Friday, October 25, 2024
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Nobody wants to see their pet in this condition. But no matter how hard we try, injuries, surgeries, and accidents happen. Today, I want to share an easy, no-sew way to help care for your pet after an injury or surgery. Knowing how to make a DIY recovery suit for dogs may help avoid using the annoying cone of shame that drives the poor little guys crazy when they are already not feeling well.
We Needed a Dog Recovery Suit
While today’s content begins with a sad story, it does have a happy ending! She’s happy, healthy, and rambunctious. But things haven’t always been that way. This little beagle gave us a good scare! She had a massive lump on her side that seemed to have appeared overnight. We found out it was some organic material, maybe a thorn, that worked its way in and created a deep tissue abscess. This required antibiotics and a pretty extensive surgery. She ended up with a 4-5 inch incision as well as a drainage tube.
Pet Recovery Suit Provided by Doctor
When we got her from the vet, she was in this cute little medical vest. It helps keep the wound clean, prevents the dog from licking, and keeps discharge contained. They only provided her with one medical vest, and as you can imagine, it became soiled very quickly. I needed several of these little medical vests to keep her covered while cleaning and drying the others. Here is my no-sew solution, and a helpful tip for caring for drainage tubes and wound discharge.
DIY Recovery Suit for Dogs Instructions
It’s easy! All you need is a man’s extra large t-shirt to make 2 medical vests. My dog is a small beagle at 35 pounds. Adjust the size according to your own dog’s build. Lay the t-shirt face down on a table and smooth out the wrinkles with your hands. Place the medical vest your doctor provides on top of the t-shirt as if the dog were standing on the t-shirt with its head pointed toward the t-shirt neck opening. You can measure your dog from neck to tail and around its girth if you don’t have a recovery suit to go by.
Cutting Ribbon Ties for a Pet Recovery Suit
When you lay the medi-vest on top there will be a lot of string ties. Lay them out so they don’t go over any seems in the t-shirt. They don’t have to be in a straight line, but you need to get the entire length of the ties on the t-shirt. They can bend and go in any direction if they don’t cross each other or a t-shirt seam.
Now, outline the dog’s vest on the t-shirt with a permanent marker. Alternatively, use the measurements you took on your dog to draw a draft of the dog vest on the back of the t-shirt. Just be sure to keep the t-shirt smooth as you draw on it.
Now you can start cutting around the dog’s medical vest and straps, being sure to cut through both layers of the t-shirt underneath.
Making Leg Holes for a DIY Recovery Suit for Dogs
For the four leg holes, keep the medi-vest in place and draw or cut a straight line across the center diameter of the hole. There’s no need to cut a circle. The slit will conform comfortably around your dog’s legs. You can always cut the slit a little bit longer if you find it a bit snug on your pet. If you don’t have a pet vest, measure your dog from the beginning of its neck to the beginning of its tail for the length.
Cut around all the ribbon ties. It’s okay if they are a little thicker than the original ties. The great thing about jersey fabric is it stretches and conforms. It’s not going to fray or unravel which makes it perfect for no-sew projects.
Once you finish cutting the vest with straps, pull your scraps away from the vest before lifting it off. That way you can see the cutout vests underneath and make sure you didn’t miss anything.
When you are happy with your cutting, you can pull the medi-vest off the top of the t-shirt. It should look kind of like a happy octopus or a happy spider. You can see the leg slits here where the holes were in the original dog vest. That’s what I meant by one-diameter slits.
Make Putting on a Pet Recovery Suit Easier!
I took a permanent marker and drew a smiley face on the side outside of the dog’s chest on the DIY recovery suit for dogs. That made it much easier to put the vest on the dog correctly each time. The hardest part is figuring out the front and back and matching the ribbon ties. Having a design on the medi-vest helped a lot with this.
Here’s my girl sporting her little no-sew medical vest I made her. Getting two dog vests out of one t-shirt is a big time and money saver. Especially if it’s an old T-shirt you don’t need anyway.
You can see how I have it tied up over her back and her legs are in the leg slits. The doctor had tied the original medi-vest quite snugly on my dog. Be sure the last few ties keep the back of the vest out of the way for potty time.
Easy Way to Care for Pet Surgery or Injury
The vest is great for dog recovery. Another helpful tip is to apply a feminine hygiene pad to the inside of the vest wherever there may be drainage or secretions. The vest holds it close to the wound and can be changed once heavily soiled. This way you can use the same medi-vest longer while keeping the wound good and clean. They may not even need to wear a cone of shame.
Washing a Dog Recovery Suit
Now, she’s healthy, happy, completely normal (whatever that is for a beagle.) Having duplicate medi-vests is very helpful during her healing process over several weeks. You can throw these in the washer and dryer which is great! You can always have several on hand to use as needed.
Thanks so much for reading. If you haven’t already, like and subscribe to the Sawdust and Cornbread Home DIY Channel. Until next time, God bless!
