Cat having BIG issues with vets collar...help!!

Madame Razz

My cat was in a fight and got a big bite on his shoulder/upper chest. It was infected and after a week of antibiotics it wasn't closing, so on friday the vet knocked him out, debrided it and stitched it back together.

He was given one of those elizabethan plastic collars and he hates hates hates it. He wont make any effort to lie down and trys to sleep sitting up. hes reallly bad at moving around too. Also i think hes very pissed off as he cant groom himself at the moment either(I brush him instead). If I take the collar off the first thing he does is go to lick his stitches, so I'll have to leave it on him. Hes also mad to go outside but I have to keep him indoors for a week.

Does anybody have any suggestions as to how I can make this more bearable for him or is there an alternative??

Honey-ec

Unfortunately, there isn't really a whole lot you can do. We had the same issues with our dog when he was neutered last year. He was absolutely miserable with the collar on, but if you took it off him for more than a few minutes at a time, he went straight for the stitches. In the end, all we did was take it off when he was eating, as he was actually going off his food, but he had to be supervised the whole time.

It was a bloody nightmare, so I really sympathise! He went through 4 collars in 2 weeks because he was destroying them by bashing into every door he walked through. He had the feckin legs cut off us aswell.

hadook

Depending on where the stitches are you could try cutting the legs off a tiny babygro and buttoning him in.

One of our cats had stitches and a drain and pulled the drain out twice before we tried the babygro option. We'd take the babygro off and put the collar back on when we weren't around to make sure he didn't get at the drain again.

You will need to keep him inside while he's dressed or his street cred will be ruined and your neighbours will be ringing for psychiatric help for you...

Madame Razz

hadook wrote: »

Depending on where the stitches are you could try cutting the legs off a tiny babygro and buttoning him in.

One of our cats had stitches and a drain and pulled the drain out twice before we tried the babygro option. We'd take the babygro off and put the collar back on when we weren't around to make sure he didn't get at the drain again.

You will need to keep him inside while he's dressed or his street cred will be ruined and your neighbours will be ringing for psychiatric help for you...

Its on his front, just by his left front leg.

Would it work there?? What sort of a baby gro would i have to get?? Sorry I know nothing about babies!!

Jeeez, if that was a runner it'd be fantastic, he really is so pissed off with the collar!!

lostinnappies

There is another collor out there that you could try use. The vet can order it for you. its more expensive but might be better. It basically looks like a collor you put around a humans neck when you suspect a spinal injury. It prevents him from turning his head. It wont stick out and he should be able to lie down. Plus those big lamp shades tend to get in the way when they eat this one wont.
heres a link so you know what they look like
http://joecarr.ca/photogallery/Pets/dog_collar.htm

peasant

Had the same issue with one of our cats, she would absolutely collapse into herself or go totally ballistic with the "lampshade" on. We tried dressing her up with the sleeve of an old sweatshirt, but she'd just roll that back and get at her wounds anyway.

What solved it for her was a thick strip of packaging foam that we had lying around, about 8cm x 8cm thick. We cut that to length and wrapped it around her neck and it did the job.

As it wasn't extending beyond her face the cat was much happier with it, but she still was prevented from turning her head to lick the wounds.

hadook

manukahoney wrote: »

Its on his front, just by his left front leg.

Would it work there?? What sort of a baby gro would i have to get?? Sorry I know nothing about babies!!

Jeeez, if that was a runner it'd be fantastic, he really is so pissed off with the collar!!

We got newborn sized ones from tesco - 3 for a fiver. As long as it's fairly high up they should work.

It'd be something to try while waiting for the other collar if nothing else