spaz

When it is your birthday, presents are a nice touch, but the health and happiness of yourself and those around you is infinitely more important. Today, I received the BEST present a dog mom could ask for: Spaz got his staples removed!

Spaz got in and out of the car with our temporary makeshift ramp(only until I cam complete his new one). He walked in the office and greeted his recovery tech with whole body wags and kisses. While he got his staples removed his surgeon/orthopedic very came in to talk to me. He is super impressed with how well his recovery is going. Spaz has far exceeded even his expectations! He told us we can stop his pain meds and give as needed, so I will be doing that going forward.

As a special treat, we went to Petco for a toy. Spaz walked around and greeted every person he saw, while carrying around his new toy. We stopped by Starbucks afterwards for a puppiccino and a water. Can we say spoiled?

Going forward we will have a learning curve with ramps, stairs, and jumping,  but I am so proud of hope far he has come already. He looks more like his playful, fun loving self than he has since this whole ordeal started.

 

It’s the fourth day home for the Spaz. Everything is going well, except for one thing… Spaz wants to play! The hardest thing right now is trying to keep him from overdoing it. He feels so much better without that painful leg that he wants to go, go, go! At least he listens when I tell him no and to lay down.

His food intake remains perfectly normal, and he is still using the potty normally. He is allowing me to walk him out, as opposed to him trying run off with me. The looks he gives are full of sass, though. (Ok, Mom.  I’m going slow, see? Gosh, I just want to play. You’re boring, Mom)

Incision looks to be healing up nicely.  We do have a small area of swelling under the incision, but our awesome vet says it shouldn’t be anything to worry about. We’ve measured it and as long as it doesn’t get any bigger, start leaking fluids, smelling, or changing color/ texture, it should be fine and reabsorb into the body.

Just a few more days until we get our stitches checked! Spaz is hoping he can give Mom the best birthday present by being able to have them removed. Fingers crossed! Will be taking notes of various core strengthening exercises with us to make sure we’re given the go ahead to start, or if the vet has any additional resources or requirements for my little big man.

Spaz is my almost 11 year old lovable mutt. Shepard/lab/mastiff mix that I was lucky to find at the shelter when he was 3 months old on what turned it to be the first day he was up for adoption. He whined when I walked away, then spun in a circle plopped his butt down,  and wiggled as I walked back. They let me see him,  he crawled in my lap, ignored the toys,  put his head on my shoulder and snuggled in.  My heart was lost and I brought him home immediately. He’s been my constant companion since.

While he had been the best dog ever, we did have a large rough patch. He was scratching like crazy, losing hair and could never quite get comfortable. We tried limiting his  diet, thinking possible food allergies, to no avail. Finally, we were sent to the doggie dermatologist for answers. With him being allergic to 30 out off 90  allergens, including various types of grass and trees, we went on immuno therapy for awhile. Weaned off that and are now on a regime of apoquil for his allergies with frequent baths to keep everything off his skin. It’s not perfect, but he’s much better with that.

The last two months have been the worst, though. The beginning of May, he fell up the steps to the bed. He started limping, so I took him to my vet. He did an x- ray and said it was clear and that he must have punched a nerve or pulled a muscle. He sent us home with a painkiller and a topical muscle relaxer. No improvement. Went back, more medication. No improvement. Go back. New x-ray, says it doesn’t look like anything. Let’s try an antianxiety pill on top of the pain meds plus lazer therapy. No improvement. Start looking for a new vet. (Also found out during this time that my aunt’s dog had to be put down due to cancer spread all over after a clean visit to same vet two weeks earlier)

Found a new vet where I receive both bad and good news. Bad news, it is cancer. Good news, it is only in the leg and he is a good candidate for amputation. After knowing someone who went through it, plus doing my own research, we scheduled the surgery for one week later.

Surgery happened July 10 at 5pm. One final scam was done to ensure the was no spread since the last visit. Everything was clear and Spaz came through terrifically. From what the x-rays showed, he should need no further treatment. Noon the next day, I was able to pick him up. My mom drove us home, while I rode in the back laying down with him. He was pretty doped up and had some drainage, but overall he was in good spirits.

He ate and had his meds upon arrival at home, and them again around 8 that night. He went outside and did his business(yay! He did both! ) the biggest problem on the first day home was keeping him from running. He wanted to roam, but I kept him close so as to not overdo it.

Day 2 home, he got up and went pee, ate like normal and took his meds. He’s been more playful and much happier then he’s been in months. The smile on his face was brighter than any he has had since he first started limping! He’s gone or a few more times for potty( for one or both) and I’d have to say he is pretty much right on par for a normal day for him, minus keeping him confined to smaller areas both inside and outside.

I’m optimistic that things will keep going as well as they are. I’ll update as I can.