Buster Collars

[Lily]

She was fine last night, slept beside me for most of it and only woke me up when she slapped me in the face with her paw.  She then proceeded to knock all the washing up off the draining board but that was my fault for not putting it away.  She's moving more slowly but still trying to jump and explore as normal.  Good news is her sores have started to scab over so hopefully it won't be too much longer before they disappear and the collar can come off.

[Desley (booktigger)]

They cope fine overnight with the collars on, I have had cats that can still eat with them on, as I found out when Pebbles was impatient with me one night!!

[Puffball (Louise)]

Aww glad the poor wee love is a bit more mobile 
Hope she heals soon and you can bin the dreaded thing!

[Lily]

OK, I'm feeling better.  I took the 12.5cm collar back to the vets and they gave me a 10cm one instead.  Put it on her and she can hold her head up, walk and jump so I think it was just because the collar was too deep for her.  She's still glaring at me and refuses to move from a crouched position on the rug but at least I know she can go about her business.

[Lily]

We're not sure what's causing it.  The vet has put her on very strong anti-biotics to see if that will clear them up and it's working.  If that didn't work then he said he would take some hair and skin samples to see if it's mites and then last resort would be food.  He recommended cutting down on the different types of food she has as a precaution, I mentioned she had chicken dry food and beef wet food.  He said beef contains more allergens than chicken so recommended cutting out the wet food.  I doubt it is a food allergy which is causing this, I suspect it's more to do with washing powder (changed to fairy non-bio now) and febreeze (which I used to use) and then she just agrevated it by licking them.

She's still not slept yet today which she normally does over lunchtime, I think she's still trying to figure out how to get comfy with a massive cone around her neck!

[Millys Mum]

If its food allergy then an all dry diet could make it worse because most dry diets are 80% wheat/soya and they are very common allergens!

[Lily]

After having another think about this, I'm trying it again.  She's had the collar on for about an hour now and has stopped walking backwards.  She's managed to jump onto her cat tree (about 4 foot off the ground) and I think is trying to find a comfortable sleeping position.  I've raised her food and water bowls up off the floor so she can get to them.  She got very confused when some food got caught in the collar but I managed to get it out without laughing too much.

I'm still unsure about leaving her alone with it on or leaving it on over night.  Obviously these are the times when I can't stop her licking so are ideal times to have the collar on.  Do cats injure themselves with these things or will she take it easy?  Also can they sleep with them on?

[Lily]

Thanks for your replies, I put the collar back on her as I know she's got to get used to it, but she walked backwards all the way around the lounge and got stuck under a table.  Then she tried to jump up on a chair but when she looks up the huge collar over balances her and she ends up on her back.  The sores are healing very well and the vet said it would help them heal faster but I'm thinking that the collar should be a last resort.  I'm keeping on with the antibiotics for another 2 weeks and she's on dry food only now so hopefully we'll get to the bottom of it.

[CurlyCatz]

BC is totally correct, when unsupervised ie overnight is when she's gonna do most damage & it would be a shame to see the sores improve only to be put back to square 1 with self inflicted trauma.

[ChrisB]

They are horrible and it is very stressful to see the effect it has.  Of course they always come at a time when we are already upset that our furbabes aren't 100% which makes it worse.   I think Blackcat is right that it is important to leave it on overnight but I know that is easier said than done.    Thinking of you.

[blackcat]

did the vet explain the reason for the collar - I imagine if she is grooming her tummy where the scabs are this will slow the healing process. I would certainly not recommend leaving it off overnight, and it is probably better that she gets accustomed to it while you are awake to help her if she gets tangled up. It disconcerts them because they loose their peripheral vision. But they generally adjust reasonable well after 24 hours or so ...

[Lily]

My cat has some sores on her belly which the vet gave her some strong antibiotics for 2 weeks ago.  I've just been for the follow-up visit and mentioned I'd been trying to stop her licking them but it's not easy.  So he gave her a plastic collar (Buster) and put it on her.  She looked so sorry for herself and the collar was so big she couldn't fit her head through the door into her carrier, then she couldn't turn around so spent the car journey back (only 5 mins) staring at the back wall of her carrier.  When I got home, I dismantled her carrier so she could get out and watched her walk backwards around my lounge, she couldn't even lift her head up cos this thing was so big.  I took pity on her and took it off.  I'll just have to keep an extra eye on her from now on.  Do I need to be cruel to be kind?  The sores are looking loads better with the pills.  I have 2 weeks more supply and we're also looking into narrowing her diet down to try and find the cause.  I'm just a sucker for a pitiful meow.