Edd thanks for the response. The vet says it should be 10 days or so before Ben can lose the collar. Frankly, this is more about me than Ben 'cos I feel so sorry for the poor little guy. As I don't live in the UK it will take me 10 days to get either the inflatable collar or the anti-lick strips anyway!As this is ben's second episode with the elizabethan collar maybe I should still get the inflatable one so I'm prepared for the future. The only think I wondered about them is, won't he still be able to reach his rear end - he can almost do that with the elizabethan one?