June 6, 2013

ProCollar Review

Riley in her ProCollar, aka: "donut of shame"
It's been almost two weeks since Riley's surgery and her stitches come out tomorrow, so I though it was time to write a quick review of her ProCollar. The vet wanted to send her home in a hard, plastic cone. I decided to give this nifty collar a try to see if it worked. We purchased her ProCollar at Petco, but it is also available at Amazon.

First the pros:

1. Great fit! There are inner loops that you just run your dog's collar through and then you tighten up the collar as you normally would. Riley has not been able to slip it off even once.
2. Very comfortable for a healing pup. Riley loved to (begrudgingly) use it as a pillow during her initial recovery from surgery.
3. Allows the dog to retain better vision of their surroundings (doesn't block off as much as a traditional cone).
4. Durable fabric sleeve. Riley brushed the collar up against my mom's rose bushes several times and the thorns never broke through the inner tube.

Okay, now for the cons:

1. Not 100% effective like the cone if you happen to have a very athletic/flexible dog. Riley was able to twist and contort her body several times so she could reach back and lick her knee. We had her under close supervision, so it wasn't an issue for us. If your dog is going to spend long periods of time alone, this may not be your best option.
2. Flimsy construction of inner loops. Riley has been confined to her crate 95% of the time and somehow one of the inner loops broke. Probably not a good idea for dogs who are not going to be confined to their crate for their recovery period.
3. Heavy... very heavy. I understand the need to use very tough, tear-resistant fabric, but that has also unfortunately made the collar very heavy. It didn't seem to bother Riley unless she was feeling very tired.

Overall? I give it a 3 & 1/2 out of 5 paws. :)

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