Cone (and Plastic Bags) Be Gone

A couple of months ago I knew that Tigg would be having surgery and that I did not want either her or I to have to deal with a cone. They are cumbersome and a nuisance. The thought of Tigg trotting around the house with a cone on her head sets my nerves on fire. And, let's face it, no dog truly loves wearing a cone. Sure, you can pair it with chicken and your dog may outwardly appear to tolerate it. Do they really love the experience? I think not.

I was aware that surgical suits existed and set to doing a bit of reading in to the matter. It turns out that a) the choice in New Zealand is quite limited, and b) that there is a reasonable degree of variation between the different brands. MediPaw caught my eye for a number of reasons. 

1) They are a two-piece suit; a torso piece and separate pants. This means that there is no buttoning, zipping or fiddling around to enable suit-free trips to toilet. And since Tigg was highly unlikely to need the pants section, we could just use the torso piece and be done with it. Excellent.

2) The cut around the forelimbs, with no sleeves, meant that it was going to be a better fit and not restrict her range of motion. Excellent.

3) These are all nice and stylish and unobtrusive in black with a simple bit of coloured stitching to indicate the different sizes. No weird pink or blue camo colour options to choose from. Excellent.

So, all things considered I measured her up and ordered a suit from MediPaw in the US. It arrived, it fitted, we were winning.

Tigg's surgery went well, her incision was tiny and closed with intra-dermal sutures, so there wasn't much for her to fiddle with. However, she has this ridiculous habit of lying fully stretched out on her belly, legs behind her .... and then she either crawls forward, or pulls herself round in a circle. And since I laugh and tell her how ridiculous she is, she does it all the more. So, Tigg's suit stayed on for a full two weeks. It protected her wound and acted as a reminder to me (and anyone else we came across) that she was still healing. 

I was so impressed with it that I thought maybe I'd also get one for Wolly, and whilst I was at it I'd get some of the boots too. Yes, they have three types of protective boot. One thought lead to another, which is always a worry. The long and short of it is that I approached the company and asked if they'd be interested in me stocking their products.

So there you have it, my accidental foray in to post-surgical protective suits and boots for dogs. No more cones, no more plastic bags held on with duct tape (or a hair bungy). My only regret is that I didn't know about these years ago when we had Lizzie.