Day 6 Post-Op - Well Enough to Jump

At 4:47am, Koda woke us up with the sound of his dog tags clanking against his cone. Since he didn't go potty before we all went to bed, he needed out in the middle of the night. This was unusual because he is usually one to sleep very soundly through the night. I guess there are always exceptions.

Today, Sunday, was the first day we would be leaving Koda completely unsupervised for a couple hours while we were at church. We put the cone on and fortified the Camp Koda blockade to ensure he would not try to escape.

When we returned, all was well. No drama. No evidence of attempts to escape. He was just sleepy and a bit sullen because he had the cone on.

His stitches are healing up nicely. The skin is smooth and closing up, while his fur is starting to grow back. He has a little bit of fuzz - which feels like suede. Outside, he is now "striding" with his Bionic Leg and actually using it to walk! He does so very gingerly, not putting very much weight on it, but indeed using it to walk. The bruising is almost entirely gone, with barely any trace of redness or purple patches. Just as Dr. Munjar, said, the bruising would be very ugly and get worse, and then *poof* disappear. Looks good!

We did have some drama later in the evening. My husband was getting ready to take him out to the backyard. Koda was amped. He turned his back on Koda while putting on his shoes and the excited dog jumped over the bench! And his bad leg didn't quite clear the bench and hit it! Ouch. Ugh. Need to watch this dog very carefully now. He's obviously feeling good enough to jump over things! After that little stunt, we reinforced that exit with a baby gate covered with a towel so he can't see though it (and thus it appears more solid). So the barricade is about 8 inches higher now.

While physical improvements are welcomed, the recent fussiness about taking his meds and eating is not. It's taking more effort to get him to eat. He seems disinterested in his food and I have to practically spoon feed him. Not really sure what that's about. It could be that he feels he is so inactive that he's not hungry. Koda is not like most dogs, who will eat any chance they get. He self-regulates.

Here you can see that the swelling in his leg and ankle are gone. His leg is back to normal proportions. He's gotten his regal and nonchalant expression back on his face, as well.

I also started manual physical therapy with Koda today - passive range of motion for his knee. He let me handle his leg and gently flex and stretch his leg to work his knee a bit. We just do it 10-15 times per session, 2-3 times a day.