Archive for March, 2010
The Underbelly of a Swissy
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010 | Indigo | No Comments
So, we’re 12 days post surgery. Indy’s stitches are out, and we’re not having to be super careful with her activities anymore.
As I mentioned yesterday, the incision looks kind of creepy to me now. It’s separated a bit, and it just looks weird. Yes, I know it’s supposed to be this way. Doesn’t mean I like it.
The thing I find odd is that she never bothered with the incision or stitches. No licking or biting. Nothing. Don’t get me wrong – I’m glad. But it did kind of ruin the photo opp with the inflatable collar and t-shirt.
Maybe I’ll do it anyway.
Recovery
Monday, March 29th, 2010 | Indigo | No Comments
For all those wondering, Indy continues to recover and is doing quite well.
The stitches came out today. The incision looks very goofy now since it separated when they were removed. I’ll have to get pictures tomorrow for you to see. To be honest, I find it more gross now because I’m a weirdo.
She is still on somewhat limited activity, although not like she has been. She’s getting more walks (which is good because we had two incidents of food removal from the counter today) but we are trying to keep her from playing with other dogs or us. We have her first post surgery play date/hike set for about 10 days from now. She should be all set to go wacko with her sister at that time.
Keep watching for pictures.
It’s hard to keep a good Swissy down…
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 | Indigo | No Comments
Way harder than I’d like it to be.
The instructions from the vet last week were to keep Indy quiet. No running, jumping or rough housing, but we can take her for calm walks. Well, that was easy until Saturday afternoon.
A few hours after Indy’s Saturday morning pain pill (the last she’ll get from me during this recovery), she started to go a little nutso. I guess she felt a little too good. It became increasingly difficult to keep her from running, play bowing, jumping, jerking, etc. You get the picture. We could get her to go slowly up and down the stairs (for the most part) but the rest was a crap shoot.
We’ve determined that we cannot keep her downstairs even slightly unattended. Meaning she’s either (forcibly?) sitting and cuddling with us on the couch or it doesn’t work. You see, there’s some nice, big windows at the front of the house that look out onto a somewhat-busy street. It’s a school route and we have quite a few kids and dogs in the area. So lots to jump up on the chair and bark at. If she’s gated upstairs with us, it’s much easier as there’s not really anything for her to see. See has the run of 3 of the bedrooms, the bathroom (which has scary tile floor!) and the hallway.
Don’t get me wrong. She’s not going crazy continuously. If she was, we’d keep her tethered to one of us or crated. But her bursts of energy do get me rather worried that she’s going to rip a stitch or something.
The short, calm walks don’t seem to help too much. I guess that’s what happens when your Swissy’s idea of a walk is 4 miles long at a 15 minute per mile pace. My bad.
Indy’s fixed!
Friday, March 19th, 2010 | Indigo | No Comments
You didn’t know she was broken, did you?
Indy went in for her spay and gastropexy on 3/18/10. I dropped her off before 8am and met with both the tech and the vet. It was very nice to see him awake, alive, and not going through the shakes from caffeine withdrawal or something. Not that we’ve ever seen him that way, by the way. I am making a funny. We were told we would hear from them after the surgery and would be able to pick her up later that day.
I will admit I was very nervous. The last time we had an animal go in for surgery, we had to put him to sleep. Sad. But this was a good experience (so far). I heard from the vet around 11am and picked her up around 3:30pm. She was totally doped up but very happy to see us.
We got home and she went right to the water bowl. The bowl did have to be picked up because she was very thirsty at we were trying to avoid her throwing it up. (That didn’t work, by the way.) Then she went right outside and did her business, then proceeded to stand under the deck for about 10 minutes with a glazed over stare.
She didn’t eat her normal food on Thursday night at all, but I did get her to eat some soft treats. She slept well that night too, but didn’t want to eat on Friday morning at first. I ended up smearing a piece of bread with peanut butter and put her pain killer in it. About 30 minutes later, she was awake and very hungry, so we fed her.
Her incision is actually smaller than I thought it would be.
And they removed less fur than I expected as well.
I remember that her sister had more fur shaved up on the sides. If Indy is standing, you can’t really tell she’s been shaved unless you know…
So now the fun begins. She’s starting to get energetic. She seems to know not to run and goes slowly down the stairs, but I don’t see that lasting. I think we’re going to have to keep a very close eye on her!
More on those calming treats…
Thursday, March 18th, 2010 | Beowulf | No Comments
I think they do actually work to some extent.
The cleaning people came over this morning and Beowulf was totally whiny. You’d think a storm was approaching from the way he was acting, but it wasn’t. So I gave him two treats and within about 10 minutes, the whining stopped! He still followed me around a fair bit, but in addition to the lack of whining, there was no shaking or any of his other nervous habits.
Perhaps these treats are worth buying again.
They are not cheap.
Follow Up
Monday, March 15th, 2010 | Beowulf | No Comments
Yes, I’m bad. I was supposed to follow up on Friday regarding the Calming treats I gave Beowulf. I’m doing it now instead. I will go hang my head in shame and stare into the corner for 15 minutes.
So here’s the scoop. I’m not sure if the treats worked.
Beowulf stopped whining within 20 minutes of eating the treats, but the storm seemed to go away as well. So it’s really inconclusive at this point. I guess I need to wait for another storm and try again.
Not what you wanted to hear, I’m sure.
Spring Storms
Thursday, March 11th, 2010 | Beowulf | No Comments
Oh, how I love them. I enjoy watching them from the safety of my house or office. I’ve been known to hang out on my front porch and watch them during the day. I do enjoy them quite a bit.
For the most part.
Until I remembered that one of my dogs (cough cough Beowulf cough) gets very nervous with storms. It’s not the noise. I think it’s the barometric pressure. Between him and my knee, we usually know about 2 hours before they hit. So I’ve been dealing with a whiny, nervous basset for the past hour or two.
And then I remembered one of the other things I picked up helping Indy with her anxiety. They’re called Pet Naturals Calming Soft Chews. So I just gave Beowulf a couple. I’m hoping that within an hour or so, he calms down and we can all sleep soundly through the night.
Except that I’m guessing nobody will go outside to the loo tonight.
Tune in tomorrow. I’ll let you know if they helped.
Search
Calendar
Categories
- Alex (13)
- Beowulf (56)
- Canine Cancer (2)
- Dogs (50)
- Gryffindor (81)
- Indigo (151)
- Litter Mates and Swissy Friends (17)
- Ozzy (17)
- Random Stuff (77)
- Swiss Lick Swissies Canine Cancer Fund (1)
- Uncategorized (5)