Vet School Blog – Wet Cleanup on Aisle Five

E-Collar Blues

I’ve sent many a pet home wearing the dreaded lampshade, but, until now, have never had to deal with the lovely contraption myself.

Enter Cat Mandu’s miliary dermatitis–she’s been scratching the bejeezus out of her little head. I’ve had Soft Claws (nail caps) on her back claws, and they’ve been doing the trick for awhile, but lately it’s been getting out of hand. I knew I had to act, but I just couldn’t bring myself to put a lampshade on her.

Off I went to the local pet store in search of an alternative. I basically had two choices available to me locally. The Comfy Cone:

Comfy Cone

And the ProCollar:

ProCollar

I think we both would have preferred the ProCollar, since it doesn’t obstruct vision, but they didn’t have the right size in stock. So, I ended up with the Comfy Cone.

At over 5″ deep, I decided the Comfy Cone would obscure too much of her peripheral vision. It’s also fairly thick, and, I imagine, would seem heavy to a cat. I spent an hour whacking it down to 4″ deep, held my breath, and put it on her.

The good news: it effectively stops scratching. The bad news: she hates it. And watching her attempt to maneuver around in the thing is painful. I fear for all things breakable in the house, including her.

(I should note here that I think the Comfy Cone would be swell for a dog. It’s soft, very durable, and well-made. I also like how it attaches to the collar, rather than being tied on with a string that could cinch up and cause choking.)

I figure since I am going to be a vet, I might as well be intimately familiar with all the e-collar alternatives out there.

I purchased these online (along with the ProCollar, above), and am hoping one of them will supplant the Comfy Cone:

ElizaSoft Recovery Collar

Trimline Veterinary Soft Recovery Collar

I also considered this one:

Bonafido Soft E-collar

And I saw these but rejected them as being useless for head/neck scratching, although perhaps very useful for other things:

BiteNot Collar

Neck's Best Thing

Optivizor

K9 Top Coat

DogLeggs - these folks have MANY great post-surgical products

WoundWear

DIY Body Sock

What I’d really like to see is a padded bootie with traction on the bottom. It would need to be padded to help absorb the force of her digging, but it would need traction to keep her safe when climbing. Oh, and the things would need to stay on! Anyone know of such a thing? Maybe like this, but with a little less rubber on the bottom:

Cushy-Paw Slippers from Thera-Paw

*sigh* I guess it’s good to be in the pet owner’s shoes, yes?