Bailey has been licking the incision quite a bit over the last 2 days and has dissolved most of the exterior stitches. We did a good job of stopping him during the day but at night its impossible. We tried a t-shirt, a towel, and ace bandage, but once we fall asleep he gets right out of them. The vet told us not to worry because there were 3 other internal layers of stitches holding everything together, however it started looking a little gnarly to us. It was very red and we saw a little white ooze in one spot so we decided to try a little Neosporin. I read that some dogs have a reaction to 2 of the 3 antibiotics in Neosporin and some recommended just using bacitracin, but Bailey had no problems. I also read that some dogs like the taste and lick more, so I rubbed it in pretty well. He licked it once after the application and didn’t go back to it, so I can only imagine that the taste wasn’t appealing to him. I used a generic brand as well – who knows – maybe the name brand stuff tastes better! All told the wound looks much better today. I put it on him again this morning and still no problems and no licking.
Other than that all is still well – a lot of sleeping the past few days but we have been making him get up and exercise a few times a day. It will still be a few days before we can take him to the B-E-A-C-H but we are looking forward to it immensely.
Bailey, baby, stop the lick -lick. We had Kenmore in a T-shirt and when we weren’t home to watch him, he got to wear his “hereo’s hat.” Fortunately, Kenmore got a soft fabric cone to wear, so we just slid it on at night and he was comfortable in it and unable to lick those pesky stitches. He still licks the site occassionaly, after 3 months, but the Vet said he would since, “it’s weird.”
keep us posted, wishing all the best,
mandy & Kenmore
Might have to break out the “cone of shame”. It’s probably best to make him wear it at night, as uncomforable as it is, so that the incision site has the best chance of healing properly. Sometimes dogs can lick things until they are raw which is really not a good thing.
With Chloe, she wore the cone at night. During the day I stayed home (on summer break), so I could monitor her myself and therefore she didn’t need the cone. Good Luck!
-Chloe’s mom
Check out e-collar alternatives on amazon. They come with good and bad reviews so you can get a sense of what works for his size and wound location.
Please be sure to start any Amazon searches here to help support this community. We have compiled many cone of shame alternatives in the Gear blog.
Thank you so much everyone for all of your thoughts, care and advice, Chris and I can’t say enough amazing things about this site it has been such a blessing to the two of us! We will definitely look into the cone if he continues to lick, fortunately the last 2 days have been good and I’ve been keeping a good eye on his wound and it’s looking 10x better to me than it did earlier in the week. I had to cry last night (happy tears) because he finally told me with his eyes “thank you”….he’s just amazing to me!!
Did he make it to the B E A C H this weekend Jess? Sounds like he is recovering ahead of himself- like the leg was holding him back for a while. He was always so stinkin fast, prob feels more himself now. It rocks to have someone medically trained to keep an eye on his progress and to know the difference between normal and out of sorts.
Hi Kati! Tomorrow is official bailey bizzle beach day, it’s suppose to be 65 degrees and sunny, something jersey hasn’t seen in months and I broke the news to him yesterday so now he’s super stoked :)! He’s doing well, yesterday he seemed a little lethargic to me but he’s now 2 and half weeks post-op, his wound is pretty much healed so now we’re bringing on rehab. Other than that he seems great, Chris and I even noticed his coat is looking especially glowing. And he is officially off all of his prescription meds, we’re only giving him glucosamine/chondroitin and an aspirin daily. We’ll be sure to take some pics tomorrow!
sorry the above was posted by me I didn’t realize I was logged in under chris woops!