One week in…
Sebastian came home a week and an hour ago. In that time, he’s made some significant progress. He hasn’t whimpered in days, which I’m sure is a good sign, he’s up and down the couple of stairs from the backdoor into our yard without a problem, and he’s getting up and moving around much quicker and with less hesitation. Combined with the good stuff, he has a couple of weird things going on… He has NO appetite for dry kibble anymore for starters. Give that dog a hot dog, some pie, or almost any other “people food,” and he gobbles it right down, so at least he’s eating. (But let’s face it, who would want dry doggie kibble of you could have people food?!) Also, he seems to be drinking quite a bit more water than before the amputation. Not sure what that’s about, but thinking maybe it’s from all of the pain medication? I’m totally speculating and making that up honestly. Also, he’s peed in the house multiple times in the last 24-ish hours. He didn’t have any accidents the first several days, but overnight last night, he left us several yellow floods, most of which were on the rugs we just bought. Fortunately, they’re machine washable (at least the runners are… The area rugs don’t really fit so we will hose them down in a car wash bay tomorrow or the next day… For now they’re rolled up waiting for their journey to cleanness…), but just the same it’s not the perfect situation. After peeing all over the place overnight, when I woke up this morning and got up out of bed to let him out, he stood up and just started peeing right on the rug where he’d been sleeping. I’m not going to worry too much about it yet, but I’m hoping it stops, well, pretty much now. The other weird thing he’s doing is laying places he never used to go at all – for example, he keeps crawling under the booth in our dining room, which let me tell you, isn’t a large or comfortable looking place to be. To top it off, once he’s down there, he curls himself around the base of the booth, and then he has a heckuva time getting back out from under there. He’s also been laying directly in front of our front door and in his brother Brody’s crate. Until the surgery, I don’t recall him ever laying in any of those places. The crate I can understand to some extent since it’s close to the backdoor, but near the front door (which is clear across the house), and especially under the booth, strike me as particularly strange.
All that said, I still believe we made the right decision; the pain from the oozing, bloody, pudding-like mass is gone, neither he nor our other canine-kids seem to notice his leg is gone at all, and his incredible adaptability and progress still continue to amaze me.
5 comments so far
5:15 pm - 6-20-2014
Thanks for the update…I’ve been thinking about him and wondering how he is doing. (and you guys). I would tend to think the increase in fluids could be from the pain meds, as well, which would cause increase in output. However, the behavior (and incontinence locations) seems odd. I’ll see Dr. KJG tomorrow night..out of my own curiosity, I might just run the behavior by her to see if she has run into anything like that. Glad he is on the mend though! Miss you!
5:30 pm - 6-20-2014
You rule. And I miss you too!!
9:10 pm - 6-20-2014
I just found your blog and want to say welcome and what a great name!! Does your Sebastian like kitty cats? My Sebastian sure hopes so!
I wish you and Sebastian the best with the rest of recovery. I hope the incontinence really is just the medication…pain meds do weird things like that. And regarding him sleeping in unusual locations, is it possible he’s trying to get away from the “action areas” of the house? Just a thought…if you have a busy house, maybe he’s looking for some peace and quiet to relax. I have no idea!
Again, good luck with recovery (and my Sebastian might have gotten some people food for a while too…shh).
8:31 pm - 6-21-2014
Overall a GREAT report! I too would think the thirst could be from the meds but you definitely want to let your vet know about that, along with the peeing in inappropriate places. It could be the sign of something like a side effect from the meds, but definitely let the vet know. The denning that he’s doing is common, many dogs will do that when they’re recuperating but again, that could be related to the thirst and urination. Call your vet about that OK? And keep us posted.
Don’t forget the pix next time!
6:03 pm - 6-26-2014
It has been a struggle to get Leland to eat. He too had turned away from his dry kibble. For a while there I was only able to get him to eat whatever meat I grilled up for him (pork, chicken, even steak) and even then he didn’t eat a whole lot. Leland also went through drinking a lot of water which even continued after all the meds from the amp were gone. I took him to the vet to have blood work run, one because his Thyroid level needed to be rechecked and two because I was concerned with the excessive fluid intake and urination. Plus Leland has had some drastic weight loss (86.5 lbs on 6/11 to 76 lbs on 6/20) so needless to say my husband and I have been concerned about our boy. Our vet suspects we are dealing with an auto-immune disorder (muscle wasting around the head and face) so now the poor thing is on another anti-biotic, Prednisone (which increases thirst and urination but has been great for his appetite), and an iron supplement.
So don’t feel alone in that Sebastian has peculiar things going on since the surgery. Leland doesn’t seem to try to get himself into tight spaces but he has started licking excessively…he licks his paws and my husband and me. He was never much of a licker before.
Good luck with things and hopefully both our boys will get straightened out.
Sahana and Leland