11 Days after 2nd Surgery

Post Op #2, Week 1 update: Koda is doing really well! He's walking (dare I say it) better than he was 7 weeks after his TPLO surgery. When walking, he "plants" the left leg more solidly, and it doesn't seem to splay-out as much. This second recovery phase has definitely been a bit easier than the recovery phase after his first surgery. While his leg is still fragile because of the 6 holes in his leg bone, it's not like the tibial head and tibia bone are severed. That part of the leg is healing nicely. This recovery period is for the 6 holes to fill in to solidify his tibia and for the incision to heal, which is "just" a clean soft tissue cut.

Koda refused ice treatments on his leg. And after 3 days, didn't appear to be in any pain, so I stopped his pain killers. Well, that and because he refused to eat them anymore.

Yeah, giving him meds became a big production with lots of foaming and spitting drama...

Because Koda had so many meds to take - anywhere from 1-3 times a day, I had to get creative. His anti-inflammatory meds and glucosamine chrondointin supplements (for strong bones) were liver-flavored (I gather dogs like this), so I could crush these into his raw meat "stew" meals. He wasn't drinking enough water, so I started adding a lot of water to his meals to keep him hydrated, making more of a stew.

But I couldn't mix the antibiotics and pain killers in his food because they were bitter, and once they got wet, the bitterness permeated and he refused to eat his food. I think I wasted a couple doses discovering this, as he left his bowl after one taste.

Medication Tricks:
Because dogs go mostly by smell, I added some wild fish kibble to each of his pill bottles, so that the meds would take on the smell of the kibble. Then we'd play the Kibble Treat Game, where I rapidly toss kibble for him to catch in his mouth and then sneak in a pill in the rapid succession. Because he was so excited about getting treats, he'd just swallow quickly.

Going with this "smell masking" idea, I'd entice him into his kennel with the promise of kibble and then mix a few of his meds in a handful of kibble and bits of chicken jerky. Usually he was so excited to eat the kibble that he's just wolf down the pills too. But then he discovered the icky taste of the pain killers because he used his tongue to lick up the kibble/pills. Foiled.

Other times, I'd prepare 6-7 cheese "treats", with pills in two of them and do the same rapid cheese treat dispersal: cheese, cheese, pill in cheese, cheese... and so on. Because he was so excited to eat the cheese, he'd just swallow and anticipate the next treat. But this method only lasted a few times. He got wise to the cheese treats. I think the moisture of the cheese caused the pain pills to leach out their bitter taste. *sigh*

After all these methods stopped working, I was forced to give Koda his meds "the hard way" - which entailed P holding him still, while I pried open his mouth, dropped the pills in the back of his throat, closed his muzzle and stroked his throat until he swallowed. Koda was NOT happy.

Shaved leg and stitches 8 days after hardware removal.

Shaved leg and stitches 11 days after hardware removal, his fur is growing back amazingly fast. In four days, Koda will have his stitches removed and a check-up with Dr. Munjar. I think at this 2-week mark, he may be allowed to go up and down stairs again. Koda has really, really missed the upstairs bedroom. When we go up the stairs during the day, he waits by the baby gates with this forlorn look on his face. I think he will be much happier once he can sleep upstairs again.