My female pointer of 6 months has had to have some stitches at the top of her leg as she ran through a barbed wire gate that was on the floor.  Fortunately it is not too serious but she is not proving to be a very good patient.

The vet stitched her up yesterday and whilst he was putting a bandage on she was ripping it off at the top.  They tried to stop her doing this but she has quite a strong character to say the least so they put one of these lampshade collars on her but she cant really walk with this.  We have now put one of my long sleeved t-shirts on but she is still trying to get at the bandage and we cant leave her for a minute!

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions, she is supposed to keep this on for 10 days!

Good luck!  My pointer had to have stitches on her back leg and it was a nightmare keeping the bandage on.  We just bought a roll of vetwrap and taped it on with some of that surgical tape and just had to keep an eye on her all the time.

Helen

My STB has been wearing bandages for the last few weeks due to excessive licking of his paws.  The only method I found of keeping them from being ripped off is to cover them in MASKING TAPE!!!  He occaisionally has a go at it with the tape on, but seems to survive longer than without.  He is currently wearing a lampshade, as I am trying to give his skin a bit of time to heal fully.  I can sympathise with you completely, as Fagin is rather excitable to say the least and everthing is constanly being knocked over!

Julie

Thanks, when I went to pick her up at the vets he said everything went fine but...(here is where I started to panic) she is terrible and keeps ripping the bandage off (Why was I not surprised).  He then basically said thank goodness I had come to pick her up and wished me good luck!  They had put the lampshade on her and she had cried (well she actually makes these complaining noises...) so I think she managed to drive the vet and the three vet nurses mad (the nurses thought she was great fun!)

I have just seen this 'moon collar' thing in a magzine a bit like a rubber ring to put around their necks, it looks better than the lampshade, more comfortable - we shall see!!!

Elay
When my Retreiver had an operation on his hip he had to have a lampshade on for 2 weeks. He hated it at first and wouldn't move kept trying to get it off but after a day or so he was fine just kept catching it on door frames etc. It was the only way to make sure he couldn't get to his wound and didn't have to be watched 24/7.  It used to upset me I didn't want him thinking I was being mean making him wear it but he got used to it very quickly.

Good Luck

I would persevere with the Elizabethan collar (lampshade) as the dogs do soon get used to this and learn roughly how wide they are (and how much you yell when they catch the back of your legs at top speed).

I have found the more modern ones quite brittle and when my boy had one on to start with with his broken leg last year he found he could run into the gatepost and knock a chunk out - I still have my original one from 1986 and whilst it is only puppy sized (for a Dobe) and opaque it is still in better overall condition than any of the others.

Is the Elizabethan collar transparent?  For some reason some are still opaque and they seem to bother pets much more than the clear variety (although the clear ones are slightly weaker).

You could also try buying a roll of industrial strength elastoplast from the chemist and securing each edge of the bandage with it, but be careful when you put it on as the tape contracts slightly after application, you obviously don't want it to be too tight (watch carefully for any paw swelling or discomfort).

Good luck and hope this helps

Edited to add:  If she is really upset by the collar, you could consider a Baskerville muzzle(the plastic basket ones which allow panting and drinking)?  It doesn't look very nice but she might be much happier than with the collar?  Just a thought.