First of all, I would like to say thank you to everyone who was asked and/or sent well wishes. It really means a lot and it is so encouraging; especially when it comes from others that have experienced a similar challenge. Well…without further delays here are the updates.
Side note: I really hope this helps someone in the future.
Post-Op Day 2: What dog doesn’t like peanut butter?!
It started dark and early at 5 a.m when I had to wake up and give him medication. My mom slept downstairs with Ziggy and mentioned he was moving around all night. We were all still pretty exhausted so we went back to sleep and woke up a couple hours later. Ziggy was super excited when he saw us – he knew food was coming! What he didn’t know was that we were going to give him some meds along with his food. Some of the pills didn’t fit in the pill pockets we had so John (my husband) stuffed them in a little ball of peanut butter. Ziggy refused. He just looked at the ball of PB and turned his head away as if saying: “Dad please…how dare you give me that?! I’m not interested.” Seriously Ziggy??!!
The pill struggle lasted about another 20 minutes, we were finally able to get him to take the pill by wrapping it in chicken skin. The rest of the day was pretty laid back; Ziggy napped and cuddled a LOT. Although, we were so surprised at how quickly he was moving around downstairs. The room is carpeted all over so we didn’t have any slipping. Today we noticed the area around the surgery was bruising a bit more. We emailed a picture to the surgeon and he confirmed it was just normal bruising and we should continue to ice (we figured that’s what it was).
Anani (our Mini Schnauzer) spent the whole day around him without any issues – she knows she needs to respect his space (unless he’s getting meds then she wants to join in and get the awesome ‘treats’ too!). We kept Duke (our sweet Pit Bull) away from Ziggy the entire day, just in case. Other than bathroom breaks they didn’t really cross paths which is probably a good thing.
Post-Op Day 3: Let’s go!
Our sweetheart had a bit of a rough night. Last night was super windy and there was a lot of noise outside. At one point according to my mom he jumped up from his bed and ran to the corner where he hid the rest of the night. When we woke up he was hopping all over the room. I took him outside to use the bathroom and had a hard time keeping up with him. He just wanted to take off running! About a minute into it he got tired and didn’t want to move; he just stood there and soaked up the chilly breezy wind. Thanks to Amazon Prime and their same day delivery services we received chicken flavored pill pockets which Ziggy LOVES! Hide the pills in the pocket, mix it up with food and you are set.
Our biggest milestones today were tackling the hardwood floors and a short walk. John brought Ziggy upstairs and he moved around like a champ. To our surprise he didn’t slip and he was moving all around the area just like he would on his quad days. The biggest surprise came when John took him outside to use the bathroom – Ziggy wanted to run! John had to slow him down a bit, our boy looked strong! They had a wonderful little walk to the corner and back (nothing too strenuous on Ziggy); Ziggy didn’t even look tired when they got back.
Anani and Duke are being wonderful paw siblings and just hanging out. As I type this they are all tuckered out by my feet. It’s been another long but pleasant day full of so many first time events. As the days go by I continue to feel peace with our decision to do Ziggy’s surgery, it was the right thing to do, he is happy and pain free! It’s truly amazing to see how animals bounce back from such a life-changing event. If you are a reader struggling with the decision of having your dog going through surgery or not know that last week we were in tears, and today we were laughing. It is not easy by any means but know that your dog (or cat) CAN be happy without one of their limbs.
Have a great night everyone! Until next time!!
