Doing Well

Maggie's surgery was on Friday, and she has been doing well afterwards. After the first day she ended up taking out about 5 or 6 of her staples on her tummy, so we had to take her back and they drained some fluid and stitched her back up. Her tummy is still pretty big, but Dr. Henderson told us that was just a combination of fluid and swelling.

When we brought her home. Still really out of it!

This is her tummy... BEFORE she ripped all of her staples out!

Since she hasn't really been eating, he told me I could start feeding her some Ensure, baby food, or some yogurt for some nutrition. She has been eating that, but she still has mucusy diarrhea, which has been going on for a while. I just hope to get her back in the routine of eating her normal hard food but I don't really know how to.

My dad's sense of humor.

Her incision looks good. I'm actually surprised its holding up, the collar she has isn't big enough so she can get around it and lick and bite at her stitches and staples. She has been resting a lot, but one thing that has been bothering me is her shaking. Not normal little dog shaking either, almost like a Parkinsons (for a human reference...) like shaking. It comes and goes, and I don't think she is chilly. She also gets very, very anxious and restless sometimes, mainly at night. She won't calm down and will just yell and whine at us. I'm hoping she is just wanting out of the kennel and she isn't in pain.

Oh, and also... I noticed some blood on my hand after holding her Friday. I checked it out, and her poor little nipple was barely hanging on! I asked the vet about it when we took her to get some stitches in, and he said the clippers caught it. They just about took it off... that has to hurt.

Otherwise, she is doing GREAT! I'm so excited to see that she has progressed so much in so little time. I am so very thankful. We will return to the vet on Friday to get her staples and stitches removed, and probably discuss her pelvic surgery. We'll see.

Relaxing next to momma :)

Sleepy time.

Good and Bad News

Good news! Sensation has returned in her right foot. When you pinch it or touch it, she looks back to check out what you're doing. Yay!

Resting with momma :)

Maggie had a check-up visit today with Dr. Henderson. We informed him that her appetite has diminished to close to nothing, and she is still having loose stools with mucus in them. He checked her out and did another X-Ray. He said her loose bowel movements are to blame on the medicine, Previcox. He noticed her tummy is still pretty big and the attention immediately turned to that. He palpated her stomach for a bit and told us she has an abdominal hernia, and will need surgery tomorrow morning. Her belly is so big because that is her intestines. This is why she has no appetite. We are keeping her tonight and she will be able to come home after the surgery tomorrow. He told us the surgery is common and nothing to stress about. I hope so. Wish us luck!

This is her belly. Its a lot bigger on the right side than the left.

Day 5

Yesterday was a little less easy going than the last, but not too much. Since she has not been eating her hard food, we have been giving her soft canned food. Like I mentioned earlier, this loosened her bowels and she went to the bathroom 4 times yesterday. She is a fluffy thing, so it got all over her fur on her back end, and I would have to clean her up every time. 

The vet advised us not to bathe her just yet, but I want to so bad. The first time was really messy, so I just held her up and ran her back end under some warm water and cleaned her up. After that, which was really difficult to do myself, I have started holding her tail up while she does her business. Sometimes when she urinates she will get some on her leg too. I clean her up with some doggie wipes or Huggies Baby Wipes afterwards. I am so proud she hasn't had an accident in her kennel!

These are the wipes we use. We got them at a grocery store and they work really well!

She slept well during the day yesterday, but got very anxious and restless towards the end of the day. I didn't know what to do. I took her out because sometimes she starts to whine and move around when she needs to go outside. That wasn't it, so I figured she was either in pain or was just plain pissed she was in that kennel. She was shaking (which she used to do before the accident, anyway) but then she would start panting, which is a sign of pain. Couldn't tell if it was just her being worked up or not. Also, while washing her off, I realized how badly bruised she is. Basically the entire back half of her body is dark purple, besides her left leg. Her right leg is still extremely swollen and bruised as well.

Dr. Henderson is trying to wean her off of her narcotic pain medication, so we were sent home with a very, very small amount to last us until wednesday. She was getting 1 ml in the morning and 1 ml at night, and we got sent home with probably about 2 - 2 1/2 mls to last us a week. We really have to ration it and it's killing me seeing her hurting! But she is also getting a non-narcotic pain medication and anti-inflammatory as well as an antibiotic everyday. Hopefully that is doing something. I give her about 1/4 ml if she looks to be hurting and see how she acts after that.

As for her ACE bandage sling we have been using to help her have support and balance while sniffing out the perfect place outside, I think she really enjoys it. She won't stop! Its almost like she gets very frantic but in a very excited way. I have to stop her and tell her to calm down, I don't want her to hurt herself. She is really impressing me!

Surprisingly she slept well last night, she finally calmed down and went to sleep. I have been sleeping on the living room floor next to her kennel and she only woke up once and whined for a minute then went back to sleep. She is doing well this morning, but had another loose BM. Tried to get her to eat hard food with no avail, checked her teeth to make sure her mouth isn't injured (per advice from a forum, didn't even think of that) and she was fine. Heated up some hard food with a little water to soften it, and mixed a very small amount of the canned food with it to give it that smell. She ate it! But she isn't drinking as much water as before. She is being so good, though. More to come later!

Resting well with her friends!