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| Sooooo sleeeepy... |
Riley seems to have turned a corner today. She is pretty consistently putting her foot down and bearing weight on the leg. When she *does* use the leg, it's amazing because she walks the way she did before the attack happened over a year ago. There must have been a small tear in the ligament caused by the attack that just worsened over time until it hurt so badly she didn't want to put weight on the leg. I feel terrible that she suffered for this long. There is a large lump on the inside of the leg the doctor says was caused by the arthritis from her ligament being torn. Unfortunately, that will never go away.
On to the positive news! Her swelling has also decreased from yesterday and her stitches look good. I'm paranoid about infection, so I constantly check her sutures for strange discharge and redness. So far, so good.
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| Swelling is better (note large lump on inside of knee) |
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| Interior view of knee/sutures |
FYI - if your vet prescribes Tramadol (a VERY strong synthetic opiate for pain management) be aware that your pup will not realize when they are full. Riley typically eats only until she is full and then stops. On the Tramadol she will eat herself sick. I didn't understand why she was so hungry until I did a bit of research online about Tramadol. We're now carefully measuring out her portions until she is off the meds.
The other med she is on is called Previcox. This is an NSAID to help with inflammation and promote faster healing. It must be given with food or your pup can develop ulcers and stomach bleeds. UC Davis typically prescribes Rimadyl, but the last time Riley was on it she reacted very badly (hyperventilating, shaking, racing heart, etc). She seems to be handling the Previcox well and isn't having any adverse reactions.
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| *hunting* birds and putting weight on the leg! |
In the picture above you can see she is putting almost equal weight on both legs. It's exciting to see her put her left foot flat when she steps instead of toe-touching like she has done for a long time. I have a few videos to show her progress that I will upload soon.
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| Tiny spay sutures |
Last, but not least, I wanted to show her sutures from her laparoscopic spay. They made a tiny 1cm incision right underneath her belly button for the camera and a 2cm incision farther down on her belly, which is where they inserted the tools and removed her ovaries and uterus. I am extremely happy we decided to go the laparoscopic route. She has not shown any signs of experiencing pain in her stomach and has completely ignored the sutures. I highly recommend you go this route if you have the option.
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