We saw this soft e-collar at the 2008 SuperZoo pet products show. Anyone who has a dog or cat that had to recuperate from an injury or surgery knows how much your furry friends hate those large plastic e-collars, which are also know as Elizabethan collars or cones. They bang around with them, cannot make it through doorways and are generally miserable when they have to wear them.

The whole idea behind an e-collar is to prevent a dog or cat from licking or chewing wounds from an injury or surgery. Sometimes animals just get a skin irritation called a hot spot that they will lick or chew until they bleed. The e-collar prevents them from injuring themselves further, but due to the crude draconian design of most hard plastic e-collars, family pets hate them–as do pet owners.

A company in California called All Four Paws came up with a design for a soft collar that doesn’t make your furry family friends miserable. The Comfy Cone (a great name!) is made from nylon material with a soft foam inner material. The cone comes in four sizes. All versions fold flat for easy storage. The Comfy Cone is wrapped around the animal’s neck and is held together with several Velcro strips. It goes on easily and comes off just the same.

The Comfy Cone was being modeled at SuperZoo by a very large Great Pyrenees puppy. No, that is not a polar bear. It is a very large puppy who seems quite comfortable wearing his Comfy Cone.

The Comfy Cone retails for $15 to $30, depending upon the neck size of your pet. Sizes include small, medium large and extra large. The nylon material is easily wiped clean. There is also a bright reflective binding on the edge to help make your pet more visible at night.

You can find the Comfy Cone at: