Katie on the Mend
Today I took Katie in to have her stitches and staples out. She was very excited that I put her on the leash this morning, but disappointed when we had to get in the car. The doctor said she is right where she should be, using her leg, but not putting a lot of weight on it. This is about where she was before the surgery. In the first entry I said I needed cheese to get Katie to take her medicine but, after buying the cheese, I remembered that isn't how I get her to take medicine. Instead, I buy Alpo chunk-style canned dog food. I can put a pill completely in one of the large chunks and she eats it without chewing. Clio likes it because she gets chunks too; hers just don't take as long to prepare.
Anyway, we're all done with that. The incision is healing up really well. With her other leg it had opened up a little bit due to swelling and her taking a couple of staples out, but this time she didn't have any problems. Once her fur grows back (her leg is mostly back to being black after being shaved and all white for the surgery) you probably won't be able to tell she had surgery.
I still can't take her for walks for another six weeks (I've been walking Clio some, but not twice a day like I usually do). Then I take her in for x-rays and hopefully she will get a green light for taking progressively longer walks.
| Permalink
| 
Comments (3)
I hope she lives many pain-free years and gives you a lot of pleasure. She's a very fortunate dog to have such a rich owner who loves her.
Posted by mom | March 31, 2006 8:25 PM
Katie is now at 6 weeks after the surgery and doing really well. I am not supposed to take her on walks until 8 weeks, but I took her for a couple of short walks in the last week (reading my old blog entries I did this that time too, so I thought it would be okay). She was still limping at 4 and 5 weeks, but most of the limp is gone now. Beacon and Belle are staying over this weekend. They don't usually play rough and it won't be as boring for Katie with them around.
Posted by UT | April 20, 2006 10:40 AM
I took Katie in for her 8-week x-ray. The doctor said the bone was knitting together nicely. As expected there is still a gap, but he said at this point she would have a hard time messing up the plate. So he gave her the green light to begin walks twice a day. We have been walking some for the last couple of weeks, but not every day. When I got home we celebrated by going around the block. Though I know she isn't completely recovered, you would have a hard time telling otherwise. She doesn't limp or favor that leg. While she had been only lying on her left side to keep pressure off her right leg, now she seems to lie mostly on right side. Still, I have one more appointment in another eight weeks to get the final okay. About the only thing she has to avoid are taking hard cuts when she runs. So really no running wild off leash. We'll build up to the normal 2-mile afternoon walk over the next couple of weeks.
Posted by UT | May 8, 2006 12:42 PM