How long should the cone collar stay on?

[Shelly]

Oliver was neutered on Tuesday and I was just wondering how many days should he wear the cone for? His incision is healing nicely, and he does really good with not picking at it now. But how long will it take to have healed enough where he will no longer have to be a cone head?

I really wish we had a vet in our town.

[CyberKitten]

Can you call your vet?

It's hard to reply when I don't know all the details. Assuming it was a routine neuter, my guess is 3-4 days should be fine. (But I'd ask your vet to make sure). Even though he may not be picking at it, he could still get some infection in it by licking it.

[Shelly]

Yes it was a routine neutering. He is almost 6 months old, and I leave his cone on when we go out and at night time. Today is the first day that he has not been licking his incision when his cone was off. I will give our Vet a call on Monday when their office is open again.

[Karin]

I would take it off, he should be healed enough. Those E -collars are evil!

It's one to thing if a pet is in the hopsital and is chewing the iv line in half, I feel for the poor guy!




Btw, years ago I tried one on...and it was freaky.

[elfelda]

Generally the cone is left on until the stitches are taken out, so they can't pull the stitches out themselves.

[Karin]

Originally Posted by elfelda

Generally the cone is left on until the stitches are taken out, so they can't pull the stitches out themselves.

In some cases the sutures are sq, no sutures to be removed...these surgical wounds heal within 4 days.