Poi Dog Ponderings

Saturday, April 25, 2009

End of week 3

Willa is walking well. She seems to be tolerating the change in her lifestyle pretty well. Ruby continues to delight and frustrate us. Though lately it’s more delight. This video is for my friend who wants to see how Willa is doing. (I’ll put Willa on a slow treadmill later today for a better view.)

Ruby is working on her jumping…she cracks me up. Check out her down-stay during the Willa segment!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Birthdays

Yesterday Ruby turned 5 months old. Tomorrow Willa turns 10 years old. Wow, how time flies. I used to tell folks who asked Willa’s age that in dog years, 10 is the new 5. She still loves to play and seeks to engage us in games.

That’s the problem now. She feels better. She is walking great (7 days post-op). She does not understand why we are not letting her run after the squirrels-from-hell in our yard.

Stitches out Friday.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

It’s the little things

We are happy to see small signs that Willa is feeling better. her favorite position on the couch is on her back, “dead bug”. Today during our “24” marathon, she stretched out her new knee more than I have seen in a week and rolled onto her back. You can see the extent of her shave and her stitches.

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Her stitches and scar look great. Very clean and dry. Still have to wait ‘till Friday to get them out. Tomorrow will be 1 week.

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Saturday, April 11, 2009

PostOp Digestive Issues

Willa is a two-a-day pooper. Like clockwork. Following her surgery she was less consistent. She was antsy and irregular. Her anus was irritated and she would try to poop every time we went outside. I could tell she was uncomfortable.

She usually gets a cup of Wellness Senior and a couple tablespoons of ID. In her youth she had some indigestion issues and so, prior to Katrina, we started her on ID just in case. Well that fixed her occasional vomiting so we never took her off of it.

Now I worry that she is constipated. Ordinarily we add active culture yogurt to her diet to kick start her intestinal flora. This time my friend Dennis recommended Pumpkin. 1 Tablespoon one meal a day. We also added a teaspoon of Olive Oil. 24 hours later and the poop factory is back in business.

Her first poops were small and seriously compacted. Now they are fluffy and comfortable for her. I love this tip because it can happen to your pet anytime they suffer a big change in their environment.

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Friday, April 10, 2009

E-Collar Update

Willa is still doing great staying away from her sutures, though we keep the huge plastic Elizabethan Collar handy just in case. My friend Margaret (aka The Humaner Trainer) loaned me a Comfy Cone from www.allfourpaws.com. This is a great concept. The cone is soft and flexible. Above all it is quiet. If I need to use it on Willa I know it will work better that the hard plastic one I got from the vet. We test drove it on Willa and discovered that it even has a reflective rim.

ComfyConeWilla

Of course Ruby had to try it too…   ComfyConeRuby

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

OK, my back cannot handle another night on the air mattress. Plus, every morning Ruby tries to fly into bed with Willa and I. I love it, Willa…not so much. So it’s time for a change. Tonight we made the following changes to our house to support Willa’s rehab and make it generally safer for her to get around.

Ex-Pen Runway

For the slippery part of the floor from the Ex-Pen to the back door I picked up 10 feet of carpet runner at Home Depot. This stuff is great for covering the slippery hardwood and making it safer for her to get from place to place.

WillasRunway

Willa’s new bedroom

I pulled the guest bedroom apart and put the mattress on the floor. It should work well for confinement and control of our patient while she recoups. Plus it will be way better for my back than sleeping on an air mattress. Willa will probably sleep better too as the windows are higher than the living room, so there will be less distraction.

NewBed

I have wine, water and an E-collar handy just in case…in case the wine does not work. This should be a much better arrangement.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Fences Make Good Neighbors

Before her injury Willa and Ruby were making great progress. Willa was initiating play with Ruby and Ruby was getting over her fear of Willa. Now that Willa is hurt, Ruby is struggling to understand why Willa won’t play.

When we first brought Ruby home we used an Ex-Pen to keep her contained. Now that she is more obedient (dare I say trustworthy), we have removed the Ex-Pen. With Willa needing a safe location to nap, we called the Ex-Pen back into duty. It serves as a safe location for Willa. In fact when she returns from outside she heads straight for he security of the pen. We have her cool pad to line the bottom and just enough room for her and the pad. She can see outside and not be bothered by Ruby (unless Ruby can get just a corner of her towel and pull it out through the cage bars…)

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Video Update

We got Willa out in the backyard for a little outside time on a beautiful Austin day. MJ and I shot this video so you can see how Willa is doing. I’ll post another of her walking this weekend.

Willa's PostOp Progress

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Post Surgery – Birthday Party

Did I mention that today is Mary Jane’s Birthday? Thankfully we have Willa home, it would suck to be without her tonight for MJ. Dinner is take-out Crawfish and beer. Dessert is Bananas Foster.

Willa usually sleeps on our bed. If she were to jump off the bed it would be “catastrophic” to quote our surgeon. So tonight we have to figure out where Bee and I are going to sleep. The easy solution is an inflatable mattress on the living room floor. The mattress is only a few inches off the floor and I can get her outside quickly if I need to. We covered the whole bed with towels because Willa is having a little bowel trouble. She blew her anal glands. We’re going to wash her up tomorrow.

WillaCamp

CCL Surgery Post Op

We picked up Willa this afternoon from the surgical center. Central Texas Veterinary Specialty Hospital is where Willa’s boyfriend Kobe had his knee repaired last year. Dr. Kerpsack is all business, he came highly recommended and I totally understand why. He educated us on what went wrong and different techniques to fix it. He squeezed us in, evaluated and admitted Willa immediately. I was relieved when he called to tell us that the surgery was “Boring and uneventful”. One of the possible complications that result from a Cranial Cruciate Ligament tear is a torn meniscus. In our case Willa only transected her CCL and the meniscus was intact.

So, her post-op radiograph look like this:

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If you love your dogs coat as much as we do you have to prepare yourself for the shave job they do on your dog. Not only is Willa shaved from hock to her spine, but she has a little midline patch taken off of her spine where they administered her epidural. Plus her front paw is shaved for the IV.

Elizabethan Collar

Willa was sent home with an Elizabethan collar. The E-collar is a royal pain in the ass. Quite a while ago we trained Willa to not mess with bandages, sutures or staples. “How?” you may wonder…after she was spayed we spent a couple hours pumping her full of treats when she stayed away from them and put an e-collar on when she would not. She caught on pretty fast. All your hard work on obedience training pays huge dividends at difficult times like these. We don’t take our eyes off of her. So far she is staying away from her sutures.

Therapy and love

We were sent home with very specific instructions for Willa’s mobility. She is only allowed to walk to go out to eliminate and then back to rest. Willa is a dog of action. If she hears the squirrels in the back yard it is her DUTY to scare them off. She will have to transfer that responsibility to Ruby for the time being. They recommended ice packs 4 times a day for 10 minutes if Willa would tolerate it. She does. In fact I am pleased that she just wants the attention.

WillaCouchIce

For today I think that’s it. Gotta figure out where we’re gonna sleep.

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Monday, April 06, 2009

A night without Willa

OK, this sucks. We admitted Willa for surgery to repair her CCL. A great friend of mine suggested I start a journal to chronicle Willa’s recovery. Aki’s dog Jazzy (my most favorite BC ever!) had the same surgery just a few days ago. (Weird isn’t it?) Jazzy and Willa deployed together on Katrina and Ike. You can see her journal at http://cclinjury.blogspot.com/

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