Diesel's surgery was exactly 11 days ago, today we took him to get his stitches out. We have had him home with us for almost a week now. The instructions from the vet, to keep him quiet for the next 8-12 weeks... REALLY? The first few days home, the pain medications he was on seemed to do the trick. he was pretty groggy, pretty tired, wasn't interested in being too active. Somewhere around Wednesday, almost exactly one week after the surgery, he decided he was super dog. Trying to jump on the couch and the air mattress, and if you have met Diesel (or seen pictures) he is a big boy!!
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| Giving me the "quit fussing over me" look! |
I wasn't quick enough or strong enough to hold him down. So I called the vet, HELP!! She prescribed me Acepromazine 25mg, basically a "doggie valium". The directions were 1 pill for sedation at needed, so I gave him one pill. (they did tell me I may need to adjust how much or little I give him) Well let me tell you one of these little yellow pills knocked the big guy out, to the point I spent much of Wednesday night waking up off & on to make sure he was still breathing. The other problem with using this was he was so drugged he was loosing control of his back legs, not good for the bad leg for sure. The past few days I have continued to use the sedative, although I have figured out for the 100# dog, 1/4 of the pill is enough to just keep him calm. For anyone out there that is reading this for information following your dogs surgery, I suggest start with a low dose and move up if you need to.
I have quite comfortably moved into the living room, he & I have a nice set up. I let him sleep on the air mattress with me now, he waits for me to help him get up on it and get down. We had to go and buy a bunch of cheap area rugs since there are hard wood floors in the living room, baby gates to corral him in the area, and keep his siblings out.
Today was his first post op check with the vet, she was incredibly pleased with how he was doing. She brought out the plates to show us that were implanted, of course we were interested because it is our jobs!! This is what they look like. They are made by a company called Kyon, they make many different surgical implants for veterinary surgery. I highly suggest that if you are reading this, explore the differences in a TTA Surgery for your dog vs. a TPLO surgery. I mentioned this before in my last blog, but the big difference in dummed down terms is they do not cut the weight bearing part of the tibia doing the TTA surgery, therefore the dog is able to put weight on his leg almost immediately after the surgery. There is a lot of information out there, inform yourself and don't let the vet just talk you into a surgery. Some veterinarians choose or prefer one surgery over the other, don't be afraid to seek out another option. Sometimes it is just because they were trained to only do the surgery with one of the implants, but trust me- there is a vet out there that can do which ever surgery you choose.
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| NO MORE STITCHES!! |
Today, is a good day-he got his stitches out, we are now allowed to take him for short walks 2-3 times per day, and that will gradually increase. I have to say, I am amazed at this animal- truly amazed. Having worked in medicine my whole life, I have never seen such an amazing recovery. Love you big guy!!
And most of all- No More Cone of Shame
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