A detailed account of my dog Maeby's TPLO experience. Musings range from useful homeopathic remedies for post-op dogs, to bull penises. Hopefully you'll find our videos and photos helpful. I appreciate feedback so feel free to drop me a comment!
Brought Maeby to the vet today and got really good news:
It wasn't an infection!! It was just a reaction to the staples. And we're post-op 12 days, so they removed the staples and that was it! Now that they're out, I can see how they were really irritating her leg. It looks almost like she got hives at that bubbly red area to the left.
I've been putting lots of antibiotic cream on it all day today, and keeping the lampshade on her. I guess we'll be using it for a few more days until her incision is completely head.
The other great bit of news we got today is that we got the okay for her to start 5 minute controlled leash walks, twice a day! I was really surprised that we're starting so soon. It's only been 12 days! It's also amazing considering how concerned I was about her not putting weight on her leg 4 days ago. Since Friday, she's been using her leg more and more once I started walking slooooow and making her use it. I also started her on Symphytum 30C, 2 times a day. Today is day 3 of that, and I'm seeing a DRASTIC improvement. You can totally tell the difference when you compare the video below, to the video I posted on Saturday. See, homeopathic remedies are amazing!
Maeby DID have an "oops moment" tonight -- she got up on the couch! She looked so pleased with herself and just didn't want to move. I don't blame her -- before this surgery, she was permanently glued to the thing. Now she stares at me so forlornly from her ex-pen while I sit on it and type away on her blog. Alas, she was exiled back to her pen very quickly, and I don't think any damage was done.
"The top part closest to her knee is nearly healed. A staple has already popped out on its own."
That's what I wrote yesterday.
Maeby, why are you making me eat my words???
I woke up this morning to see the top of the incision all nasty and red and inflamed. She had her ecollar on all night, and I swear she didn't do any licking yesterday. So what's going on?
Is she getting an infection on the inside? Is this an early warning sign? Is it just possible that she DID lick yesterday when I wasn't looking? Am I going to be a paranoid freak like this for the next 14.5 weeks? GAHHHHHHHH!
She ended her antibiotics on Friday -- so is it possible that she got an infection now that she's not on them?
I gave her some Arnica this morning. I hope that helps.
***
Saw it at lunch. Looks the same. Maaaaaybe a little less red?
We're going to go see the surgeon tomorrow morning for a looksie. I HOPE TO GOD ITS NOTHING SERIOUS.
By the end of all this, I hope Maeby has a wonderfully healed leg. And I hope I don't have a headful of grey hair.
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.
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.
Maeby started putting a little more weight on her leg last night during our final walk, but this morning she was holding it up again.
I know this is probably normal, but I was hoping Maeby would be one of those dogs that made crazy amazing progress. I guess I'm just a little disappointed.
***
I spoke with Maeby's vet tech TM around lunch time and told her that Maeby was only slightly touching her toe to the ground when she was standing still. TM said that she should be toe touching by now, and suggested that I walk really. really. slooooooooow with her to make her actually walk with her toe touching the ground. If you walk fast, she says, they'll just walk with 3 legs because that's the easier thing to do.
So I did it. AND HUZZAH! Maeby actually was walking and putting some weight on her toe! I am so excited!! I imagine this is how it must feel to witness your baby's first step. WEEEEEE!
I normally let her wander around her recovery room after our walks, but now that she's putting some weight on her knee, she'll be going right back into her ex-pen. YAY MAEBY!
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.
