Peter's Famous "Sock Suit"

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This is Peter in his "ward", the 6-gallon bucket that we used to restrict his movement just after his surgery to remove his damaged left rear leg. This is before the subsequent surgery to correct the mistake made during the first surgery, which led to another surgery to correct THAT surgery...

Here's Peter in his famous "Sock Suit".  We had to figure out a way to keep the dressing on his tummy, since putting a dressing on a bun (a dressing that will STAY on) is similar to trying to put a dressing on Jello!  (My son says that buns are part animal, part Jello, and full of pudding. <grin>.)

What you're seeing here, is a man's tube sock cut off just above the ankle, with two "arm" holes cut about 1" (2.5cm) from the "ankle" end.  It's firmly secured around the neck, just behind the arms, and around the dressing at the other end of the bun, with medical adhesive tape.  Peter only weighs .5kg, so a regular sock fits him perfectly.

The piece of adhesive tape around Peter's middle was a "first try" thing, and we no longer use it.  The tape at both ends, and behind the arms, seems to be sufficient. Peter's eaten his way out of one "Sock Suit", but that was due to my not securing the neck portion so that Peter couldn't get it in his mouth.  Buns have amazing tongues!

"Oh my! Look at all of the people!"

This is a closer view of the neck portion of Peter's "Sock Suit" (and of our handsome "Babybumperbunkerboo".)

Here is a "bottom" view of Peter's "Sock Suit".  The poopie stain is actually on the tape, and came off when we changed the dressing.  You can see the dressing poking out from the end of the "Sock Suit".

(This next paragraph morphs a bit week to week, as we try to modify Peter's dressing into something that works better than the last attempt.  The "Sock Suit" stays the same, but the dressing changes a bit.)

To make a dressing, we take four, 4" square (10cm x 10cm) sterile gauze pads and fold two together by folding the sides in to the center to make it 2" (5cm) wide, and 3" (7.5cm) long (the one end folds over about 1" (2.5cm.)  We hold it together with small bits of tape.  We take the other two pads, open them out to 4" x 8" (10cm x 20cm), and fold them individually into thirds length-wise, and use a bit of tape to hold them in that shape.  Then we take one of two long pads and tape it in place on the back of the 2" by 3" (5cm x 7.5cm) double pad.  When we place this on Peter's tummy with the folded-over edge of the 2" by 3" (5cm x 7.5cm) double pad on top (with the double pad face down), and to the rear of the wound, the long pad wraps completely around Peter, overlaps, and gives us a way to secure the small square pad over his wound without taping any part of the dressing to Peter's fur.  Two pieces of adhesive tape go all the way around the dressing, securing it to Peter... well, sort of.  Left alone, Peter will be out of it in about 30 seconds.  The other long pad tapes to the dressing just over the wound, wraps aroung Peter's left hip (no leg!), snug to his bun "bun", but not covering his opening, around over his back to be taped down to the dressing.  This extra "strap" lies right next to the edge of the dressing itself, we tape the two together and it forms a pocket that cups Peter's hip and bun.  Then the dressing is taped to the edge of the "Sock Suit" with several full wraps of tape.  So far, this arrangement has worked best.  Keeps the wound completely covered, even with Peter flexing the little bit of bone and muscle that's left.

The dressing sometimes gets a bit soiled when Peter poops or urinates. Once Peter's in his "Sock Suit", it only takes about 15 minutes to change the dressing, if you've prepared the dressing itself ahead of time. Double that time to change the suit and the dressing both. We're keeping about three or four "Sock Suits" handy, and it has made dressing changes more of a minor interruption than a "battle of the bun". We're not really sure how this would work with a dressing further up on the body.

One more point, when changing Peter's "Sock Suit", we give him a full body rub down and massage. It's really comical, as Peter seems to go bonkers with pleasure as you rub and massage him. We've found that one week is about the time limit for changing the "Sock Suit", or sooner if it's soiled.

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