Week 1, Day 3: My saving graces

always use an e-collar!

Look at the gunky scabby stuff in her incision. And compare this to the staple shot a few entries below. :( The good news is, its still healing nicely. The top part closest to her knee is nearly healed. A staple has already popped out on its own.

I try not to use the e-collar as much as possible when I'm home. But I can't babysit Maeby all day -- I have dishes to wash! Carpets to vaccuum! Blogs to update! So I dedicate this entry to the things that have made my life and Maeby's bearable, while she still has these darn staples in her leg.

I don't want her to become a fatty lumpkins by the end of this, so I've been trying to feed her digestible, healthy, and low fat snacks. Here are some of the things I've found to be particularly useful and succesful at keeping Maeby preoccupied for a few hours.



A: BULLY STICKS Yeah yeah yeah, they're bull penises. But dogs LOVE THEM. They are 100% digestible, unlike rawhide, and they can chew for hours and hours. The downside is they're pretty expensive -- I've been getting them for $3.99 on sale. Someone on the orthodogs list told me they're cheaper on ebay.

B: BEEF TENDON Again, another 100% digestible treat. The only problem I found with this one, is that it gets soft REALLY fast. You really have to keep an eye on your dog with this one, because the soft bits can hang all the way down their throat while they try to get to the dry end. I saw Maeby do this and my jaw fell to the ground! The other problem with this is that it stays soggy for a long, long time. I ended up finally throwing one in the oven until it dried up again. It's cheaper than Bully Sticks though.

C: BUSY BUDDY TWIST N TREAT: I just bought this for her today, and it's the best $10 I've spent on her so far!!! I originally went to the pet store to buy her a Buster Cube, but I read they're really hard to use. I literally sat on the floor with the instructions trying to figure out how to get out the cylinder in the middle for cleaning. And I couldn't do it!! The Twist N Treat screws open and closed, and you can control how big the hole for the treats to fall out is. I filled it with Maeby's kibble and she had such a blast with it. (See video below) This is SOOOO MUCH BETTER than the Buster Cube, and CHEAPER.

D: CHARLEE BEAR TREATS: These are all natural, and very inexpensive doggie treats. The best part is, they're smaller than kibble bits. So they're great for training (Maeby has learned a few new tricks in her ex-pen with these!) and you can alo use them in the Twist N Treat. And each bit is only 3 calories so you don't have to worry about your dog getting too many calories.

E: KONG If you don't own a Kong toy by now, I highly recommend you leave your house right now and get one. I LOVE THESE THINGS. I've been filling mine lately with a GOOD QUALITY, plain, nonfat yogurt mixed with a tad of peanut butter (3:1 ratio of yogurt: peanut butter, because PB is very fattening) and also squishing in half a dog biscuit inside. It takes her forever to eat through one of these. But I've also added frozen can food, frozen 100% pumpkin, etc. The great thing about Charlee Bears is you can use just one to cover the hole at the bottom of the Kong, so you don't have to worry about melting stuff getting everywhere.

I forgot to include marrow bones in the photo. But they're great too. Keeps Maeby occupied for hours, and gets all the tartar off her teeth. I give them frozen, just one a week because the marrow inside has a ton of fat and calories. Just make sure you get them in a size that's appropriate for your pup.


maeby the pig

Week 1, Day 2

I think the lampshade is bothering Maeby's ears.

As soon as I take it off, she rubs her ears with her paws. That's not a good sign! I think her ears touching the plastic, and the moisture of her breath getting trapped in the cone might be giving her an ear infection. This seems to be a problem with other dogs on the orthodogs list too.

I mixed a couple drops of tea tree oil with water and cleaned her ears out with a cotton pad. Hope that keeps her from getting a full blown ear infection.

Her TPLO leg seems to be doing really well. She loves stretching it out, and she's even scratched her head with the leg. She also lay down with the leg behind her, "frog style" today.

As far as her walking, she's putting more weight on it. The sloooooooow, slooooow walking is really making her use the leg. I wouldn't do this if it seemed like her leg hurt her, but based on her comfort with stretching it out and laying on it, I think she's not putting weight on the leg because she just doesn't really try to.

It's not 100% down, but it's not just her toes tapping the ground either. About half of her paw is touching the ground and bearing weight. This is a HUUUUUUUGE IMPROVEMENT from even just a few days ago!! (See video below!)


it doesn't bother her to extend her leg backwards.



By the way, her toes on her TPLO leg were starting to curl in. Someone on the orthodogs list mentioned massaging the foot and extending the toes, as it would help the dog walk better. I've been doing that for the last 2 days, and it's really made a difference.

Post-op Day 7: I'm too soft

I thought I'd give Maeby a break from the lampshade last night while we were sleeping. She wears the darn thing all day when I'm at work! How cruel to leave it on another 8 hours through the night, right?

WRONG.

I did put her leg through a piece of fishnet stocking. Silly me thought it would stay on all night. We woke up this morning to stocking off and 2 places on her incision looking pretty inflamed. Her leg is definitely bothering her more today. She's holding it up a little more and there's less toe touching going on.

(5 minutes later)

I just checked it again. It looks pretty bad right now. There's actually a little bit of bleeding going on. I can't even take a picture of it. She won't let me. I dabbed it with a warm paper towel, dabbed on a teeny bit of antibiotic cream, and gave her 4 arnica balls.

How did we end up HERE, TODAY, after yesterday's beautiful photo?

BECAUSE I TOOK THE E-COLLAR OFF.

So let that be a lesson to you, dear TPLO friend: DON'T BE A SOFTIE. LEAVE THE E-COLLAR ON. ITS ONLY FOR 10 DAYS!!

***

Went home for lunch. The incision looks SO MUCH BETTER. Thank heavens for homeopathic remedies.

Post-op Day 5: e-collar HELL

By 11PM last night, I was wiped out from Maeby's shaking scare and ready to go to bed.

Maeby had on her lampshade style e-collar and slept for a few minutes... but the second the lights went off, she started thrashing all over her x-pen. I put the lights back on, and made the pen smaller, but she was all bug eyed and wouldn't relax. I gave her Rescue Remedy, but she still stayed anxious. She started to shake and breathe very erratically. I thought maybe it was an effect of the F-patch still wearing off, but the minute I took the collar off, she stopped.

I tried putting on her pro-collar (even though it doesn't do a darn thing bc her neck and nose are so long!) and the same thing happened. Crazy breathing, bugged out eyes. I eventually got one of those "baseball tshirts," the ones with the 3/4 sleeves and stuck her leg in one sleeve, and cut the end of a pair of old fishnet stockings I have and covered the tshirt with that. I slept DIRECTLY next to her crate with the door open and lights on, so I could monitor if she started licking, or if my t-shirt concoction came off.

I pretty much woke up EVERY HOUR until about 5am. It kept coming off, or she'd start licking. I was so tired, I tried the lampshade again, and yes, she flipped out again in her quiet, scary way. So finally I put EACH LEG in a sleeve, pushed her tail through the head hole,pulled the rest of the shirt up around her bottom, and tied the excess up with a rubber band.

We slept peacefully until around 7:30. And when we woke up, it was still on! Hallelujah!

Too bad the minute she stood up to eat, it slipped right off. It was my first day back at work today, so I HAD to leave her at home with something.

I decided to play tough mommy and left her home with the lampshade. She wasn't as panicky about it when I left for work this morning, but I was still worried. I wasn't sure how I'd find her when I came home for lunch. Shredded doggie bed? Ex-pen on the other side of the room? Or, God forbid, Maeby laying motionless??

SHE WAS FINE! That little drama queen. She just really really hates the darned lampshade, but will survive. There are a lot of other collars that seem better, like the soft-collar (looks like a big disk) or flexible e-collar (like the lampshade, but made out of fabric) but by the time I get a new one, her staples will be out.

I bought some Impatiens over my lunch break, and am giving that along with the Rescue Remedy now. (of course, with lots of love and treats too!)

I also have to add that the people on the orthodogs list are WONDERFUL. I left a frantic post this morning about my horrible experience last night, and people were so incredibly thoughtful and supportive, offering funny stories and alternative ideas. Apparently, panicking is QUITE NORMAL. And though it may seem impossible, the dog will grow accustomed to the e-collar and will stop acting crazy after a few days. Someone on the list now is experiencing what can happen if you give in: Her dog kept licking the incision, it wouldn't heal properly, stiches kept popping open, and now the dog has a horrible infection that needs to be treated with additional antibiotics. THANKFULLY, it's a relatively benign strain of bacteria! Moral of this story: DON'T GIVE INTO YOUR PANICKING DOG! Try Rescue Remedy, Benedryl, lots of treats, ANYTHING. But that incision really needs to heal properly otherwise you're in for so much more trouble later.


my (not so brilliant) idea

Post-op Day 4

Maeby isn't acting as happy as she normally is today. It's worrying me a little. Is she already getting depressed from the confinement??

She's putting a little weight on the Pink Stump today, but alternates between bearing weight and slightly holding it up.

The leg with the morphine patch on it has also been shaking/quivering a little bit when she's sleeping, everytime she inhales. It's off and on. I called the hospital about it, and they said her leg is probably just annoyed by it but to still leave it on. I can't wait to get that thing off her tomorrow. Good riddance to that and the Pink Stump!

***

Ok, so this afternoon around 4:30, the leg shake/quiver evolved into a WHOLE BODY shake/quiver every time she inhaled. It kept getting worse and I couldn't get a hold of her surgeon, so I rushed her over to the hospital ASAP. She kept shaking during the whole car ride too, which freaked me out even more. Her surgeon was in surgery, so another random vet took a look at Maeby and said that it was probably due to the fentanyl (?) patch. Eventually he took her in the back, and he and Maeby's surgeon removed that along with her bandage.

When they brought her back to me, I was really surprised at how good her leg looked!! The Robert Jones bandage + arnica must have really worked, because her swelling is nearly non-existent. The bottom of the leg looks a little red from probably razor burn. She is holding the leg up A LOT, but started toe touching ever so slightly today.

I'm really glad I rushed her to the vet, because the gals on the orthodogs group did some research while I was gone. It turns out that fentanyl patches can cause respiratory problems, which is perhaps why Maeby was shaking while she inhaled. THANK GOD I GOT THAT THING REMOVED TONIGHT. I should have just gone with my gut and taken it off yesterday!



swelling so far is little to non-exsistent


she's so mad at me, she looks like a little devil dog

The incision area is crazy. It looks really good -- no fluids or puss or blood -- but wow, she literally has staples in her leg holding the incision together. It's my first time seeing that.

I knew keeping her from licking it would be tough (she's a major nibbler!) so on went the dreaded lampshade. We tried the pro-collar thing (the soft inflatable kind) and her shnoz is just too long for it to work. That's too bad, because SHE HATES the cone. She sulked for a bit until I took it off and kept her mouth busy with a bully stick. And we have to do this for 10 more days!!! MEHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.