Re: The appointment is made..... Night, night Dexter I truly hope you feel a lot like your old self tomorrow. Lots of love, wags and licks from us. Hope you are alright Angela. Helen xxxx
Re: The appointment is made..... So happy to hear that it all went well and that he's in good spirits. Re. the 10 days - when Obi got bitten we had to wait 10 days to get his stitches out. We optimistically went back at 7 days (because the vet had said 7 to 10 days) but it wasn't ready so we had to go away and come back. So 10 days for a post op check sounds normal to me With ops, the 'withholding food' bit is the bit I feel worst about! Hope you all had a lovely dinner
Re: The appointment is made..... Not had a great night,just as I bedded down with him last night I realised his splint had come off his tail....not a crisis,I am fully equipped in the dressing of tail department....but then he demonstrated how flexible he was and that he could reach his operation sites whilst wearing his collar to be fair he wasn't interested in the wounds ,he wanted to lick underneath this tail where he has been shaved but of course I was bricking it then in case he had a good investigate through the night.so that was me on the floor next to him as I thought if I fall asleep when he's so close to me I will sense him licking( didn't get to sleep to be honest!)Anyway we had a slow start this morning and set off on our walk and 2 mins down the road splint was off ( my fault as I'd dressed it and i obviously need to tape tighter now that his tail is shaved ) so I got him home and redressed AGAIN...only this time there was blood :'( :'( :'( so I dealt with it in as close to a surgical,sterilized way as I could.....it's all protected now but it's still bleeding,I'm taking him straight back this morning.........
Re: The appointment is made..... Oh, that's no good You must be exhausted. When Obi had his bite they said not to worry if it continued to bleed for a bit. I hope it's not much blood in Dexter's case. I'm sure the vet will take care of it all. Hugs to you and Dexter!
Re: The appointment is made..... So glad to hear all went well....now for the recovery!! This was the part that drove me crazy with Simba, as you know. The vet did say that the inflatable cones don't really work for the bigger dogs, which is why I had to use the hard plastic ones to keep him from licking. Here's hoping Dex will be mostly uninterested in it all once the itchiness is past. You are a tail-splint pro - I'm sure you'll get the hang of it of the new style soon!! Make sure you get some sleep and take care of yourself, Angela!! Thinking of you....keep us posted!!
Re: The appointment is made..... Oh dear Angela. This I am sure is much more traumatic for you than Dex I do hope you are both OK. Keep us updated right enough xx
Re: The appointment is made..... Poor Dexter what a horrible time for him . I think Lisa is right, I know those plastic light shade cones are a pain but he will not be able to reach the wounds in one. Please take care and let us know how he is. Get some rest when you get home. Helen xx
Re: The appointment is made..... Angela, wishing Dexter a very speedy recovery, from me and the gang. The spanners are saying that Dex can be an honorary spaniel with his ever so slightly shorter tail.
Re: The appointment is made..... Oh you poor things, hope all is under control and recovery is speedy so you can all get some rest!!
Re: The appointment is made..... Bless you,I keep coming on in the spare time I get and have got so many lovely votes of support I only get to answer and then have to get off again....later I promise to read everyone else's news! Quick update...back from the vet,she was waiting for me in reception!secretly she must think I'm a nightmare but she never lets on.....relief on her face when she unwrapped the wound made me feel a lot better,as I described it on the phone she was fearing the worst...he hasn't split his stitches...the wound is clean,dry( I'd put beta dine on it when it was bleeding ) and uninfected.she thinks he has wagged it and hit it and broken the clotting...he is a bleeder apparently so I guess anything will always look worse that it is in Dex's case. The actual bleeding wasn't scaring me,I guess it's not unreasonable to see some,I'm just so anxious to keep it sealed and pristine clean then we can all move along with tail issues ;D Lisa....WARNING,WARNING!Cone mention approaching! He's wearing the plastic lampshade and he is being unbelieviably good,I think the soft one has got him used to having something on or maybe the poor fella is just fed up and thinks 'why fight!.'....I could cry for him everytime he walk is into something ....which at the moment is a lot,he hasn't got to grips with his new spatial awareness boundaries !as he still tries to follow me around EVERYWHERE I am giving myself permission to sit on my behind for the rest of the afternoon to cuddle our Pops and catch up on here ;D Thanks everyone,bye for now x
Re: The appointment is made..... Angela , I could weep for you, poor lad :'( I honestly think that Labs are dreadful patients , for two reasons , firstly because they are such lumbering lumps and also because they are so heart breakingly pathetic when not on form , just use this as an excuse to do nothing much, loads of cuddles for the lovely boy , Sam and Millie sending licks xxx
Re: The appointment is made..... They do look completely pitiful when not up to par bless them.....hope he works out where his cone edges are and the time flies by!
Re: The appointment is made..... Cuddles for both of you, sound just what the vet ordered! Best wishes from us.
Re: The appointment is made..... Poor Dexter although I'm sure he will be back to normal in no time. Murphy had 3 operations involving stitches. One was to remove a large lump on his flank which required quite a lot of stitches. My worry was keeping them clean and dry as well. However I did risk not having the lamp shade on him if I or somebody else was with him to keep an eye and stop any licking. If he was left on his own and at night the lamp shade went on. I also didn't bother with it when walking. I decided he wasn't likely to be able to get at the wound while he was on the lead. Try not to worry Angela (I know that's a daft thing to say because I'd worry too ) and try to get some sleep Jen
Re: The appointment is made..... Hope things are long brighter today Really glad that everything is basically fine. I'm sure your vet is not at all tired of you!!! She can see how seriously you take your dog's health and welfare and how diligent you are with follow-up care. Any decent vet could only hope that all their clients were like you.
Re: The appointment is made..... Here, here, too many animals neglected so you ring and visit as many times as you want to. Hope Dexter is brighter today Angela, and I hope you got some rest. Helen xx
Re: The appointment is made..... Morning everybody....last night was better ..... Chris took him out for his late walk and he sat down twice so he brought him home......he looked really down in the dumps He settled down and slept really well......the FIRST half of the night in fact at 2am he was so still and quiet I was up like a shot checking he was breathing!!anyway 4 am a different story ,he was up on top of me ( was prepared to waive the not up on the sofa rule ) but he wouldn't keep blumming still,he was bothered and trying to scratch round his ears and his nether ends then I remembered that Lisa used to hold a nylabone for Simba when he was wearing his cone so I got some toys out and tried that but he wasn't satisfied,we went out in the garden but he was just prowling around.i went to the loo and his eyes lot on a toilet roll and I thought what the hell,if it occupies him and distracts him from scratching.... The result .........http://www.flickr.com/photos/97066992@N03/10149329134/ That doesn't matter that's what hovers are for! Yesterday was day one of the cone so I felt it should be left on all the time for him to get used to it.I was going take it off like you Jen today while I'm with him but my day has changed a bit ,my nephew is off school sick and my sister needs to work so I will have him here.....so I'm home all day but if I've got George I might miss Dex having a sneaky lick so I think I will leave it on all day and take it off for his 6 pm walk tonight and when we are sitting with him this eve...he's coping with it,he just looks really miserable.like you said Kate,Labradors seem to have the pathetic look covered when they aren't 100% ...bet little tenacious Millie will sail through her op! Very positive point to all this.......remember last time I couldn't use his harness and had to go back to his lead.....nightmare of pulling nightmares ...well I'm back on the lead because I just didn't want to move the cone at all( bit scared to be honest in case I can't get it back on ) lead walking is good,phew ,phew,phew!dont get me wrong,another dog appears and he will try to pull me.....and for interest and to cheer him up we went a different route and I had to go back to micromanaging him as I think the new smells sent him a bit nuts.....but all in all I have a dog that can mostly walk on a lead acceptably without pulling....for 45 minutes!now there is inspiration for everybody that is currently struggling because he truly was the WORST puller in the park, ;D
