Better Than a Cone of Shame for Pet Wounds

We can’t prep everything we’re going to need.  Just impossible, I believe.  Learning to make use of what’s around us to improvise will serve us well.  I lack those genes, so I might be in trouble.  That is why I have to research and learn from others.

Even if it comes from… horror of horrors…Facebook.

I didn’t learn this in time to benefit this time around, but if I need it again, I’ll be ready. 

 

We have three Great Pyrenees (GP) dogs—Max (who is the oldest and most intimidating but has never been the alpha male), Sadie (who would sell us out for a Cheerio and is the alpha dog of the group), and Apache, their daughter (who isn’t intimidating but won’t sell us out, either).  Those who have GPs understand.  For the rest of you, these dogs are smart; they just prefer not to show it.  If you want to prepare yourself for GP ownership, get a rock and start talking to it.  Try training it to listen and obey.  Do this for years.  Then you will be ready for anything your GP throws at you.

Max spotted some @#$% (remember, this is a family friendly blog and those symbols are shorthand for darling) deer on the other side of the barbed wire fence two weeks ago and decided they needed to go.  He gave the standard warning barks to them, which they ignored, because, you know, they own the place.  Under the fence he went, with very sternly worded warning barks, and the deer continued with their arrogant attitude.  Finally, one of their younger members folded and bolted, and the rest followed suit.  Because Max is very old, he opted against giving chase.

And courtesy of the barbed wire fence, he came home with a 1x2” gash in his side. 

Having gained confidence in our abilities to treat animal wounds, we decided to DIY it.  Becky very carefully shaved the hair a couple of inches around the wound so that the tape would have a better chance of sticking.  We applied generous amounts of sugar, covered the site with gauze, taped it in place, and then strapped on the cone of shame which Becky miraculously found somewhere. Because the gauze and tape usually came off after about 24 hours, we repeated this daily for about a week and a half. 

Some pretty good healing occurred such that the wound had reduced to about ¼” x 1”, and we’d gotten tired of the cone of shame banging into everything.  It had been a long ten days. 

What I found on Facebook this morning would have spared us all a lot of agony.  I tried to copy the photo, because in this case a picture is definitely worth a thousand words, but there’s no way I could make that work.  I’m still very tech-impaired.

Anyway, instead of using a cone of shame to prevent pets from digging at wounds, use an old t-shirt.  Cut out a large rectangle from the front or back.  Cut four holes for the legs, two at the top and two and the bottom, with just a couple of inches, depending on the size of the animal, between the legs.  Then along the sides make a dozen or so 3-4” slits, as if you were cutting to make fringe on one of those fleece blankets. Because this is t-shirt material, the strips automatically curl up into something that resembles thick yarn.  Put your pet’s legs through the holes and then use the yarn-like strips to tie the t-shirt on all along the back.  Voila!  Your pet is comfortable, the wound is protected (and as a bonus the tape and gauze will stay on better), and there’s no ridiculous cone of shame banging into walls and doors. 

Links to related posts:

The Medicinal Uses of Sugar  https://prepschooldaily.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-medicinal-use-of-sugar.html