So it turns out the worst part of Lucy’s recovery wasn’t the cone of shame. This morning, after she still wouldn’t even sniff her food and had started having almost uncontrollable diarrhea, I wrote an email to the vet — they’re nearly impossible to reach by phone — asking what I should do. They called back almost immediately and told me to bring her in. Her incision is a little infected and her stomach was reacting badly to the anti-inflammatory pain medication they’d given her, so they gave her an antibiotic shot plus some pills to take home, pumped her full of fluid under her skin, forced some stomach-soothing meds down her gullet, and told me to bring her in again tomorrow morning for another look. She does seem quite a lot better now, so I hope it’s smooth sailing from now on.

At least today I did get a nap.