BENCMATE Inflatable Dog Cone Collar Alternative, Soft Dog Cone for Small Medium Large Dogs and Cats, Neck Recovery ECollar Donut Collar After Surgery (Large, Blue)

I have an older black lab who is spoiled rotten. She is well behaved and has pretty much gotten to the point where we just let her do her thing because we can trust she isn't going to cause any troubles. Now that she is older though and so spoiled she doesn't take to change very well which became a problem recently when she somehow got a large corneal ulcer on her left eye(we think a stick poked her but that's not the point). Anyway, right after she injured it I started putting a traditional plastic cone on her. The poor spoiled thing looked at me like I was torturing her. She would just stand there holding her head down like the cone was a millstone hung around her neck, but I said "I'm sorry this is for your own good". Well I guess she decided to show me because then she started slowly walking swaying her head and slinging the cone around bumping into everything she could. Then I found her stuck in a doorway because the lip of the cone was stuck on the door frame and she was looking down the hall, so she couldn't figure out why she couldn't walk forward. I helped her through, but she kept bumping into things(I promise she was doing it on purpose the way she bumped into several things) and sometimes she would hit things so hard it would make her fall. Well she is a little fragile, so after fighting with the cone for a few hours it became clear that she was going to break something(in the house or worse one of her bones), so I took the cone off thinking it would be better to chance the eye than possibly an injury that could cost her life. After a few days though the eye started looking worse, and I started researching other options and found this. First off let me say, my spoiled lab still acts like she has a millstone hooked to her neck when wearing this but it is much safer for her. Also when walking in a wide open space she will still purposefully get as close to obstacles but instead of a cone that catches things, this one just bushes against it. It has 100% kept her from rubbing her eye on furniture or using her paws. Depending on how she lays sometimes it looks comfortable, but sometimes not so much, however regardless it seems more comfortable than the plastic cone. It is easy to inflate if you know what you are doing. For my dog(and I certainly wouldn't recommend this to anyone unless they can related) because she is so well behaved and pretty much just accepts things regardless of if she likes it or not, I am able to just slip the donut on and off without running it through the collar. This allows me to quickly and easily take it on and off when I am with her and can watch her, and I also don't have to worry about her pulling it off and I haven't seen any difference whatsoever in her wearing it whether it was through the collar or not, but it was a hassle to take on and off when I was using the collar through it. She has started to get used to it but she is still spoiled. For example when I take it off she will have both of her eyes wide open, but when I slip this on her she will look at me with the left eye squinting. She is notorious for wanting pity parties(which means getting snacks), and I know that's what the squinting eye is all about. Don't believe me? one time she was staring at me while I was eating a carrot(her favorite snack), and I said "none for you", and while she is still staring at me and been perfectly fine all day, she slowly drew her paw up as if it was hurting her. Anyway, while much better than a traditional plastic cone, some dogs still may not behave quite normally with this.

UPDATE: The cone did not end up getting punctured from the dogs playing. It lasted until we took it off of him, about 8 days post surgery. We still have it fully intact. It was absolutely loaded with his fur, but that's to be expected. I will use this again if needed and would definitely purchase this again! We noticed that after a while, he was able to reach part of the way to his "surgery spot" but not fully. Either way, he didn't do any damage, I think it was just itchy from healing plus I am sure it also deflated some over some time and him playing constantly with his sister!ORIGINAL REVIEW: This is so much better than the plastic cone that was given to me by the veterinarian. I had my boy neutered yesterday, and of course he was groggy from the anesthesia, but he was miserable all night long because of that hard plastic cone. My sister had suggested that this cone that she got for her girl when she got her spayed. However she couldn’t borrow it to me because her other dog punctured a hole in it. So I went ahead and ordered this, luckily it came overnight for my poor boy. Once we took off the plastic cone and put this on him, you could see the relief in his face. He has been functioning just fine with this soft cone, it’s so much better, he can actually see and he’s not bumping into everything and opening cupboards with the cone. My other dog is also not afraid of him anymore 😂Hopefully this lasts for the 10 to 14 days he is supposed to keep it on. Him and his sister are constantly playing so I’m guessing at some point this is also going to get bitten and end up with a hole punctured in it. But for now my boy has some relief.I got the large for him and it fits perfect. He is a 67 pound Australian Shepherd for a reference.It was super easy to set up. You just simply blow up the inner tube and then loop their existing collar through the little holes on there to keep it secure.

A friend gave me a link to this and of course I had to buy my girl the donut! My 5 month old Doberman (about 55lbs and a couple feet tall) hated the ginormous e-collar the vet put on her after she was spayed but absolutely LOVES this inflatable collar. I take it off her occasionally and she gets rather possessive of it! She has worn this now for a week day and night without issue. At first I didn’t realize there are loops inside the inflatable to run her collar through so tied it to her collar which worked so-so. Once I figured out the built in attachment it has stayed on without a problem. It’s given her lots of agility the e-collar/cone took away. We have two other large dogs and this inflatable collar has withstood playtime both inside and outside, and she sleeps with it no problem. I do have to reinflate it every other day just to keep it taut but it doesn’t deflate much at all. I bought size large which for her perfectly. She is able to reach down to her back and privates a little bit if it’s deflated but not really when fully inflated. The nice thing is the cover can be removed and washed (it is starting to look a little manky).

I would give this ten stars if I could. My lab had spay surgery and had to wear the cone. I bought the one from the vets office for $40 and it does it's job, but dogs lose their peripheral vision with those. So I bought this. At first I thought it would be awkward or that she could get it off her head... Nope!!This inflatable cone is the best!! It's actually like a little pillow too when she lays down. The Velcro is really good and I haven't had to put any air in it since I blew it up the first time. She doesn't run into everything with it on like she would with the regular cone. I mean she does a little bit bc she forgets she's wearing it. Haha.The vet tried to say the inflatable collars weren't the best n pushed me to buy theirs .. that's why I bought that too. It's been collecting dust !I'm SO glad I bought this.She's not just a dog ☺️