Tuesday, April 22, 2014

The Cone of Shame

Meet Edy, our miniature long haired dachshund.                        

Edy has had a lump on her belly for over two years and as good dog owners we have taken her in to the Vet periodically to have the lump checked. The Vet would aspirate it and always tell us that it was just a fatty mass. They would tell us that if it changed size, or started to bother her, to bring her in and they would check it again. Well, about three weeks ago it seemed like all of a sudden the lump got bigger, and was really noticeable when we picked her up. She didn`t seemed to be bothered by it, but we were.

Off to the Vet I go and they seemed a little more concerned about the lump this visit. They still think it is a fatty mass, but it now had a vein going to it, and that was a curious change to the Vet. Time to remove the mass. I got the estimate, I had a short pause to remind myself Edy was part of the family and she needed this done, then I scheduled the surgery. Of course this is all going on at the same time we are selling our house. Can you really have too many things going on at once?

I took Edy in two weeks ago for surgery and got a call from the Vet when the surgery was complete. As it turns out she had a hernia. She had to have major surgery to repair the hernia and with that of course came a larger bill. Talk about sticker shock! Good thing we love this dog, right?

I go to pick Edy up that evening and besides being very well medicated she was wearing the dreaded "Cone of Shame". As we all know the Cone of Shame, or E collar, is to keep the dog from bothering her incision. The cone she came home in was too small and she was able to get to the incision. As you can see her nose hangs over the edge. You can also see she is totally medicated without a care in the world.

Back to the Vets to get a bigger "Cone of Shame".  This one was, too BIG. Edy couldn't walk with her head down without it hitting the floor.  The poor dog got the cone caught on a throw rug, the steps, her bed and would come in from outside with mulch in it. The larger cone was like a shovel. It was pathetic watching her walk around medicated,  not able to keep her head up and running that cone into the the floor or anything else in her way.  Time for Plan B.

Our youngest son is a hockey player, and has had more injuries then we can keep track of. During one of his broken bones, or sprains, he received a medical wrap that attached at both ends with Velcro. I cut one wrap in half and used both on Edy to cover her incision. In theory it was a brilliant idea, if her body was not wide in the middle, and skinny at the hips. When she would sleep and wiggle around it would come off  her incision and off her back legs. Of course it was while she was in bed with us, in the middle of the night, that I would hear her licking her incision and had to get up and wrap her again. Need Sleep! Time for Plan C.

I tried to make a t-shirt for her that had straps that would Velco up her back and around her back side to hold it on. It was a lot of work and didn`t come out so well. Off to Target's baby department for a 4 pack of 18 month baby onesies.  With a little hole in the back for her tail, it worked like a champ. How cute is she?

 There were a few nights that she was able to wiggle out of it, but they were very few. She was so use to me putting them on her she didn't even mind after a few days. Although, I did start to feel like those creepy people that dress their dogs all the time. She wore them up until yesterday when she went to the Vet, in her onesie, to get her staples out. I am very glad she has recovered and back to her sweet lazy low maintenance  self.



 


                                                  

No comments:

Post a Comment

Grandma's Quilt

  My Paternal Grandma was a quilter. I mean a hardcore, full size, wood frame, hand sewn quilter. I remember as a kid in the 60s and 70s goi...