My dog picked his neuter incision scab. Should he wear the cone?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Small (up to 22lb) | Male | 1 year and 2 months old | 13 lbs
Hi there. Our dog was neutered 11 days ago and 2 days ago we removed his cone. This morning we noticed he may have removed part of the scab from the scrotum area. He appears to be guarding the area as well. Would you return to cone or will this heal? Photos below
4 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on January 8th, 2019
Thank you for your question about Lucky. Yes, Lucky needs to wear the cone at all times until the incision is completely healed. If he leaves it alone, there is a high likelihood that it will heal on its own. It takes roughly 10-14 days to heal an incision and he damaged it around around day 10 so that is going to delay things a bit. Check the incision daily for redness, swelling or discharge. If you see this, he needs to go to the veterinarian for a likely infection from licking. Keep the incision clean and dry. Don’t worry about putting anything on it. It will likely form a new scab and will continue the healing process. I do recommend to have him checked by his veterinarian in about 1 week. I hope you found this helpful and please feel free to post any additional questions.
17Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
-
Published on August 10th, 2017
Hello! Thanks for posting your question. In regards to snowball licking her incision site, no licking is better than licking. Licking can introduce bacterial infection into the incision site. It sounds as if the incision was healing quite well, but over grooming or excessive licking at an area that is healing may cause more irritation and potentially cause an infection. I would suggest keeping the cone on until she is no longer interested in licking at it. If you are concerned with how the incision is looking, then I would take her to your vet to have it checked out just to be on the safe side
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
-
Published on October 26th, 2017
Based on the picture it looks okay but you need to prevent him from licking the area. You could clean the incision with a small amount of hydrogen peroxide. If he won't keep the cone on then you could try an inflatable E-collar and see if that works better
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
-
Published on October 18th, 2018
Observe your dog very closely so it does not lick the incision. If you catch him at it , put the cone back on. Sometimes it takes more than 10 days for the "healing itch" to go away. Licking can indeed open the incision again at this stage.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
I took my dogs cone off 13 days after being neutered… he licked the scab off and now there’s a small amount of blood. Is it normal for them to lick their scabs off or should he wear the cone until they fall off on their own?
I took the cone off my dog for a bit cause his sutures are almost healed up! I looked at them this morning and they just look basically healed. If he licks them will that cause damage ? He got neutered on the 9th of this month so today marks his 10 d
My dog got neutered 9 days ago & he started bleeding a little today from the incision i think te scar he had fell what can i do?
my male yorkie was neutered on 11/30/2017 .I took him back on 12/04/2017 for infection he was licking it even with the e collar on his paper says afwe 7 day's from the time he had it done 11/30 to take the cone off. He was healing fine now he has lic
My 1 year old jug pup was neutered Exactly 1 week today so I took his cone off he started licking and very quickly the scabs went and the wound started bleeding I’ve put his cone back on and I’m his crate so he can’t jump and he stays calm should I
My dog was neutered 2 months ago on May 1st, we adopted him on May 20th. We took him to the vet 4 days after we got him on the 24th due to sores on his neck and the incision site from neutering would not heal. They suggested using neosporin and bitte
Hi we are about 7 days post neuter and i was laying with my dog and it looks like his incision has opened. It’s not bleeding or oozing but i was wondering what to do. The doctor said she left a little open so that any infection but I was wondering if
My dog was neutered 9 days ago. His incision site looks good to me but I'm not sure how it's supposed to look when it's healed. Can I remove the cone at this point? (Attached photo from today - day 9)
Hey there, my post never went through so I’m re-submitting. My 6 month old white German Shepherd got neutered six days ago. Not exactly sure what an incision site is supposed to look like, but I attached a picture. Is this healing normally? Also, h
Hello. I got my neutered dogs stitches removed toady. He keeps licking where the stitches used to be. I was wondering if I should put the cone on again till see the vet
Book an appointment with the pros – our expert vets are here to help.
