My Patches is currently wearing a cone. I'm trying to heal a wound on her face that she got when she scratched herself back in January when I was syringe feeding her the sam-e and milk thistle that she dislikes so much. It's gotten bigger and never really had a chance to heal because the vet put her on prednisone to bring down the inflammation. We've tried topical rx antibiotic ointments, oral antibiotics, and everytime it would scab over, she'd scratch it open again. She had another relapse with her liver enzymes back in May or June and she's been on pred again and that has really slowed down her healing.
Finally, I just put a cone on her. The store-bought cones are just too big for her (even the smallest ones) so I bought a long sheet of craft foam and some sticky velcro squares and traced the cone on some freezer paper and trimmed it about a half-inch or so and made a custom cone for her. The craft foam cone is short enough where she can eat and drink but long enough she can't scratch it.
I found some wound capsules on amazon (called Wound Vite) and I've added more of the amino acids that are in that wound supplement Juven (arginine, glutamate and Beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate (HMB)) since the Wound Vite contained so little of those amino acids) for the last 2 weeks and I'm FINALLY seeing granulation and healing. But the little bugger is gonna stay in that cone until it's healed. I've since picked up more foam and have made a couple more so I can swap them out on her and clean them. I originally put duct tape around the edges to protect the foam from tearing but that is a pita and the new ones I just haven't bothered. I bought 7 pieces of foam so if any tear I can quickly make another one.
I'm hoping in the next two weeks the wound is a lot smaller. The vet wants to do a biopsy and check for cancer. I honestly don't think it's cancer, I think the wound hasn't healed because of all the pred Patches has been on and that she keeps scratching it. Obviously, the vet disagrees. I'm also keeping her on antibiotics which she wasn't on for a while so it got infected a couple of times. She's got an appointment in a couple of weeks for the biopsy, fingers crossed that healing is so dramatic that the vet sees it and says never mind.
Finally, I just put a cone on her. The store-bought cones are just too big for her (even the smallest ones) so I bought a long sheet of craft foam and some sticky velcro squares and traced the cone on some freezer paper and trimmed it about a half-inch or so and made a custom cone for her. The craft foam cone is short enough where she can eat and drink but long enough she can't scratch it.
I found some wound capsules on amazon (called Wound Vite) and I've added more of the amino acids that are in that wound supplement Juven (arginine, glutamate and Beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate (HMB)) since the Wound Vite contained so little of those amino acids) for the last 2 weeks and I'm FINALLY seeing granulation and healing. But the little bugger is gonna stay in that cone until it's healed. I've since picked up more foam and have made a couple more so I can swap them out on her and clean them. I originally put duct tape around the edges to protect the foam from tearing but that is a pita and the new ones I just haven't bothered. I bought 7 pieces of foam so if any tear I can quickly make another one.
I'm hoping in the next two weeks the wound is a lot smaller. The vet wants to do a biopsy and check for cancer. I honestly don't think it's cancer, I think the wound hasn't healed because of all the pred Patches has been on and that she keeps scratching it. Obviously, the vet disagrees. I'm also keeping her on antibiotics which she wasn't on for a while so it got infected a couple of times. She's got an appointment in a couple of weeks for the biopsy, fingers crossed that healing is so dramatic that the vet sees it and says never mind.
