Our 14 week baby fractured is elbow in 3 spots. He is wearing a splint now for 2 months. He has to be on strict kennel rest for the next 2 weeks. He is also wearing a cone to prevent him from chewing on his splint. Does anyone have ideas on how to keep him happy while in his kennel? We take him out for 30 min periods, but only to be on his pillow so that he can have some human contact. He does have chew toys but he tires of those quickly. Its so hard to keep a puppy from playing.
I'm so sorry to hear about your puppy's injury . I hope he has a smooth recovery. JulieT has created an excellent thread on things your can do with your dog on restricted exercise. Have a look: http://thelabradorforum.com/forum/n...-things-to-do-for-dogs-on-restricted-exercise
So very sorry to hear about your puppy. Julie T is the best person I can think of to help you, but I don't think your young one can really do very much yet. Have you got a Kong which you can fill with his meal/food. That would take time to eat and give the puppy something to do. I am sure you being with your puppy and talking to him is helping him. Sorry I am not much help, but other members will be.
My nearly 10 year old Lab broke his elbow at 16 weeks and had surgery and cage rest completely for one month etc and he was 8 months old before I could do any heel work etc. Looking back, I wish now I had taken him out in the car and let him sit and watch the world go by. JulieT has plenty of ideas for you - ah see there is already a post for you with a link. Just wanted to give you encouragement that my oldish Lab does not have any arthritis in that elbow. The Vet from referral hospital recommended Synoquin which is Glucosamine and Chondroitin which I have used ever since. I empathise with you, but it will pass. Maybe your pup's break is not too bad as I would have expected surgery and not a splint, so that is encouraging.
So sorry to hear about your pup's elbow. How did he do it? It is tough keeping a young puppy quiet, and it is also really tough on them - they don't understand, and can get really frustrated. You'll need to check with your vet to understand exactly how much movement it's ok for your puppy to do, and once you have a good understanding of that, you can collect up all the ideas that are suitable for him, and work out a programme that gives him as much to do as possible. Things that you never would have considered 'things to do' for a young dog before, become important. When they have nothing at all to do, even moving them from their crate to be with you in a pen on the floor is a change for them. Immediately after my dog's operations, I spent a lot of time on my kitchen floor, on a blanket, with no furniture in the kitchen and the entrance gated off, just being with my dog and hand feeding him his meals in exchange for a nose bump on the hand (with him lying down, still). Even things like this are better than nothing for them, anything that keeps their minds occupied for a while. Best of luck with it, I hope he heals quickly and well.
After Juno's op for ED I was lucky and didn't have to crate her but only because she's such a quiet girl. Games you can play are leave it, give, take and also hand touch. Watch Cooper's diet as they very easily gain weight while restricted due to lack of exercise.
Thank you everyone I really appreciate it! We are trying our best to give him as much human time as possible, including sitting on the floor with him. food truly is his favourite so it will be hard to keep him from gaining weight. Sometime in the night his splint came off. Not sure how he did it because he can't chew it. Off to the vet we go.
Sorry to hear this... As Stacia mentioned I'd be getting him out and about (in the car and then on lead) to places to just experience the world (shops, airports, cafes...). He doesn't have to do any walking. Just sit and experience... That'll help to occupy his brain a bit, will keep up his socialisation and will help him to learn to be calm and patient in different environments.
Hope there's no problem getting the splint back on, it's amazing how they manage to get to things or undo things when we think there's no way for them . While Juno was on restricted she had been receiving her normal food allowance plus her treats but with the lack of exercise our lovely vet mentioned that she thought she looked a little plumper than normal and the scales revealed that she had gained more than her normal amount of weight. Reduction in food and treats had her back on track within 2 weeks - worth bearing in mind.
Thank you for the advice everyone. I am pretty sure that Cooper has already started to put on weight. He loves the extra treats. We are mainly sticking with carrots or peanut butter kongs. He is doing surprisingly well on kennel rest. When he is calm, we take him out to lay on his pillow and chew on his bone. Thank you for the link. I'm going to get started on doing some of those things. Only 1 and half weeks of kennel rest to go. We are counting our blessings. Some have much longer stays on rest.
Best of luck with it. The treats don't really need to be extra - just use his normal food allowance (reduced a bit, of course, because he isn't doing much exercise). You can really afford to be giving it away for free in a bowl, so you can use all of his food in entertainment....
Be careful with the peanut butter ss it contains alot of calories and that it doesn't have and sweeteners added.
Sorry to read this,it sounds like you are managing fairly well,I had to keep Dexter calm for month when he had his tail docked so I can sympathise with you,and Dexter was a lot older than Cooper. Did you get him re set ok? x
Cooper is 4 days away from kennel rest ending. He has been doing so well. Yesterday Cooper started limping on his splinted leg. I don't know why. If he is out of his kennel on his pillow he is strictly monitored and we stop any form of play and return him to his kennel. The only time he gets to walk is when he is outside going to the bathroom. I really hope that this is not bad news for him.
Oh I'm so sorry to read this, I hope his recovery goes well. I spent a lot of time with my girl in the car often traveling for 20 mins for a 5 mins walk just to keep her contained. Luckily she loves the car. Certainly the restricted exercise thread was invaluable. I wish you the best of luck and hope the time passes quickly. X
A trip to the vet and a splint change seems to-so far- have worked to stop him from limping! If that doesn't work, they will do an X-ray on Monday. We are crossing our fingers and toes. Rides in the car is a great idea, but Cooper hasn't decided if he likes them or not. He cries for the first 10 minutes but then settles down only if someone is holding him.
Cooper made it through kennel rest! He went for a splint change on Tuesday, and on Wednesday we went back for another splint change as the first one slipped down on his leg. Today we went back to the vet because Cooper was limping again and not really wanting to bear weight on his leg. The vet was concerned enough that she wants to do X-rays again and for that they need to put Cooper under. When will my poor baby get better? He hasn't been doing much since his kennel rest ended. He has been out of his kennel supervised for only a couple hours at a time and he really hasn't done much walking. We are trying so hard and I feel so bad!
You poor thing, this must be so stressful. You're really doing your best, even though you can't explain it to Cooper, so try not to feel bad. I'm sure the X-rays will help to narrow things down. It does take some weeks for a fractured bone to heal, as well as any other soft tissue that got a jolt when the break happened. Young animals do heal very well though, so I'm sure that in the end he will be fine. When is the next X-Ray going to happen?
Thank you Oberon! Cooper had his X-ray and they are not sure so they are sending it to a radiologist. They didn't put his splint back on because they figure it is causing discomfort. So now he is back in his kennel until we hear from the vet tomorrow and crossing fingers that he settles and doesn't cause any more damage to his leg. This is almost torture for both of us.
