The Cone

I bet you’ve seen them on other people’s dogs.  I have.  And I always had to laugh to myself that it would be so humiliating to have one’s dog run around looking like a satellite dish, for all the world to see.  Well I’m not laughing now.  Poor Kona.  She has been through a lot this week-and having to wear “the cone of shame” has made her suffering complete.
Luckily for her, she didn’t know what was in store for her last Wednesday-when she went to the vet to get “fixed.”  What an ironic term, for she was more broken when she came home.  I had been dreading this event from the first day we got her.  Last week, I was a nervous wreck anticipating the event, and to make matters worse, Willow had been desperately ill and had needed to go to the vet herself.  With that crisis past, I could focus all my anxiety on Kona-and the fate awaiting her.
Everything went well on Wednesday, and she came through her surgery with flying colors-but she immediately started to chew on her poor tummy-so the cone was put on.   At first she couldn’t raise her head, and looked like some strange cross between dog and funnel-the cone pressed to the floor as though she was listening for seismic activity.  And doorways gave her trouble too-she would try to navigate through them either a little too far to the left or right and crash into them.  Willow, who is one of those “still waters run deep” types quickly learned to stay close like a shark-because when Kona would try to eat a biscuit, or play with her rawhide bone--and  invariably let go of it--the cone would act as a sort of conveyor slide delivering the treat right into Willow’s waiting jaws.
Hopefully Kona won’t have to wear the cone for  much longer, but in the event that it’s still on when Halloween rolls around, I’ve been trying to come up with some clever Halloween costume ideas.  If you have any suggestions-please let me know. (And for all of you dear ones to whom I owe emails, convos, phone calls…I’ll start catching up soon!)