! We only had to replace it twice in the three weeks he needed to wear it. Hope your dog is better soon, it's very stressful when they are poorly.