I get all kinds of excuses..."he can't eat with that thing on," "she just sits in one place and won't move," "she runs into the walls," etc., etc. I know; I get it, but trust me. It is more of a punishment on you than it is on the dog; give them a few hours and they will figure it out. They are intelligent creatures. And if you want the wound to get better in the least amount of time, you better make them wear it. It never fails, I send the dog home with an E-collar; the owner thinks as long as they are at home they can monitor his licking and chewing. Three days later they are back in the office complaining "the sutures came out." Well, sutures don't just mysteriously come out. The owner will swear the patient has not been licking the wound, but the truth is, the texture and color of the skin changes and it develops certain clinical signs of licking. In other words, I know when you're not telling the truth! You can lie to yourself, but you can't lie to me.
I like to think I practice what I preach. I have never recommended to someone a treatment protocol I would not perform on my own animal and to prove it, I have included a picture of my lab wearing the cone of shame. Yes, he is embarrassed and refused to look at the camera, so don't laugh at him. Several months ago, Ransom had an ear hematoma. After surgically repairing it, I knew he would scratch it, so I left the E-collar on him for fourteen days. When I removed the E-collar, the stitches were ready to come out and his surgery site had healed beautifully. Fourteen days; that's it. So when you are given the dreaded treatment plan of the E-collar, just put the collar on, mark the calendar for fourteen days later and on that fourteenth day, magically, the wound will be healed.