Chloe is home! But, wow, this is hard. Really hard. As soon as she settles in and we start to feel comfortable that we are doing all we can for her, she gets up and is restless again. I have a feeling this is normal for the first few days (weeks?) but it is so hard.
We had a 2:15 appointment to go over aftercare with the vet, and to take Chloe home. I cried like a lunatic when we arrived, and again as soon as she walked in thru the door with the vet. Her incision! It’s so big! And what did she do? She jumped up on us as soon as she saw us, nub wagging! Which made me laugh and cry even harder.
As they’ve been saying, she did wonderfully., Really, better than expected 24 hours out from a major surgery. She came home with a Fentanyl pain patch, and three bottles of pills. Rimadyl, Tramadol, and Simplicef.
The car ride home was stressful. She’s a pain in the butt to take in the car anyway – she has to look out all the windows and refuses to settle down – and on four legs she was always slipping around. With three? I was so worried. I sat in the back with her and tried to get her to calm down, and yes, we made it home safely and uninjured.
She walked up the two steps into our house with no issues. She went straight to her water dish and d-r-a-n-k. She was so thirsty. And of course, we bought her an elevated bowl but she looked at it like it was poison, and drank from her regular dish on the floor. I guess I’m glad we bought a cheaper one, instead of the nice, modern looking $80 elevated dish. It was her normal meal time, but she wouldn’t touch her kibble so we gave her some ground beef, and the last few bites we had left from a rotisserie chicken.
We were able to keep Jenson relatively calm – he was very curious, but it is almost like he knew something was wrong because he didn’t jump on her like he normally would after they’ve been separated.
We then got her settled in the living room on her dog bed, then the floor, then the dog bed again… she’s been a bit restless. Needing to move every 40 minutes or so.
My husband had to leave – to go pick up some soft dog food for her, and to get our kids from daycare. Chloe about lost it. She’s not usually an anxious dog (unless she’s separated from Jenson), but she became distraught when Joe left. She started whining and panting, and I worried that she needed pain meds earlier than the doctor said she was due to get them. So much so, that I called the Tripawds Hotline (I’ve already forgotten your name, but THANK YOU for helping me calm down!) and talked thru how Chloe was acting and how I was feeling. I ended up giving her one Tramadol, and eventually she settled down.
When Joe and the kids got home – it was a little rocky at first. Jack, our three year old, said he was upset that Chloe only has three legs now, and said he didn’t want a three legged dog. However, he was very sweet with her, very gentle, and at one point when Chloe whined I heard him whisper “Chloe, it’s ok. It’s ok, my bear-bear.” so I know he’ll do just fine with her. Ava, our 18 month old, did fine. She was gentle when we asked her to be, and she didn’t bodyslam Chloe so we’ll consider that a win.
Chloe has been really restless about every 3 hours, so we’ll just see how things go. This is really hard. I knew it would be, but it’s just really hard. It’s so hard to know what the cause for the whining is, and I really want to just make her comfortable. She’s finally resting right now (using my husband’s legs as a pillow) and I’m just grateful to hear her soft snores.
We have an appointment with the vet on Saturday to remove the pain patch, and do an incision check.
Pictures below, some are of her stitches which are a little jarring. Proceed with caution.
Sniffing the fresh air.
This is tough to see. We were told to watch the saggy part at the bottom of her scar, for fluid build up.
I guess we’ll just see what tomorrow brings. I’m home with her tomorrow, and Friday. The weekend will be a whole new ballgame, with the kids home full time, so I’m nervous about that. One step at a time, I guess.
