Coneless

Mr. Bear got neutered last Friday and had to wear the cone of shame for 12 days.  It would have been only 10 days, but when he got his stitches out he was still working on the incision a lot, so the vet recommended an extra couple days in the the flying saucer.

Bear hated that thing.  Come to think of it, we hated that thing too.  He couldn't fit in his crate, so we had to put him in the bathroom whenever we left the house.  He was constantly knocking into things, so I'll need to do a lot of touch-ups around the house.  I'm still finding paint chips along the floorboards and doorjambs.  This is perfect timing because only a few weeks ago I got out my trusty white paint and touched up the whole house.  Uhg.  Now I get to do the whole process again.  Lucky me.

The real reason we ended up taking off the cone on day 12 was because the little tyrant shattered the cone into a bunch of poky pieces.  He was running around and ran straight into a doorjamb.  We heard a splintering sound and watched the cone scatter across the kitchen.  It had already been duck taped several times (see the yellow bits on the cone?), but by the time we finished fixing the last disaster it was more tape than plastic.  We decided it was as good a reason as any to let him be cone less.

When he realized he was free at last, such a look of joy as I have never seen before spread across his fluffy face.  He spent the day bouncing around and itching himself to his heart's content.

Now that he's back to his normal pesky self, we can let him out in the yard alone.  It's perfect timing because the temperature has been sub-zero and there's no way I'd want to spend multiple walks out in that right now.  Bear sure does love it, though.  He'd be outside all day if I let him.