Day Four (Friday 14th February)

Four days since Dizzy’s op & he’s doing really well. We did have another sleepless night thanks to the buster collar/crate problem (I cannot WAIT for the stitches to come out!) but he was definitely feeling brighter than I was this morning!

Dizzy’s always been a bit of a picky eater and will often sit in front of his food bowl looking sad when presented with a meal. This morning, I put his breakfast in front of him in the crate, to be met with a  “grumble grumble” and a blank stare. I left him a lone for a few minutes, while he curled up next to the food with yet more “grumble grumbles”:

So I brought the bowl out of the crate and coaxed him out too. We sat on the floor for 20 minutes in a bit of a “stand off” until Matt walked in the front door – the second Dizzy heard the key in the door, he started tucking into his breakfast with a wag in his tail. Cheeky boy:

We are now starting to have a bit of difficultly in getting Dizzy to take all his tablets (he’s on 8 antibiotics a day plus pain relief). Now he’s alert enough to investigate his food before eating, hiding them in his meals is a no go and he has a very special gift for swallowing ham/cheese etc. while simultaneously spitting out the tablet! After a lot of gentle coaxing this evening & a few tasty treats (which we have to be careful of as he’s not going to be active for a while) he’s finally had all the medication for today.

I have been beginning to worry about his toileting – he’s only done two pees in the four days since the op and has yet to poop at all. Matt called the vets who performed the surgery for advice & to put my mind at rest. The lovely nurse he spoke to (no sarcasm, they really are lovely!) told us firmly, but kindly to “stop babying him and get him out for a walk”! Anesthetic can cause everything to “back up” a bit so the lack of a number 2 is not surprising, and as Dizzy is not drinking a huge amount of water that explains the infrequent pees.

Speaking to the vets has definitely eased my worry a huge amount and given me a big reminder to trust that Dizzy knows what he can and can’t do. He needs to be encouraged to walk very short distances on lead at this stage, as he must build up the confidence to use his poorly leg. As the vet told us today “he’s got three good legs, he’ll manage” – very good advice! I took him for a short two minute stroll down the road during which he did two big wee’s.

I’m now sat on the living room floor with a boundary set up around the rug (using the coffee table, Dizzy’s crate, a comfy dog bed and the water bowl to discourage him from trying to walk past onto the laminate floor) to give Dizzy some time to move around outside of the crate. He’s a little reluctant to get up too much, but has eaten his dinner standing up outside his crate with all four paws on the ground & has walked across the rug to have a drink.

He still needs to be crated when unsupervised, walking must be minimal and on lead and under no circumstances is he to attempt to jump on or off the sofa but I need to make an effort not to forget that he still needs to use his poorly leg in moderation to stop the muscle wasting. It’s hard not to fuss him & baby him, but I think I’m starting to relax!