Live Strong, Koda!: Day 2 Post-Op

Koda was pretty tired. He slept until 11:am. I was glad he stayed calm enough to sleep for so long. He did get up a few times in the middle of the night, clumsily bumping into furniture in the dark with his big cone on. But in the morning, he managed to greet me with an ever-so-slight tail wag, which is a good sign. He's still a bit out-of-it.

He hopped out to the backyard (on leash to prevent any break-aways) and urinated. He's not putting the injured leg down at all, but holding it up completely. Later in the afternoon, Koda did his first poop since the surgery. I know, I know - kinda TMI to be blogging about a dog's poop - but when you are concerned about all his bodily functions returning to normal after surgery, this is good news. And yes, for some reason, he's able to put the injured leg on the ground to help balance while he "takes care of his business." I guess a dog does what he needs to do when he really needs to.

Still not putting any weight on the injured leg. But he can move pretty fast on three legs. After the morning potty, we go inside and take a look at how the stitches are doing.

The stitches look good - no oozing, blood or seeping. It just looks kinda Frankenstein. There are more red, blotchy bruises appearing today. And the inflammation from the surgery is causing fluid to pool in his ankle. You can see how it looks bulbous and swollen now. Dr. Munjar said to gently squeeze Koda's foot and ankle to try to disperse the fluid back up into his leg tissue. But Koda would have none of that. So I'm not going to stress him out by manhandling it.

There are a lot of things to take care of at the start of each day now: potty, check the stitches, prepare his raw meat & veggie breakfast, and give him all three of his medications.

The antibiotics and Codeine are bitter, so I hide them in chunks of sharp cheddar cheese. Then give them to him as treats. Nothing like pain killers in cheddar cheese 3X's a day to make a dog feel better!

Then I just mix his anti-inflammatory (which supposively tastes like liver) and his Glucosamine and Chrondoitin suppliment in his food. I'm glad he doesn't attempt to find them and spit them out, as they are big tablets which would require a whole hunk of cheese if I had to trick him into eating them.

Next, ice packing his leg. Luckily, I've had this Thera-Med cold gel-pack for ages from my own injuries. It's soft, flexible and large, which is so much better than a bag of frozen peas. I slip it into an old t-shirt then fold it in half over his leg, like making a pita sandwich. He seems to be pretty relaxed while I ice his leg. I'm sure the lavish petting doesn't hurt either.