Cone of Shame

Cooper has been a little neurotic the last few days licking his tail. Josh finally got a glimpse of it this morning and he had a huge bare spot that was raw. I called our vet and they told me to bring him in. They had to shave part of his tail just to see what the problem was. His tail has always looked huge since the fur is sooo long. Now it just looks like a 5 inch long hotdog with a foot of fur on the end. (I'll spare you a pic because it's pretty gross!) Anyway, the doc couldn't pin point what started the problem, but the base of his tail is pretty raw all the way around it because he has been chewing at it. She said it could have started with something as small as a bug bite then he became obsessed with it and now it's raw. If we would have left it untreated, it could have turned really serious. Since his hair is so long, it could have easily gotten infected. Since his tail is fairly thin, the infection could have caused us to have to amputate his tail. THANKFULLY we took in in before we are heading out of town!!! Anyway, Cooper is now on an antibiotic, had a cortisone shot to relieve the itching and is wearing a cone for 5-7 days. When the doctor was telling me everything I was worried about my poor Coop. Then when he got fitted for a cone, and Alex bust out laughing, I couldn't stop laughing either. He is hitting his cone on EVERYTHING and I can't help but laugh. It's easier to laugh now knowing he will be ok!