My doby  badly sliced his stopper pad last week, he had stiches last tuesday, and has been a complete nightmear ever since! he will not leave the dressing alone, it was only supposed to be dressed for two days then a  sock for another two, but  by the third day he had got the stiches out and opened the wound right up, so now it has to be dressed daily, he wears a hood, but believe it of not he can get the hoods of!!!! this morning I got up to a hood chewed to bits and the he has eaten the bandage and gauze!!!! The wound just will not heal because he will not leave it alone, I am now on my third hood though why I bother I do not know and the dressings are costing about £4 a day sometimes he gets the dressing of twice in a day, Now I worried about him eating the bandage and what problems thats going to cause!

help! 

If you can't keep a buster collar on him then you'll have to take turns with other household members to stay awake and watch him to physically prevent him each time he starts to have a go at it. Eating bandages can cause very serious problems with blockages in the bowel, so that must be prevented at all costs. With luck and good vigilance it'll only be for a few days (and nights). Good luck!

But he has eaten it and now I am worried

You'll have to watch to see if he passes it. If he doesn't, and he starts to act off-colour, get to the vets immediately.

Its a nighmare when hey just won't leave things alone.Seems like you can either watch him 24/7,a nightmare in itself or  try putting something on the dressing that is safe but tastes vile.Vick (the vapour rub)worked well when I needed my Mal to leave a hot spot alone.Or bitters.You will have to watch to see if the bandage passes through.I am sure the vet will give you good advise.Shadow managed to pass a length of tubi grip through a while ago.God knows where he got it from.Just need to becareful if the bandage was swallowed whole as it could get tangled in the bowel.Again ask the vet.

If he has eaten the bandages, make sure you give him loads of dry food this will push it through. My one dog has a passion for socks. He will walk past the babies pull of the sock and swallow it before you can remove it, also paper tissues. He has a passion for £10.00 and £20.00 notes also. we never leave any around if we can help it, he just swallows them always has he is 7years old now and never changed.
Could the vet glue the pad instead of stitches. I would just make sure I kept it clean with med wipes. I wouldn't put bandages back.
He will heal quickly.

Denese

could you maybe try him with one of these? www.comfycollars.com   or is it possible to attach the hood to a collar or better a harness? we do this at work, makes it harder to get off! the other option is to maybe put a basket muzzle on with his collar overnight. they can still breath, open mouth, drink and pant with it. bit extreme, but we had to do it in work once with a dog (a dobe) who was a terror!

I had problems with Storm and a cut she had on her back leg...the only thing that worked was an internal catgut stitch...she couldn't get at it to yank it out and it did the job and healed after a couple of days...in between the first clips put in and that I had been to Vet every day for re-clipping...cost me over £480! Doesn't seem to work having someone stay awake all hours with them...only takes a second of falling asleep or inattention for it all to go pete tong!

just to let you know that today is the first day Blu had his dressing of, he has sores all over his leg where he has chewed and licked, this has taken two and half weeks to get the original wound to heal, that has now healed ok but not brilliant as he pulled all the stiches out, so it doesn't look very pretty!!! now he has what the vet calls lick sores!!! what i  have resorted to is the nail bitting lotion you can get from the chemist and i put it on above and below the sores, but this dog licks untill he is dripping wet!
I hope and pray that he does not do anythng like this again this has cost me nearly £700 in vets bills and dressings, and yes I am insured  thank goodness but I have had to pay the bills upfront so no chance of getting any of that back before xmas. But i nearly cancelled my insurance this year as the premiums where so high, but now i am so glad i didn't!!!!

By the way he passed the bandage thank goodness

Sally what breed is he?

When I wanted to stop my Bedlington licking I found the buster collar useless, but I found a swimming arm band blown up would stay on and stopped her licking until everything was sorted ;)   There is a site that sells a similar item for larger dogs http://www.amazinghealth.co.uk/comfy-collar.htm

Hope this helps

he is a doby, I never thought of a blow up arm band, probably the only thing I didn't try

I had a similar problem with one of my girls developing sores, I got Bob Grass ointment worked like a miracle had all dried up & hair starting to grow again within 6 days.