Recommend an e-collar?

naturestee

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Hi! It's been a long time since I've been on here. I'm having huge problems with my cat Lily. She has a hot spot in front of one of her ears. If she's not wearing an e-collar she quickly scratches it bloody and proceeds to remove all the skin until I tackle her and put the collar back on. Owie. We've been to the vet several times and are trying various things, none of which seem to be doing enough.

I don't like the e-collar I currently have. It's one of those cheap plastic cones from Petsmart that is sized for a small dog. I cut it down so she could eat. But it's not very nice and also she can still reach the tips of her ears and will sometimes bloody those. What have you guys used? It needs to protect her face and ears from scratching with her hind legs yet allow her to eat and drink.

Also if you have any recommendations for treatment, I'm all ears! The switch to Duck & Pea food helped with scratching elsewhere before the hot spot showed up, steroids are doing nothing and she does not have an infection, mites, fleas, ringworm, etc.
 

rang_27

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I only have experience with 2 cats with cones. Isaac & maggie both came home with cones after being fixed, so the vet had cut them to fit. I know there are soft cones, but my guess is she would still be able to scratch around that. I also recall seeing some sort of blow up cone, but not sure how it would work?
 
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naturestee

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Thanks! The blow-up collars don't protect the head at all, they just keep the cat from biting the rest of it's body. I might end up trying one of the soft collars I saw. I think she'll be able to drink with it on, which is the important thing. Eating isn't as hard since it's measured meals and I'm there.
 

icklemiss21

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http://www.amazon.com/Trimline-Veter.../dp/B0006GXBNQ

We recently had some cats with eye issues who needed an eye each removed. After the female was spayed, she had one of these as the ecollar freaked her out with her reduced vision. It is a plasticy material similar to a kitchen apron and if it is bent backwards it moves with the cats head so they cant get to sutures.

We are ordering more as ecollars freak a lot of cats out, especially in cages where their movement is already restricted

Oh I just realised its her ear so one of these probably wont help
 

babz

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Those plastic e-collars are the pits in so many ways! Been there, done that, screamed and cried in frustration!
How about trying the soft donut ones? I think that they can still eat/drink and take naps with it on. They look like to me that they couldnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t get their leg up to their ear to scratch it. Also, I would put on some Soft Paws (temp.) so that just in case she got to her ear she couldnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t keep digging into her sore. I would think it would help it heal faster if she didnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t have the actual claws digging it back open, over and over.

As for the hot spot I have never had a cat with one. I would suggest that you do a new post just for treatment for hot spots and I think you will get more solutions from cat owners that have had to deal with this.
 
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