cartilage operation for my dog - anyone offer advice?

orlao

hope Jess, Montyand alyths puppy are all doing well this morning

O x

RooBee

Hi Alyth
Sorry, just catching up withthis now...it's beenone of those weeks! Glad the op went well and that she's home and on the mend. Be on the lookout, not only for signs of infection, but for a fluid build up too. My dog had it with both of his ops....nothing to worry about but it does seem to cause a bit of discomfort If the area around the wound seems swollen at all, pop her along to the vets where they can check it and drain it off if necessary.

Hope she continues to improve and is back to normal soon.

alyth

thanks RooBee. She seems to lick her leg occasionally, but doesn't seem bothered by it at all. The only thing she's not doing is eating, I'm still having to hand-feed her, and she seemed really tired today, but I suspect she's still got some of the anesthetic in her and it's still wearing off. Mind you, sirloin steak was wolfed down by her tonight - she got the ends of our supper! Thanks for letting me know about the fluid build up, none of the after-care information I've got refers to that, so I'll keep a close eye for that.

Today was the first time I was actually able to have a proper look at her leg, and you know what - she's got blue stitches - they've sewn up her leg with blue thread! Good job I'm not into football!

I hope Jess and Monty are doing okay, I was thinking of you both today.

cocoluvsmummy

Jess wasn't eating her own food last night, but managed to force some chinese takeaway down.. lol.. gave it her next to where she was lying and she eat it without sitting up.. giving us poor me looks as she did it.

what a difference this morning though, OH out washing th ecars atm.. abd jess is trying to get out side with him.. usual routine is he washes cars, she chase water around and sits at the edge of the garden watching people walk past.

just could do with her manageing to do a "poo" the gas smells are killing me.. but it seems too painful for her to get into "postion"

Alyth, my vet advised us that Jess could well get swelling around her ankle after a few days and that this is completly normal after TTA surgery and not to worry too much unless it seems to be distressing for her, that it will reduce over days, remember from when she had her other knee done that she had loads of nasty brusing and swelling come out but it look 4 or 5 days for it to actually start to appear

alyth

I'm glad Jess is much better today, I bet she really struggled to scoff down the Chinese:rotfl:

Doglet's been okay today, still a bit tired, and I suspect she's totally playing on the eating thing now, she can manage to go to the toilet fine, and perked up earlier when the roast lamb was being served up! I think another couple of days and she'll be much brighter, and I've been checking today for any swelling and there hasn't been any sign of any so far. My biggest problem is stopping her going up and down the stairs, we were stripping a room today so of course were both going up and down quite a bit, and she kept following us about, although in the end she did settle down on her cushion.

How's Monty doing JCR?

cocoluvsmummy

Its been 5 weeks now since the doggies had their ops, hows everyone doing?

update on Jess, left her at the vets agin this morning, she has been limping more and more over the last 2 weeks and when the vet did a check up on her last week he thinks she may have a tear in the cartilage or the plates in the joint may have moved. So today is anaesthetic, xrays and fix whatever is causing the problem. i feel like a total s*** for leaving her there again and now have a days wait again for them to phone with an update

JCR

Hi - nice to hear how Jess is doing, although sorry to hear she is limping. Monty is a lot better, although we did have a reopening of the wound when the stitches came out which was quite truamatic. Hope the others are all better too.

alyth

oh how nice to hear both Jess and Monty are better, you must have got a helluva fright JCR when the wound opened up though, and poor Jess, don't feel bad about leaving her at the vets again, you're doing the right think in helping her get better.

You'd think doglet had never been in hospital, although for some reason her fur's stopped growing back and it's all really soft and downey on her back and leg! She's due back at the surgery in a couple of weeks and the only thing is she can't walk too far, which in the awful weather we've been having is no bad thing! She's totally recovered and only has a very small scar, but as suspected she's started to hold her other back paw funnily now and I think she'll have to have the other leg done. Tescos pet insurance paid up really quickly as well, and with no quibbles, so I highly recommend them, although I bet the premiums are a lot higher next year!

cocoluvsmummy

Re the pet insurance we are with sainsburys and they ahve settled up already, though i now have to get another claim form and get this latest episode added on to it. our premiums dont seem to have gone up at all (Jess had her other leg done 2 years ago and we claim for incontinence medication for her)

I got a bit annoyed when i picked Jess up from the vets last night, no after care specified, then a general "keep her quiet for a couple of days then just take it easy for a couple of days" when i asked. i then asked.. "even though she has just had the joint opened up that she had her TTA surgery on 5 weeks ago?".. got to talk to another nurse then who wanted to know what "the problem was" i told her i didnt have aproblem but i needed more specifiec aftercare in view of the major resrictions she had had previously and was still under.. they changed their mind then and decided maybe nothing except into the garden on a lead to toilet. i got analgeia for her but a different does than last time.. so how the hell they work that out is beyond me.

thanks for listening to my moan, had to get it off my chest, shes been awake all night crying and therefore i'm exhaused. Going to give her some tramdol now even though they have said once daily this time.. 5 weeks ago it was twice daily and shes in pain, can't put her foot to the floor this morning but keeps running around the lounge, she tends to do this wwhen shes in pain, i think she tries to run away from whatever it is hurting her.. stupid dog

So pleased to hear how doglet and Monty are doing.
*hugs to you all

alyth

oh poor Jess, my heart goes out to both of you - is she any better this evening? Damn vets, I guess you just have to take your lead (pardon the pun!) from Jess and do whatever she wants to do, the worst part for me was watching doglet drag her splintered up leg to the bottom of the garden to have a wee, I was crying like mad watching her, but she obviously wanted to go to this particular part of the garden and I couldn't stop her. I suppose all you can do is cuddle her and let her know you are there - god, I'll be thinking about you for the rest of the night now - please let me know how she is tomorrow night.