Poor Pickles!

Poor Pickles had to undergo a medical procedure this week.

A few weeks ago, we found a lump on her belly. Our regular vet did a needle biopsy that was inconclusive, so we had to bring her to a special vet on Monday for a lumpectomy.

They sent her home with this satellite dish cone:

Cone? Or is she picking up radio waves from space?

It's made of a heavy paper with a plastic coating. It's nice that it's not rigid, so that she can lie down comfortably. Also, she doesn't get stuck on things like door frames, because the collar gives when it hits things.

Unfortunately, that has also been its downfall. Pickles likes rubbing on furniture and walls -- particularly when she's wearing something she doesn't want to be wearing. Two days in, she had managed to get it to flip the wrong way:

Cone? Or dashing dental x-ray cape*?

That in itself isn't a problem, because even with it inside out, she still can't get to her stitches. But now, four days in, it's been folded and unfolded and bent and unbent so many times, it's just a floppy piece of paper.

We woke up this morning to this:

Cone? Or infinity scarf*?

I'd give it 24 more hours before she figures out that she can get to her stitches. Definitely wouldn't make it the next 8 days before her stitches are scheduled to come out.

To keep her on the mend, AJ went out to the pet store today for a new collar. This one is much smaller and stiffer, but is still comfortable for sleeping:

It also features little windows to allow her to see what's going on around her. And, of course, we get the benefit of seeing her cute face:

She's back in to the vet on Tuesday for a check up of her stitches. We should also get a full report on the biopsy on Monday. We got a preview from our regular vet yesterday though, and it sounds like we're going to be getting good news.

*Thank you, Jon & Amanda, for these very apt observations.