My little girl is 16 years old. At the beginning of the summer she had a cyst removed from her chest/lower neck (not sure exactly what to call the area) which started healing well, but which she has since licked to death until it is an open sore again. She’s a big neurotic and has been known to lick large sections of her belly and leg fur off as well. The vet says that at her age, and given the size of the sore (about as big in diameter as a penny) it is unlikely that skin will ever completely grow back over it. He said the best thing to do is just to make sure it isn’t infected and keep it clean and that it will probably heal partially over, then open up more, and so on for the rest of her life.
Obviously one way to keep a cat or dog from licking part of their body is to put one of those Elizabethan collars (lampshades) on them… but she hates them so much… they make her miserable… plus they get so dirty… and if I want to keep her from licking this thing for more than a few days I think it would be mean as hell to make her wear one.
So I asked the vet about putting a little shirt on her. He thought it was a good idea.
I bought some size 0-3 infant shirts at Walmart, and they fit pretty well… but the neck line is so low that she can shift the shirt in such a way that she exposes the sore and can still lick and chew on it. So I guess I have to get a made-for-pets shirt.
Anyone know a good place to find cheap ones? Are there cat-specific shirts or do I just need to get a really little dog shirt? (And it can’t be one of those little smock style ones… it has to have actual sleeves otherwise it won’t really stay in place well enough to do what I need it to do.)
I’m betting the problem with baby t-shirts is that they have to be made big enough to get over baby’s big head. If you turn the shirt around backwards (the backs come up a little higher than the fronts), is it any better?
It would probably be really easy to knit up a little cat chest protector too…
I have the solution for this. Use tights. The control top type has the best elastic. Just cut off the panty and toe, cut the remaining tube to cat length, cut in slits for the front legs, and pop the kitty in. Leave excess so that you get an almost kitty turtleneck effect.
We’ve made little kitty body suits like this for two cats. One had a wound on her back that she wouldn’t stop licking, and the other was elderly and ill and had a stomach tube. It really works.
You have to try to judge what size the cat is around and pick tights that will allow the fabric to fit snugly. For our Cosmo, it was the calf. For Tuffy, it was the thigh.
Cosmo thought that it was the weirdest thing in the world, but she adapted within an hour and then seemed to have zero issues with it. The little tubes can be washed.
We showed them to our vet and he vowed he would tell all of his clients because the Elizabethan collars are so hard on a cat.
I was thinking OpalCat could sew little dickies into the necks of the baby shirts to make a new neck line that is too high for her cat to pull down. A little jersey fabric, perhaps in a coordinating color, would do the trick.
My daughter suggests doll baby shirts, like for the Cabbage Patch kids; this is along the same line as the teddy bear clothing. You might be able to find something that fits the way you want better than baby clothing.
The body suit from tights sounds good as well as intriguing! It would definitely be snug enough that the cat shouldn’t be able to maneuver it about.
Hope you’ll be able to find an idea out of these suggestions and that Miss Ding will not be able to continue licking her wound. Good luck!
My grandfather had a pet groundhog he named Georgina. My grandma used to make little dresses with matching bonnets for it. The groundhog hated them and would wriggle its way out of them and then hide the dresses.
Then, one day, my grandparents discovered that Georgina was actually “George.” My grandfather called to tell me the news. “That’s why he hated the dresses so much!” he declared.
Actually these are the snap-style t-shirts that you don’t have to pull over the head, and I already have it on her backward because the back is higher. Still not high enough.
I initially looked for doll shirts but they didn’t have any at Walmart so I went with baby shirts. I like the tights idea… I think I’ll try that next. Thanks!
Not sure if this is helpful, and it doesn’t address the OP, but years ago we had a cat who found a spot on his side that he would lick constantly to the point where the tissue became necrotic. Not sure why - he had Feline Leukemia and later in life that muscle atrophied, so perhaps there was something going on with his spinal column that caused odd sensations.
Anyway - we had the spot surgically excised but the minute the stitches came out he went right back for it and licked it raw again. We put him in an Elizabethan collar for months which let it heal. When we took the collar off, we wound up spraying the spot with the stuff that keeps animals from gnawing at bandages. 2-3 days of doing that - and watching the cat lick, make a “yucky face” and foam at the mouth - and he was cured. Never did it again.
Anyway, I wonder if something like that might keep your cat from licking the area.