Well one glorious week from surgery and I wanted to publish things we have learned that might help others along the way.
1. Tshirts.. you can never have too many. The drainage from his wound has us changing his tshirt every HOUR.
2. Towels.. Cause the drainage soaks through the shirt and all over the sofa and bed and carpet lol.
3. Bed sheets. Did I mention the drainage soaks through the shirts? Well it goes through the towels as well.
4. Laundry detergent. Man that is a lot of shirts and towels and bed sheets to wash.
5. You could never imagine how a picture of dog doodoo sent to your phone with the words “HE POOPED” can make you smile with relief =P
6. The vet will hate you with the 214 “Can you have the Dr call me” calls to check in to see if something is normal.
7. If we ever do this again we will check the weather first for the upcoming week. The rain and mud have truly been a night mare.
8. You would think nobody would be scared of a 3 legged blind dog but when he growls if we move him we jump lol.
9. Us and him BOTH are tired of eating the meatballs we have to hide his pills in.
10. Though the week was hell. the mud and rain and cold was nasty and the exhaustion at times for us and him was hard to fight through. To see the rain clear. To see the sun come out. And to see the boo feel the sun on his face. To find HIS normal spot on the grass and see him smile as we have seen him done every day for the last 8 years gives us great hope that though rough. He would thank us for helping him.
WoooHOOOOOO! Lookit you Bonz! Way to enjoy YOUR spot in the sun 🙂 DUDE! So glad to hear things are going better! Hey, who’s yer buddies there?
xoxo,
Codie Rae
p.s. from Martha: Yup, as new tripawd pawrents there’s a steeeeeep learning curve. But congratulations! You may be exhausted but you have passed the first test–getting through the first week–with flying colors! Have you tried pill pockets or pill paste? The Oaktown Pack snarfs up their pills without thinking twice when we use either one of these. They can be kinda expensive but there are recipes online for them (we have never tried making them ourselves but I am considering it because they would be healthier). Just a thought….
Yeah, its not necessarily surprising he’s growling at you some when you try and move him. He is probably still pretty sore and might also be feeling a little insecure until he realizes he can rock this tripawd thing 🙂 I can’t tell from the pictures–does that front strap pass over his incision? It looks like it is just there to hold the harness on and it doesn’t function to lift but maybe it tightens a bit anyway when you lift and that hurts and causes him to growl? One of my pack doesn’t like being hugged from behind and/or moved around much and he growls. I have never had a dog of mine growl at me either and it always surprises me because I can sling the others around without a peep out of them (well, I don’t actually do alot of dog slinging as they range from 60 to nearly 80 pounds). I just tell him NO very firmly and tell him ‘You’re OK you don’t need to growl at me’ in a bright cheery voice. He has improved ALOT since we first took him in.
He looks soooooo great!!!! YAY!!!!
I love your top ten list. Here is my list from last year: – especially about the part about the vet where there IS a limit on how many times you can call! 🙂 Hang in there … it does get better!
Things I have observed on our first full day with my brand new tripawd!
1. This is a LOT harder than I thought it would be
2. Painkillers DO make dogs see pink elephants and other shit that is simply not there (anxious, pacing, panting and overall stoned Shelby)
3. Sitting on my lap seems to be the only thing that soothes her – yet then I cannot reach my wine OR go to the bathroom
4. If I put chicken in the crockpot and cook it all day so it’s nice and tender and mix and warm it up with her kibble, she will eat all her dinner
5. Apparently there IS a limit on how many times you can call the ER vet before they remind you, gently, that your dog just had major surgery and maybe I should let her rest and see how it all shakes out
6. Apparently, I am more stressed about all of this than I thought considering I went bat shit crazy on someone at the grocery store for not knowing where the black olives were!
Bonz! Ohhhh you sweet, sweet puppy. These pics say it all, look at that big ol smile on your face!
LOVE the lessons learned, they are all SO true (and your humans make them sound so funny!).
You really are teaching your people SO much, and everyone who reads your blog too. Thank you for showing us how to live life to the max!
Keep on poopin, rollin in grass, smilin and loving each and every minute. Thanks for having us along for the ride.