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After a week of researching e-collars—the “cones of shame” that pets wear around their necks after an injury or surgery—and testing 10 of them on two dogs and one annoyed cat, we think the Remedy + Recovery E-Collar is the best for most pets. It’s made of durable transparent plastic so your pet maintains some peripheral vision, its edges are padded for better comfort, and it’s easier to assemble than a cone from the vet. Hydr Adapter G2ax24sae
This cone has padded edges for better comfort and prevents most cats and dogs from licking healing wounds.
Softer than our main pick and squishable—so it's more comfortable to wear in a crate or while sleeping. It offers a wider viewing angle than other cloth e-collars we tested (though much less than our main pick).
The Cloud Collar is short and inflatable, so it’s easier for short-nosed pets to wear than our main pick, and cats tolerate it well.
This cone has padded edges for better comfort and prevents most cats and dogs from licking healing wounds.
The Remedy + Recovery E-Collar is more comfortable than most plastic e-collars thanks to its padded edges, and it’s long enough to prevent most pets from licking healing wounds. It got scratched less than other cones in our testing, it comes in five sizes that accommodate most animals, and it's easier to assemble than the cones most vets sell. Just make sure to measure your pet correctly, since those with longer necks and heads may need to go up a size. The Remedy + Recovery isn’t ideal for pets with short noses or short skulls, which might need an inflatable collar instead.
Softer than our main pick and squishable—so it's more comfortable to wear in a crate or while sleeping. It offers a wider viewing angle than other cloth e-collars we tested (though much less than our main pick).
The Calm Paws Caring Collar works best for less-active pets or those that need a cone capable of compressing when they’re crated. It’s lined with durable nylon with a feltlike interior, so it’s more comfortable for a pet than hard plastic, and it squishes down when they need to maneuver in tight spaces. Unlike with other cones, you can open this design to allow your pet to eat from a bowl without needing to take the e-collar off entirely. The Calm Paws also offers a wider field of view than most other soft and padded e-collars we tested—but a much narrower one than a transparent plastic cone.
The Cloud Collar is short and inflatable, so it’s easier for short-nosed pets to wear than our main pick, and cats tolerate it well.
If your dog is brachycephalic (has a short nose or skull) or has trouble wearing a longer cone because of their stubby body, or if your cat can’t handle the weight and mass of a traditional e-collar, the Kong Cloud Collar is the way to go. It works best for upper-body injuries—it won’t prevent a pet from pawing at their face, and won’t stop a long-snouted dog from worrying an injury either. Since it sits around a pet’s neck like a travel pillow, it doesn’t restrict their view, and they can eat and drink without a cone getting in the way. The Kong is also easier to inflate than the other donut e-collar we tested, and it withstood being shoved into sharp corners without deflating. It has a soft plush shell too.
As Wirecutter’s pets writer, I’ve covered everything from dog boots to litter mats. For this guide, I spoke with Dr. Ann Hohenhaus, a veterinarian at the Animal Medical Center academic veterinary hospital in New York City. I also got three reluctant testers to practice wearing the e-collars in exchange for peanut butter and other treats: a pit bull named Jerry, a Chihuahua mix named Sutton, and a Maine coon mix named Tanzie.
When a pet gets injured, a vet usually prescribes an e-collar (also called an Elizabethan collar, recovery cone, or cone of shame) to prevent them from licking or scratching so that the wound can heal properly. But the e-collar a vet provides can have rough edges, can make it hard for your pet to sleep, eat, or drink, and can be complicated to remove and put back on.
In an emergency, a cone from your vet will probably be fine. But for a long recovery, or if you have a pet that frequently needs an e-collar (for example, if they need a daily topical cream because they lick or chew a spot of skin due to anxiety), it makes sense to buy one that's more comfortable for your pet to wear and easier for you to use. The sort of cone you need will depend on your type of pet and where they’re injured—a long-snouted dog will need a longer cone, for example, while a short-snouted dog that needs only to stop licking its upper foreleg will be restricted enough by an inflatable collar.
Dr. Ann Hohenhaus at New York City’s Animal Medical Center told us that no one style of e-collar would work for all pets. “Sometimes we’ll go through multiple cones before we find the right one,” she said, noting that AMC practices everything from rehabilitative medicine to ophthalmology and that cone style may vary by both the surgical site and the type of pet. So if a traditional cone from your vet doesn’t work well for you or your pet, it’s all right to seek out alternatives such as soft cones or plastic e-collars with padding. Just make sure to confirm with your vet which style is necessary for your pet’s wound site.
We researched a variety of styles and designs of cones, short-listed 21 models, and focused on those that had strong third-party reviews, cost about what you’d pay at the vet (around $20 to $40, depending on the size), were available at multiple retailers, and were easy to clean. We found 10 that ranked highest on our criteria and brought them in for testing:
All the experts we talked to agreed that durability, restriction of movement, and visibility were important. The pet owners we interviewed wanted an e-collar that was comfortable for their pet to wear and to perform daily tasks in (like eating and drinking), easy to assemble, and easy to clean. Based on those comments, we developed the following test criteria:
Most traditional-style cones are sized by the circumference of a pet’s neck, but many collars we tested that fit around the neck weren't long enough. AMC’s Dr. Ann Hohenhaus told us an e-collar should extend 2 or 3 inches past the snout to prevent a pet from licking injury sites.
To find your pet’s ideal fit, you’ll need to measure three points: the circumference of the neck, the length of their collar (some brands of e-collar attach there instead of wrapping around the neck), and the length of your dog from the tip of the nose to the neck,1 where the collar rests. Remember to add a couple of inches to the nose-to-neck measurement so that the cone extends past the tip of your pet's nose. If your cat or dog is between sizes, go up a size to ensure a better fit.
AMC’s Dr. Ann Hohenhaus told us an e-collar should extend 2 or 3 inches past the snout to prevent a pet from licking injury sites.
If you're replacing the e-collar your vet gave you, make sure to take it with you to compare sizes. If shopping online, double-check the overall length, depth, and inner-edge length (collar length), or call the retailer directly for help.
This cone has padded edges for better comfort and prevents most cats and dogs from licking healing wounds.
The Remedy + Recovery E-Collar is a plastic cone that’s more comfortable for your cat or dog; it also offers excellent visibility and holds up well to a pet’s roughhousing. Compared with the basic clear cone that your vet may prescribe after surgery, the Remedy + Recovery is easier to take on and off, and since the inside and outside rims are padded, it’s softer on both your pet’s neck and your furniture. The cone is see-through to help pets navigate household obstacles, and it comes in five sizes that should accommodate most cats and dogs, from papillons to Bernese mountain dogs. But if your dog has a very short face and can’t comfortably wear a traditional cone, it may do better with an inflatable collar instead.
Despite being made of plastic, the Remedy + Recovery seemed comfortable for our three pet panelists (though the cat didn’t like the confinement). Both the inside and outside rims are lined with cotton-filled black leather piping: The inner-edge padding prevents the plastic from digging into your pet’s neck, while the outer padding protects household objects from damage and your shins from scratches when your pet bumps into you.
This e-collar comes in translucent white as well as green or blue, and in our tests it offered greater visibility than most cones we tried, surpassed only by the 3M plastic e-collar a local vet clinic gave us that was totally clear (but that model was also hard to find, designed without padded edges, and difficult to clean).
We banged this plastic e-collar into walls, coffee tables, and floorboards, and it didn’t crack—so it seems likely to last long enough for you to keep it around for future surgeries or injuries. Like all plastic cones we tested, it did get a few scratch marks, but that shouldn’t bother most pets.
The Remedy + Recovery E-Collar comes in five sizes, for necks from 5¾ inches to 25 inches, covering a greater range of neck measurements than most other e-collars we tested. (The Calm Paws Caring Collar is only for necks 6 to 17 inches in circumference, and the Kong EZ Soft Collar is only for 4 to 6½ inches.) You can adjust each collar with snaps to fit multiple neck sizes, so it’s easier to find the right fit if your pet is between sizes.
Remedy + Recovery E-Collar size chart
The Remedy + Recovery E-Collar is made of rigid plastic, so it’s not ideal for a pet to wear when sleeping because they’ll have a harder time curling up into a ball or resting their head on their bed. Soft and padded cones, such as the Calm Paws Caring Collar and the ZenPet ZenCone, are easier to wear all day and night.
This cone can be tricky to assemble. You thread the snaplike closures through a hole that’s slightly larger than a headphone jack. It takes a fair amount of pressure to get each prong through the hole and snap it secure. Each section gets progressively harder to snap as you move toward the neck because you have less room to move your hands with your pet's head in the way. It’s best to practice assembly beforehand if you have a squirmy cat or dog.
Finding the right size might be hard if you have an animal that's between sizes, or if your dog has a long body, snout, or limbs. In these cases, you're better off sizing for the depth of the cone, rather than your pet's neck size, using the chart above. If you’re unsure you can call the manufacturer using the number on the company’s website to ask about sizing, or take your pet with you to the pet store to find the right fit.
In our tests, the small collar fit the neck of our long-limbed Chihuahua mix Sutton, but she needed to size up to a large to get one that was long enough for her snout, which led to the cone having a bit too much slack. (You can trim the collar excess with box cutters, but in doing so you run the risk of the padding falling off because it’s sewn into place along the edge.)
Softer than our main pick and squishable—so it's more comfortable to wear in a crate or while sleeping. It offers a wider viewing angle than other cloth e-collars we tested (though much less than our main pick).
The Calm Paws Caring Collar is a soft cone that's ideal for less-active pets. It's more comfortable than our main pick and easier for a pet to eat and sleep in, though it has a much narrower field of view than our top pick since it's not transparent. It’s not as suited for more energetic dogs since an excitable dog could brute-force the flexible structure out of the way. The Calm Paws offered a wider viewing angle than any of the other soft and padded e-collars we tested. It also opens up, so pets can enjoy mealtime with little obstruction, and it's machine washable.
This e-collar won’t chafe your pet’s face because it’s lined with a felt-like material, which makes it the most comfortable soft cone in our test group. Its core is made of three concentric arcs of a flexible polycarbonate plastic that’s soft enough for you to bend, collapse, and shape the cone but still maintains enough structure that it won’t flop down on your pet’s head. The nylon outer fabric holds up well against scratches, and in our tests the flexible inner core didn’t deform or break when we bumped it into sharp corners around the house. Pets can still move around in tight spaces like crates in this e-collar because it collapses if they lean against something or lie down.
This is the only e-collar we tested that you can split open so your pet can easily reach food and water dishes. Although the padded All Four Paws cone can flip backward during mealtimes (or to protect shoulder or upper-back injuries), we found the Calm Paws design more accessible because the All Four Paws cone impeded our pet’s ability to walk.
Because it closes with Velcro, the Calm Paws collar is easy to put on and take off. It comes in just four neck sizes—from extra small (6 to 9 inches) to large (13 to 17 inches)—which means it won’t fit dogs with bigger necks, like some American Eskimo dogs, bulldogs, and shar-peis. Or, if your pet has a long neck and snout, like Sutton, you may need to go up a size to get a cone that's long enough. While the cone’s listing on Amazon and other retailer sites implies that it’s for dogs only, the extra small is the right size for most cats (the company also sells a “cats extra small” separately), but the floppy design may not prevent most cats or flexible dogs from reaching an injury or surgical site.
Calm Paws Caring Collar size chart
Because it’s so flexible, this e-collar is better suited to less-active or older pets. More-forceful animals may be able to bend it out of shape so they can reach injury sites—either by pushing it out of the way to reach a lower-body wound or by rubbing their head against furniture. While this won’t happen with every animal, if your pet is on the active side, a traditional plastic cone such as our pick, the Remedy + Recovery E-Collar, may work better.
Since the Calm Paws is lined with plush fabric, pets can easily dirty it after mealtime (especially after eating canned food). We ran it through the washing machine and didn’t notice any loose threads or color bleeding.
This cone has a small pouch for use with aromatherapy inserts, also sold by Calm Paws. We didn't factor this feature into our testing—we’ve encountered little evidence that aromatherapy works on animals, and we’ve seen some suggestion that essential oils can irritate pets or harm a pet if ingested (though the lavender and valerian extracts Calm Paws uses aren’t explicitly thought to be dangerous). If you’re considering using these inserts, we suggest consulting your vet first.
The Cloud Collar is short and inflatable, so it’s easier for short-nosed pets to wear than our main pick, and cats tolerate it well.
If your pet has a short face or doesn’t tolerate cones, an inflatable collar may be a better option. The donut-shaped Kong Cloud Collar is ideal for short-nosed dogs because it still prevents them from licking most surgical sites but lets them eat more easily than a traditional cone. In our tests the Kong was easy to inflate and deflate, and surprisingly, our cat panelist didn’t freak out while wearing it as she did in standard e-collars.
The Kong Cloud Collar inflates into a donut shape that stays secure with a long strip of Velcro. We rammed it into sharp corners again and again, and it refused to deflate. It was easier for us to blow up than the ZenPet ZenCollar because its spout automatically sealed between breaths while the ZenPet’s spout didn’t.
Since the Kong is half as long as most other cones we tested, it’s easier for short-skulled or short-nosed dogs (like boxers and bulldogs) to wear, said Dr. Ann Hohenhaus of the Animal Medical Center in New York. It’ll keep them from licking an incision site yet give them the freedom to eat and drink. In our tests, it didn’t prevent our Chihuahua mix Sutton from licking peanut butter off her haunches, but it did keep our pit bull Jerry from reaching his. The donut e-collars were also the only ones our cat panelist, Tanzie, didn’t try to remove, because she could still freely see and move about. (Though a determined or irritated kitty could still deflate it.) Other Wirecutter staffers have successfully used the Kong for their cats.
Since inflatable collars work by immobilizing your pet’s neck rather than blocking their snout, these models are not as good for protecting wound sites on your pet’s lower extremities, and won’t stop a pet from scratching at a facial injury.
Although Hohenhaus told us she thought the Kong Cloud Collar was a good option for a cat, she also noted it’s no guarantee. “[Cats are] so flexible and light that they can easily negate the effects of a cone,” she said. So if your cat won’t tolerate the plastic Remedy + Recovery, or if they Houdini their way out of the Kong Cloud Collar, consider a baby T-shirt instead. Hohenhaus said a T-shirt is a great alternative to a cone because it’s easier to get on a flailing cat. Just make sure to follow your veterinarian's instructions and wash the T-shirt regularly to clean off any wound residue, and give the site a chance to air out.
We purchased a cone with loops from a local vet clinic (we don’t know the exact brand, but KVP makes a similar design), and it’s the type of collar you’ll most likely find at your own clinic. Chances are, your vet office will attach it to your pet’s neck for you, but once you’re home, you might find the loop-and-weave system a little confusing. This design is also unpadded, so it’s hard on a pet's neck. If you’re going to buy a cone online, you may as well get one that’s easier to attach and more comfortable, such as our top pick.
The 3M Clear Custom Collar we got from a local vet clinic was the clearest cone we tried; in our tests it offered wearers a nearly unrestricted field of view. But it’s heavier than our pick, and it’s difficult to buy online. It’s made of plastic and has a Velcro closure that’s easy to dirty, so you can’t clean the entire cone as easily as our pick, and you can’t throw it in the washing machine like the fabric or padded Velcro e-collars we tested.
The Kong EZ Soft Collar was the worst e-collar we tested. It’s flimsy, designed with a long drawstring that’ll trip up pets or get caught on furniture, and available in only two sizes for cats and small dogs.
The ZenPet ZenCone nearly beat out our alternative pick, the Calm Paws Caring Collar. It’s lighter than the Calm Paws, durable, and designed with plastic screens that alternate within the cone to offer a pet more visibility. This is an ideal setup if your dog freaks out in an opaque fabric cone (as some do) and you want to marry visibility with comfort. But it’s missing the Calm Paws design’s mealtime opening, which is useful multiple times a day, and some pet owners complain that the ZenCone is not ideal for dogs with large, erect ears, such as German shepherds.
The All Four Paws Comfy Cone has padding that serves as a nice cushion when your pet takes a nap or bumps into things. But it’s lined in black nylon, and it provides a smaller field of view than our soft pick, the brightly colored Calm Paws Caring Collar. It’s also the heaviest padded cone we tested.
The ZenPet ZenCollar is similar to our donut pick but not made as well. It has a canvas shell that’s rougher than the Kong Cloud Collar’s nylon and plush lining, and its inflation spout doesn’t have an airtight seal, so it deflates easily.
The KVP Bite Free is a long, cushioned strap that wraps around your pet’s neck. It comes in seven sizes, more than most e-collars we tested—but they’re in too narrow a field to account for some dogs, such as the tiniest of Chihuahuas. It’s also confusing to assemble, as you have to attach a strap around the pet’s belly for added stability.
Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell, Alternatives to the Cone of Shame, PetMD
Suzy Fucini, spokesperson, Remedy + Recovery, email interview, February 5, 2018
Dr. Ann Hohenhaus, staff doctor, Animal Medical Center, phone interview, January 4, 2018
Barbara Dobbins, 2017 Best Dog Cone Alternatives, WholeDog Journal, July 1, 2017
Michelle Schenker, What Is Your Dog Breed’s Average Neck Size?, Canine Journal, October 3, 2017
Dr. Kim Smyth, 9 tips top help your dog adjust to wearing an e-collar, Petplan [update: Petplan has rebranded to Fetch and issued their own updated blog post], October 25, 2017
Ernest Ward, DVM, Elizabethan Collars in Cats, VCA Hospitals
Kaitlyn Wells is a senior staff writer who advocates for greater work flexibility by showing you how to work smarter remotely without losing yourself. Previously, she covered pets and style for Wirecutter. She's never met a pet she didn’t like, although she can’t say the same thing about productivity apps. Her first picture book, A Family Looks Like Love, follows a pup who learns that love, rather than how you look, is what makes a family.
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