Month: March 2016

Chloe’s first rehab/physical therapy appointment last Friday went really well. No real surprises – more to come later in the week about that!

The doctor encouraged us to give the stairs a try, with her harness.

I’m not convinced we have the right fit on her harness, as it twists a bit on her. She doesn’t seem fond of it – I think the twisting makes her short hairs poke her a bit. So she seems extra apprehensive when wearing it, which makes her apprehensive on the stairs. Her butt/back end comes out to the side, I’m not sure if she’s doing that on purpose to keep her balance, or if it’s part of her new weight distribution. Chloe just does not seem confident when faced with going down the stairs, and this morning she just didn’t want to do it at all. Then I feel stressed, and she feels stressed, and can you see where this is going? (Reminder: be more dog!)

I wish there was something more one piece/stretch in all directions/fitted to her body that served as a harness. I’ll keep looking, and maybe try to rig something up.

Good news, is that going up the stairs is a breeze. She’s very comfortable, very confident, and a little too fast.

Because of the stairs anxiety, she doesn’t want to be in her crate when we are gone. Which is an issue. Chloe & Jenson do not have the personality types for being out in the house on their own. J cleared the baby gate last week, ate some shoes (he never destroys unless he’s home alone & anxious), and used the potty in every room of the house. Crate training keeps them safe, and keeps us sane. So, I’m wondering if anyone has experience with dog pheromones? The doctor recommended giving those a try, but I should have asked more questions because I’m not sure where to start.

Chloe-bear’s one month ampu-versary has come and gone without an update! Life has been b.u.s.y. BUSY in our house. Chloe is moving so quickly now that getting an okayish picture of her with my phone has been hard! But we are all doing really well.

We have still not tried the stairs with Chloe, but in my gut I think that she’d take them like a champ, wondering what we were so worried about. I had it on my to-do list for the weekend, to fit her Webmaster harness/brush guard to her body, but once again I did not get that accomplished.

I mentioned to Joe, before Chloe’s surgery, that she seemed less happy. Her nub was wagging less, she didn’t seem as excited to see us. This weekend, it occurred to me that her nub is wagging almost constantly now. I have no regrets about having the amputation performed, but realizing that her happy is back when I never even knew it was missing, was a great realization. We already knew that we did the right thing, but all the little signs confirming that are comforting.

On Friday, Chloe has an appointment with Twin Cities Animal Rehab. We hope that Tripawds Foundation still has grants available once we’ve finished our visit. I had seen a post on Tripawds about how to make your own wobble board – we wanted to give that a try. Silly me, I didn’t bookmark it and now I can’t find it. Anyone know where it is? Please comment with the link if you do! 🙂

What’s a blog post, without a few pictures?

Barking at the people walking by on the street. Yeah, her fur-brother Jenson took front and center in this pic. But Chloe is there, bathed in sunlight!

 

Smiling and sniffing outside. You can see just a bit of the scabs there, which are almost all off now on their own.

 

 

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I haven’t had much to update! Chloe is 22 days post-amp and honestly? It’s kind of like she’s been this way all along.

Spring is here and Chloe is l-o-v-i-n-g life. So many smells outside. Sunshine! Dirt! People walking by to bark at! She’s been running all over our yard – maybe too much? But she loves it and it’s hard to stop her. So far, no pain or other problems from her increased activity. She’s actually been pain meds free for a few days!

We have yet to try the stairs or the harness with her. We’ve been making do with blocking her in the kitchen when we are gone, but I think we need to fit her harness and give it a try.

Every day, just in awe of her. So inspirational!

 

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Chloe is 17 days post amputation and doing great! Her happy kidney bean nub wag is back in full force which is amazing! Such a great thing to see.

Her stitches were removed on Monday. She licked at that area tonight – my guess is that the little scabs are itchy. Experienced Tripawd parents, do I need to put the cone back on?

We are done with Rimadyl, and have a few more days left, tapering out the Gabapentin. She’s been taking 1-2 Tramadol a day. She’s been very comfortable!

She tried to sneak down the steps to our basement the other day. We aren’t ready for that, but she seemed eager. I believe our harness should be here tomorrow so maybe after that.

We found a local place that does physical therapy for dogs, so we are going to make an appointment and hopefully get a reimbursement from the Tripawds foundation. I meant to bookmark it, but forgot – we want to make a wobble platform for her to work out at home.

Things are just going really well. So proud of her strength and spirit!