The biggest thing myself and my partner Matt have been struggling with during this whole process (and the reason why we're keeping this blog) is an almost complete lack of useful information. Unless we're looking in all the wrong places, we really can't find any proper "owner experience" and in reality, we are absolutely clueless about what to expect next, what stage Dizzy should be at now and what we should be doing on a day to day basis.
We've spent most of the last three weeks feeling like we've been doing everything wrong, panicking every time Dizzy moves and generally just worrying non stop. When I dropped Dizzy off at the vets the morning of the op, I spoke to the Nurse who booked him in and asked if I could have a chat with someone about the recovery process, as it was going to be Matt (my partner) picking him up and I wouldn't be there. The very friendly nurse told me not to worry, he'd be discharged with a letter explaining everything we needed to know and that it was basically a case of keeping him still and gradual exercise.
When Matt picked Dizzy up that evening, he was presented with a bullet pointed list, that to be blunt, has been almost completely useless since getting past the first 24/48 hours. It details the initial recovery post anaesthetic and tells us to gradually build up exercise on lead for the next 8 weeks - all fine and as expected.
But, Matt was also given a brief run through of things by the Veterinary Nurse like; no jumping on or off the sofa, bed etc or walking up or down the stairs, no walking on laminate flooring, lino or tiles (basically carpet only) and that when unsupervised he should be confined to a room with nothing to jump on or a crate. We've opted for crating him as, although we don't usually shut him in, if there's a crate set up for one of our foster dogs, he's first in there for snooze & it's hard to get him to come out! So for our peace of mind & his comfort, we decided to borrow a friends large crate (I think it's either a Large or an Extra Large in Pets at Home sizes and they seem to range from around £80-£110 online depending on size) and a smaller one (a Medium in Pets At Home, approx. £50-£60) in the bedroom for overnight.
Now, the entire downstairs of our house is carpet free - we have laminate flooring in the living room and lino in the kitchen & hallway. This is has made things very difficult and we have no idea at all whether the "carpet only" rule is for the entire 8 week initial recovery, only the first few days/weeks or what! It's obvious from watching Dizzy, that it is more difficult to walk on laminate/lino - common sense says of course it is, it's slippery and putting extra strain on his weak post-op leg. The issue we're having is making sure he's moving as much as (we think) he should be at this point of his recovery, but at the same time limiting off-carpet time! It's not easy!
We do have a rug in the living room, although it's not very big & I've put a door mat in front of the crate so that when he steps out he's straight onto the mat and then on to the rug. It still involves watching him like a hawk and being ready to pounce if he tried to make a run for it and start leaping around the room (which he is attempting daily). We have also been spending portions of the day upstairs so that he can roam freely on the carpeted bedroom floor, with me nearby keeping a close eye on him. The problem is, as soon as he gets in there all he wants to do is sleep! I've managed to coax him into movement by doing some basic command training, which I talked about in yesterdays post. I am reluctant to entice him into play with toys, as his play generally involved flinging the toy around and tearing after at high speed, whipping around sharply from side to side. I'm pretty sure that's not safe for his poorly leg!
This all means that in the house, I have no idea how active he should be, how much walking around the room (especially the carpet free rooms) he should be doing and I'm fairly sure he's not moving as much as he should be.
When it comes to walks, I think we're doing much better - although I still am not clear on how long he should be walking for at this stage. We know that all walking, including toilet breaks, must be strictly on lead and we are currently doing a slow stroll around the block to a grassy area and back, which is about 15 minutes in total. This doesn't include toilet breaks, which are frequent and about five minutes each. He's walking well and enjoying himself, with no discomfort at all and we'll continue to build on this - although I'm not sure how long is too long at this point!
Generally, I'm just very confused! We're doing our best to do what's right for Dizzy and if we have any real problems or see any backwards steps in progress, we'll get on the phone to the vet. They've always been very helpful and happy to take our questions, but I do wish there'd been more information volunteered at the beginning. Only one month now until his post-op check-up, it can't get here soon enough!
Thank you so much for this blog. I am about to go through this process with my 10mth old Pomeranian, and like you could not find any real-life encounters. I have the added obstacle of having another two dogs, so keeping Winnie quiet is going to be hard. I too have hard floors throughout my entire house and no rugs, so thank you for the tip on getting a rug. If you have any other ideas on how to set up the "recovery area" I would be really grateful.
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