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How To Make A Wound Care Pet Suit
Sunday, September 10, 2023
Today our cat, Ming, went to the vet to be treated for an infected abscess on her back. We are very much hoping it's just an abscess and not a mass ~ the vet thinks it's just swollen from the infection. Please keep Ming in your thoughts and send positive healing energy her way.
Anyway as you can see from the photo above (sorry, gross image alert) the abcess is well within reach if she decided to lick it or bite at it and that’s not good for healing. The vet advised she wear a cone to keep her from messing with the wound.
We have a cone left from Ming’s spay surgery and I put it right on when we got home. However, it’s really big on her, even when I adjust it to the smallest setting, and she’s able to get her head out of it. Plus she was miserable and couldn’t go outside through the pet for or jump onto the couch.
I remembered when our dog was spayed the vet advised just putting a t-shirt on her to keep her from biting at the stitches. I decided to substitute Ming’s cone for a shirt as well. I got an old t-shirt of Jerry’s from the rag bag. The only requirement for this suit is a stretchy interlock knit shirt, the kind that doesn’t fray along the edges when you cut it. Jerry’s shirt needed some alteration to fit Ming.
To “measure” I put the shirt on Ming. I pulled all the excess fabric up onto her back and gathered it into a sort of ponytail and tied a ribbon around it. Then I marked where Ming’s paws were located and where the shirt touched her back. I also marked where her tail was. At this point Ming escaped and ran away so I wasn’t able to get any photos of that part of the process. Sorry!
I cut holes for Ming’s legs at the spot where her paws were touching the shirt when I had it on her. You can see that in the above photo. Then I cut along the back of the shirt at the spot where her back was, leaving a little extra material, about half an inch, for a seam allowance. I did make sure the suit is pretty tight so it stays put over the wound. I cut the bottom of the shirt at the spot where Ming’s tail was to make it the proper length.
At this point I needed to gather up the shirt along the hem to fit Ming’s neck. The neck band of the shirt was still intact so I decided to turn the shirt the other way so the neck and with its seam was at her tail and the cut edge of the bottom of the shirt was at her neck. Then I stitched a row of very wide basting stitches and pulled one of the threads at each end to gather it. Then I tied the threads to keep the gathers in place.
When the neck was gathered to the proper size I turned the suit wrong side out and sewed a zig-zag seam along the top. I trimmed the seam allowance and turned the suit right side out.
I then put the suit on Ming and adjusted the leg holes a bit to make them wider and made sure the neck fit. I pulled back of the suit down over her wound. Now she can walk around and go through the pet door and jump like normal but her wound stays clean and dry! The neck opening of the original shirt is now open at Ming’s bottom so she can go to the bathroom without me having to take off the suit.
You can use this idea for dogs and other kinds of animals. For small animals it’s easier to use a smaller shirt if you have one. If you have an old baby bodysuit you could use that too, and you probably wouldn’t even have to do any sewing; just cut holes for the legs and leave the bottom open to use the litterbox. All I had were adult shirts and I wanted to get it done as quickly as possible because our dogs were trying to lick the wound as well as Ming.
In the case of Luna, I did a no-sew shirt using another of Jerry’s old undershirts. Luna is an Australian Shepherd so all I had to do was put the shirt on her with her head through the neck hole and her front legs through the arms. Then I just gathered up the excess fabric around the waist and pulled it up so the shirt was tight over her stitches and knotted it to keep it tight. It worked like a charm!
Ming isn’t thrilled with her suit but she’s much more comfortable and mobile than she was when she was wearing the cone. The vet told me to wash the wound out daily and for that I use Young Living Animal Scents Puriclean oil, specially formulated to be safe and effective for all kinds of pets. Puriclean prepares the wound for further treatment with Infect-Away and Mendwell, more oils in the Animal Scents collection. You can order Puriclean from me with the button below.
Bookmark this post just in case you need to make a pet wound suit in the future!
Update: although my cat suit seemed tight enough, Ming managed to take it off after a couple days. What’s worse is, she hid it! We have searched and searched to no avail so I had to make a new suit. This time I decided to use an old pair of tights for an even snugger fit.
To make, cut a section the length of your pet from a pair of tights. For slimmer animals use a piece of the leg closer to the foot. For thicker pets use a section from the thigh. Set your pet on the cut section and mark where their paws touch as well as where their head and tail are located.
Cut the both ends where the head and tail are located so the ends are open. Cut holes for the legs where you marked the paws.
For all but the smallest animals you will need to open the stomach area of the suit. Cut down the center middle of the tights. Don’t cut all the way to the ends. Leave a closed section at each end of the stomach.
This was NOT easy to get onto Ming, especially because she was furious I made another suit after she hid the first one! Once she was in it she seemed okay, however. I think it actually allows her more movement because of the close fit. My son said, “It’s so much more stylish too!” That wasn’t really a concern for me so I thought it was funny he thought of that! Anyway, I guess if you want a more stylish option you can use this method. It certainly is faster to make than the other suit! Ming is almost completely healed so she will only have to wear her suit for a couple more days.
Hi, I'M Amanda
Artist, Author, & Entrepreneur
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