Most sutures and staples are left in for 10-14 days. The cone should stay on until the site is fully healed, and/or the sutures are removed. Fido or Fluffy is trying to make you feel sorry for them or feel guilty for being a cone warden. Some will thrash around crazily, jump around acrobatically, and contort their bodies in an attempt to dislodge the infamous cone. Others will be more dramatic and may furiously try to remove the e-collar with their front and/or back legs. Many will pretend they cannot eat or drink with the cone on. They may use passive measures such as hanging their heads down as if in shame or bumble around the house smashing their now gigantic heads into the furniture, or walls, or, my personal favourite, the back of your legs. Animals may object to it, sometimes strongly or obsessively, at first. A cone or e-collar is an extremely important protective device. It is not a punishment or a torture device, despite what cats or dogs may want you to think. and could, therefore, be slightly shorter. With head wounds or lesions, the cone is meant to protect the face, eyes, and or ears from being scratched or pawed at, or from being rubbed against surfaces such as the floor, sofa, walls, etc. The cone should extend a little past the tip of the nose of the animal, depending on the area of the body you are protecting. For instance, wounds near the tips of the tail or feet may require a longer cone as the animal can access these areas with their mouths more easily. Any hard edges should not be applying pressure to the neck. Some can be custom fit with velcro strips while others have pre-cut sizes which snap together.Ī well fit cone will be snug around the neck, loose enough to get one or two fingers between the collar and neck, but tight enough that the animal cannot remove it. This barrier stops them from biting or licking at their lesion, wound, incision site etc., or to protect head lesions, including eyes and ears, from being scratched or rubbed by the animal. They come in many varieties, from clear to shaded plastic, from soft plastic cloth materials to soft or more rigid plastics. It is simply meant to be put around the animal’s neck, encircling the head and creating a protective barrier between the head and mouth from the rest of the body. Also known more commonly as an “e-collar”(not to be confused with an electric shock collar), or ‘cone’, ‘dunce cap’, ‘cone of shame’, ‘satellite dish’, ‘lamp shade’, ‘party hat’…etc. Yes, friends, we are discussing the dreaded “Elizabethan collar” so named for the silly high collars worn in the Elizabethan era (think Shakespeare). It is meant to protect the animal from hurting itself. This device will keep your furry family member from licking, biting, pawing, scratching, or rubbing the area of their body that is injured, sore, or has surgical sutures or staples in it. Along with instructions for care and medications to go home you are presented with and expected to employ a simple yet extremely important protection device.
You have just gone to the animal hospital and picked up Fluffy or Fido after their medical procedure or surgery.