A Puzzle Cone Instead of Cone of Shame

July 12, 2021

Bruce wrote a post on FaceBook about Nox that I am sharing.

“Nox has developed a cyst on her right front foot. Not terrible, and not unusual, but of course her standard dog response to it was to lick it until she’d removed all the hair from the area. So we put a Cone of Shame on her, and got some ointment for her foot.

Challenge accepted! She found a position that allowed her to reach her foot, despite the cone. So we got a bigger cone. She’s figured out how to reach a back foot with the larger cone, but can’t get the front foot.

Instead of giving up there though, she’s decided the cone is a sort of puzzle to be solved. She gets endless entertainment trying to pick up a ball with the cone in place, and even using the cone to throw the ball.

It makes it hard for her to eat or drink, so she’ll come to one of us to remove the cone for those needs, but then wants it back on. It’s just too much fun to quit!

The vet took a sample from the cyst, and said there’s nothing worrisome about it, then put on a bandage, and gave us a script for antibiotic, as well as having us give Nox her anti-inflammatory pain med, usually as-needed but now on schedule.

I know she’ll be very happy to have the bandage off, but she may not be so happy about the cone. At one point, she went up to Julia, got her attention, and licked her paw once, then looked back at Julia. Message received: “I want my cone!”