Chances story

Well, most of them. There are a few that they want to leave in for a few more days. The vet called them tension stitches, but they come out Wednesday.

Chance finally figured out that he can come upstairs by himself today. I will still be helping him, but I think he has it. I think he was pretty bummed this morning when we got outside for our morning walk and there was no snow left.

The vet also prescribed another week of Cephalexin and Tramadol. But what a great day. Good luck to everyone and have a wonderful night.

Chance and I have had a busy few days. He is totally off pain meds and is doing great. He gets his stitches out tomorrow and this morning we got a rare treat, a walk in the snow. I will post more when we get back from the vets tomorrow.

Had a great rest of the day. Here is a picture. More to follow.

Chance celebrating 1 week ampuversary

It has been a very busy weekend, but today is Chances 1 week ampuversary. Day six was our biggest set-back so far, Chance seemed to have no energy all day. I could barely get him to go potty. But, Day seven has dawned and Chance seems to be his old self again. He is taking regular hops, and is having regular bowel movements and urinations. He chewed up the straps on his new RuffWear harness. Meaning, he is definitely closer to his old self than before. Thankfully, my good friends wife is an excellent seamstress and can fix it. All in all, a decent couple of days.

So, as we close the door on day five, I am continually amazed by Chance. He is pretty much his old self again. We picked up a Ruffwear web master harness that a few of you told me about. It is a wonderful tool. And he looks good wearing it. Now, they just need to make one with brakes. All he wants to do is run, I don’t think he even realizes that he is missing a leg at all. He never slows down until it’s bedtime. I am not sure what I really expected him to be acting like, but I didn’t think he would be like this already. His mom was exhausted trying to keep him from jumping on the bed though. Normally he likes to lay down and snuggle with her but she cant lift him up because he is too heavy and didn’t want him to hurt himself getting into the bed. But he is jumping up onto the couch on his own if we aren’t watching him close enough. Any way, it has been a very good day.

On a side note, I want to post a few pictures of Chance, but I can’t figure out how. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Today was a much better day. Aside from Chance popping a stitch and bleeding a little, everything was very positive. He had two BMs and he peed once. We went for five walks today, the longest being about 6 blocks. He took his pills alot better after I coated them with peanut butter. I think he is starting to get wise to that though. Here is a question I have for any one who reads this, my friend has Parkinsons and he has a balance dog to help him walk. He wears a vest with a short leash that attaches above his shoulders. Anyone know where to get something like that? I think that might help out a lot.

Thanks to all who have commented on this blog for Chance. All the support and tips have been a great help. His recovery has been amazing, even after only four days.

Sorry about not posting last night. It was a day of ups and down, and by 9pm, I was ready for bed. Chance made some big steps to recovery yesterday. He had his first post-op bm yestereday. Actually, he had two. He is also trying to run while on his leash. He is walking around our block without getting too tired and I think he would go longer, but I am worried about trying to do to much to soon.

It is getting harder to get him to take his meds, even when wrapping them in cheese. All in all, He is making an amazing recovery. They sure heal and are mobile alot faster than us.

I will try to write more tonight.

Well, That had to be one of the longest night I have ever experienced. Chance seemed to be in a lot of distress. Finally around 2am, he let me know he needed to go to the bathroom. So, we went down stairs and I put his leash on him and looped a towel under his chest. After about 15 minutes of doing laps in the muddy back yard, I was ready take him back inside. He refused and finally urinated for the first time since bringing him home. After getting his feet wiped down, we came back up-stairs and now he was full of energy. He and I gently played for about 45 minutes before he was ready to go back to bed. Instead of putting his cone back on him and putting him back in his kennel, I brought him into bed with my wife and I. He seemed to really enjoy being there, as that was where he slept before the accident. He still moved around a bunch and kept me awake most of the night, but at least he slept. And since it is his recovery and not mine, I guess it is better for him to get the sleep. But, boy am I exhausted. He took his pain meds and antibiotics with no trouble this morning. Well, I gotta try to go to work. Gonna be a long day after no sleep. I check in with everyone later with an evening update. So long for now.

It has been a very interesting day all the way around. Chance is definitely getting restless. I am not even sure he knows the leg is missing yet. I stayed home today to be with him and a friend stopped by to check on us. Chance has been staying with us in our up stairs bedroom. When he heard the doorbell and my buddy walked in, Chance jumped up out of his kennel and ran down the hallway and halfway down the stairs before we could stop him. Honestly it scared me badly thinking he could fall down the stairs. But, he was fine.
We took a lot of hops around the back yard today. He can make about three laps before he is noticeably tired. On one of our trips, he tried to jump in his pool and take a swim. It is totally amazing to me how resilient they are. He is definitely starting to get around better. And his vet is astounded by his progress. For being only 27 hours out of surgery, I have to say, I am amazed as well.
We are going to stop the Buprenex injections, because he is fighting the medication too much and stick with the pill form medications.
I have to go to work tomorrow, but I have a friend who is going to sit with him during the day and give him his noon time meds. All in all, It has been an amazing day!

Well, we all seemed to sleep the night through. Some of us better than others. We got up at 4:30am to administer antibiotics and injectable Buprenex. His appetite and thirst have returned somewhat. And he is trying to sit up to eat.
He was acting like he needed to go potty, so I looped a towel under his chest and we tried to “go”. He is already trying to hop a little, but due to the pain killers, he is pretty unsteady on his feet. He made it about twenty or thirty hops and then he was through.
I can tell he is very uncomfortable, but his spirits seem good. His personality is rapidly coming back, even with the pain killers. So far I would say he is doing a lot better than either I or his vet expected. I will write more tonight about how the day went.
And a big thank you to all who are a part of this great site.