VIDEO OF PIPPIN’S RECOVERY
Click link to watch video of Pippin’s recovery:
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Day 8 Post Surgery – POOPIE POOPIE POOPIE
It was a big day – she pooped! Barked at 7 a.m. in her kennel just like she used to when she needed to go out. Finally after 11 days since her last poop (8 days from surgery) and taking laxative 3 times a day since she broke her leg 4 weeks ago. She hadn’t been eating much so her poop was equivalent to about her normal two days worth. (Please keep in mind that I am getting so specific in my blogs because it is my hope that someday this helps new Tripawd owners who read it.) So a shitty conversation it will be!
Hopping all over the bedroom carpet today. Seems like after having that pain patch off for a day she was like her old self again. Lots of tail wags. Ate a little more. Liverwurst is the best!
Still has a small bump near her incision, but it is not oozing anymore. Warm compresses and hydrogen peroxide are being used on it.
I’m so happy to see her hopping around. At one point she wanted to hop on her stool to get onto the bed, but she couldn’t. I felt bad. It was like she knew for the first time that she had limits now. I’d like to get a set of those dog stairs they have for her to use to get onto the bed. This fabric stool of hers is just too high now. Of course she is only allowed on the bed when we are on the bed. Just like I am now with the laptop and here she is hopping along the bed wanting to get up here with me.
Anxious to get her new boots and traction socks. Really hoping they fit her tiny feet and stay on. It’s hard with her breed, but they did offer sizes for chihuahuas so they should fit her.
I’ve been reading on the support site how we as parents of a Tripawd need to kinda push her to get used to her new walking capabilities. Just like being a parent of a special needs child, you can’t “baby” them too much. We started letting her walk on her own when she goes outside to potty. Then I make her walk in and out of her kennel. I’ve been staying in the bedroom a lot with her so that she can hop around. (We have hardwood floors elsewhere, so I’m waiting for the socks to come in.)
It’s just so nice to see her attitude change back to what she was before. I think that pain patch had a lot to do with it. Plus it was a major surgery. It’s just really really tough when they can’t tell you where or how much pain they are in or what they need for comfort. Just like a baby.
Day 7 Post Surgery – Pippin Walks!
Click below for video of Pippin taking her first steps.
Roxy had to get some attention out of it as well.
Seems more alert today. Probably from having her pain patch off of her for a couple days now. Also ate some liverwurst tonight.
Day 6 Post Surgery
Stood on 3 legs to drink water today! Took some more steps outside in the grass. Peed twice. Still no poopy. Sore spot doesn’t look any worse, but doesn’t look better either. Not eating much. Doesn’t like the baby food. Seems like only boiled chicken with chicken broth is what she goes for anymore. Seems happier. Loves when Daddy brushes her and massages her. More tail wags today too.
Day 5 Post Surgery
Pippin peed twice today. That’s a first since she broke her leg 3 1/2 weeks ago. Ate only a few tiny pieces of boiled chicken. She wouldn’t eat it until I put some chicken broth on it. I can only get her to eat when we get up because that is when she is the least dopey and due for meds. She walked a few steps today too on the bedroom carpet when I got her out of her kennel this morning. Uses her hips more today. Overnight the cyst like spot that developed yesterday started oozing so I made an appt. and saw the vet tonight. He said it was probably a reaction to the sutures or rubbing. It didn’t seem infected. We are to put some warm compresses on it twice a day and some peroxide. She got her pain patch removed today as well. Didn’t mind getting the staples out. Found out today also that her tumor that we had removed during her amputation was a benign fatty tumor. Thank goodness! Was so worried over that. That incision is healing well.
We went and got her a new elizabethan collar at Petco. It’s a blow up ring. So much better than the cone. She can move her neck more and feels a lot more comfortable in it. Although she didn’t seem to mind the cone, this one is much much better. I highly recommend it especially for small dogs. Plus I don’t have to worry about it getting caught in her kennel like I did with the cone. It also helps a lot when I give her the laxative. She can’t move her head as fast and all over the place with the ring on so the laxative gets in her mouth and not all over her hair so much now. Before I had to remove the cone to give her the laxative.
I ordered her some traction socks and boots as well as Cosequin (joint supplement) and Welacton (Fish oil). Glad to see that the Cosequin is in soft chewables so hopefully she will like it as a treat. She is really tired of me shoving pills down her throat twice a day.
Pippin also wagged her tail today for the first time. When I got her out of her kennel this morning and when Mike (hubby) came home. Even though I’m laid off, I’m so happy I can spend almost 24/7 with her for her recovery. Worst part is me trying to get some sleep because I worry about her so much. I think that will get better though because she is healing well. Just worried about that one spot, but it doesn’t seem that bad.
(click on pictures to enlarge them)
Day 3 Post Surgery
Pippin peed today!!!! AND, ate some boiled chicken! So that was 2 1/2 days that she didn’t pee or eat since we brought her home.
Her attitude was better today. Not as snappy and allowed us to wipe the sticky laxative out of her hair around her mouth. She is taking a liquid laxative 3 times a day and with her long hair, it gets everywhere. She hates that I force her to take it and moves her head all around in the process of taking it. She takes it through a syringe. Her pills I can shove down her throat with no problem.
I took the other two dogs onto the front porch today and Mike (hubby) said that Pippin was getting anxious inside the house because I left her inside. So I brought her out and we laid on the hammock for a while. She loved it out there. The “pink elephants and flying squirrels” she sees due to heavy medications were more tolerable lying in the hammock on a breezy, beautiful day. She wanted to cuddle more today whereas the past couple days she was quite snappy with us.
Her incision, swelling, and bruising are even better today. She is also moving her hip higher when she changes sitting positions and was a little stronger on her rear leg when we took her out to pee. I can tell her incision is itching her because every time we take her cone off, she wents to go at it. The pain patch stapled to her back is also itching her.
(click to view individual. Then click again to enlarge)
Day 2 Post Surgery
Click on pictures to enlarge.
It’s been a little over 24 hours since we brought her home from the hospital and she hasn’t eaten anything or peed. She did drink a good bit of water this morning. She did eat and peed yesterday morning at the clinic before we got her. Before surgery with the broken leg and meds, she was only peeing once a day.
She is grumpy today. Snapping at us. I’ve read that this is normal behavior due to the meds. To humans it seems like your pet is depressed. Resting well though. Had a little bit of a restless night. Just kept moving and shifting getting used to wearing the cone at night. Plus, that is a side effect from the meds. She is wearing the cone today. Has only tried to get to her stitches a couple times without wearing it. I kept the cone on her more today since she doesn’t mind it. Plus if I walk out into the kitchen to get a drink, I don’t want her to be able to get to her stitches. Incision and swelling look a bit better. Taking pictures every day of it for a medical diary in case something changes.
When we take her out to pee, she just holds her tail down. I’m hoping she will pee later today. We put a towel underneath her chest and walk her a few steps. You can see that she is using her hip muscle where the leg was removed. But she doesn’t want to use that other rear leg yet. Just wants to try to sit. The Orthopedic Surgeon said to cut her Baytril and Carprofen in half and give twice a day instead of once since she is so small and it is effecting her bowel movements. Even with a laxative 3 times a day she was only pooping once a week. Now that she has a pain patch in addition to the two medications, who knows when she’ll poop. She goes Wed. to get her pain patch replaced. Then in 8 days from today, her stitches get removed.
I’m going to order the Cosequin, Welactin, and a pair of those traction socks for her soon. We have hardwood floors in our living room as well as hardwood stairs. Although she won’t be doing stairs ever again. It’s kinda strange, she was already afraid of stairs. She used them, but a lot of the time she would lie at the bottom of the steps until you brought her up. Her accident happened at a friend’s house though. Somehow she got caught and twisted her leg at the bottom of their deck steps/concrete. We don’t know the exact cause. I saw her go down the steps, turned to talk to someone, looked back at her and she was in the grass looking at her leg. Then got up and she held her leg up. Broke it in 3 places. I will never forget how the leg dangled there nor the look in her eyes.
When she was a puppy, she had surgery on the hip of the same leg that she broke. We adopted her at age 2 and weren’t told exactly what happened – whether it was from trauma or in her genes. We always wondered what happened to her. When we saw the x-ray, you can actually see a missing piece around her hip joint. Ortho said it won’t effect her at all now that the leg is gone. She was always more flexible in that leg. Matter of fact we nicknamed her “kickstand” because she would always sit and have that leg out to the side. Now I guess we can nickname her “tripod”.
Main concern in the future is to keep her weight down, Ortho said. We had been trying harder this past year to get her weight down – about a pound is what vet said she could lose, but not much more than that. She’s lost 2 since her leg breakage. That was 3 weeks of eating only about 6 tablespoons of food per day. Now we need to keep it down. Of course, I’ll let her eat as much as she wants during this recovery time period. Going to try boiled chicken tomorrow as she was eating that last week. Will also get some liverwurst and baby food to see if she’ll go for that.
Day 1 Post Surgery
