Monday, March 04, 2013

Ivy - TPLO - 13 days post surgery



This is how Ivy spends most of her days...sleeping in her kennel.  She has been pretty good about it.  I think on all those meds she was a bit tired and we did use the sedative (half dose) at night to keep her calm.  We had a couple of meltdowns or times when she was agitated. I think mostly from boredom and built up energy.  After the 7 day mark I started letting her have a little more time outside on the leash while doing her potty breaks.  We had some snow and ice which was not ideal to have for potty breaks but we made do. We always use the sling for the stairs but once she is on the grass I take it off.

Also, by day 10 I started to let her be off leash in the house on carpeted areas.  Having access to roam a bit burnt off some energy and made her calmer.  We still use the sedative from time to time, but not every night just when she seems to be feeling a bit too energetic or if we have company and need to keep her calm.

Her stitches come out this Thursday.  The wound looks great and the swelling and bruising appear mostly gone. Her hair is starting to come back in so she looks a little less pathetic.

Since we moved her kennel out the living room we noticed that she howls when we run the Vitamix blender.  We do a lot of smoothies in the A.M. and it's so funny to hear her vocalize.  This morning she was loose in the house when I made them and started pacing the kitchen and howling.  As soon as I turned around to look at her she started that crouching, puppy-like, ready to run position! Oh NO! I turned off the blender and tried to grab her which just got her more excited and ready to launch into a full on run around the house. I quickly acted like I had a cookie for her and she came right over before taking off. WHEW! I had to kennel her so I could finish. Crisis averted!

I'm glad she is feeling better but we are going to have to be vigilant for the next few weeks yet.