Week 3, long walks

We've made it to week 3, that's 25% of the way there!! Nothing much has changed. Moxie is still showing improvements and is becoming increasingly frustrated with being locked up downstairs at night. We've been able to extend her walks and this morning we took her to La Taza, the local coffee shop. This has been her normal morning routine and she was very excited to go again. I had taken her most of the way there in the beginning of the week so she was ready to go, distance-wise. We'll start walking her there every morning and will take her on shorter walks later in the day and increase those over the next two weeks. In about two weeks she'll be able to do 20-30 minute walks which will take us up to the downtown mall and back.

We're still letting her on the couch in the evenings, by far her favorite part of the day. In a few weeks we'll start devising plans to bring her upstairs while assisting on the stair climbs. Going up will be the easy part, going down will be harder as it'll be harder to assist her.

Almost the end of week 2: Day 19?

Moxie is doing great! We went on three walks today, and Gracie came on one, too. Moxie sat on the front porch with me this afternoon while I did some work. I could tell that she was happy for an extended period of fresh air. Moxie also continues her nightly routine of cuddling on the couch-see photos above from a few nights ago. The vet hospital called to check on Mox, too, and I was happy to give them a positive report. I look forward to when Moxie can sleep with us upstairs again-we'll need to help her with the stairs of course. I know she's lonely downstairs-she whined a little bit last night. Poor baby!

End of Week

Tomorrow will be two weeks from the surgery and Moxie's doing great. Full of energy and life as usual. Her leg is getting much better and the stitches have almost completely dissolved. She's walking great and is putting much more weight on her leg. We're still working on increasing her range of motion so that she gets over the stiffness. She's happy to get out of the house on her 2-3 walks a day. We're extending the time to 10 minutes per walk now. In another week or two we'll be able to walk her 4-5 times a day.

2 weeks down only 8 more to go!

Wednesday, day 9

It's been over a week since Moxie's surgery and I'm starting to lose track of how many days it is exactly-this is my best guess! Moxie continues to improve and her fur is growing back. The biggest change I've noticed is that she's freely barking at anything and everything outside, including me coming home. In other words, she's back to her old, vocal self. She is also up and ready to greet me when I come downstairs in the morning or home from work. I always have to remind her to not jump. She appears to be spending more time walking around in her hallway and less time laying on her beds. Also, if we don't pay enough attention to her she lets us know-barking and whimpering. I've been trying to keep her occupied with food toys and peanut butter kongs which are a temporary solution. Eric has been taking her on longer walks up and down the block and Moxie is taking longer strides. We've also had a few cuddle sessions on the couch.

Day 7

Moxie is definitely getting more antsy, spending more time standing up and barking and wandering around in the hallway. She went on two short walks today up and down and block and really enjoyed it. We made sure that she walked very slowly and carefully. Her hair is starting to grow back on her leg, too. In the evening we let her out and she hung out in the living room with us. Gracie wanted to give her lots of kisses!

Day 6

It was great to be able to stay home with Moxie today. I made sure I spent some quality time with her in the hallway. We walked Gracie downtown and got some puppy cookies and brought one back for Moxie, too, as a special treat. We are keeping up the physical therapy and Moxie is spending more time sitting, which is a good sign. The first few days she would just lay down when she rested. Now, she will sit for a minute before she goes all the way down. I was worried that Gracie was feeling left out because Moxie was getting so much extra attention, so I got her a new stuffed monkey at Target-see video.

Day 5

We gave Moxie a big treat last night, time on the couch! She was more than excited! I picked her up to put her on the couch with 'Nette and sat below so that she couldn't move off. She was wiggling all about and cuddling up as much as possible. We left her up for about 1/2 an hour before we were tired from petting her so much. Overall things are going well and she's walking more normally. She's getting accustomed to her hallway abode and is even going back in more and more willingly after walks. We're almost a week in and are looking forward to extending her exercise regiment.

Day 4

So what I thought would be the hardest part, watching my dog in pain, has not really materialized. We've cut back the pain medication, she's still getting her anti-inflammatory pill regularly but only taking the real pain medication prior to her PT (physical therapy). She's doing fine with the PT and seems okay with the movements.

The hardest part is keeping her quite especially on her short potty breaks. We've had to use her choke collar when taking her out because she's ready to go! She's walking almost like normal. She's using all four legs to walk although still tentative on the repaired knee. Overall great spirits, especially when outside and when she's getting the attention she wants. I'm looking forward to being able to take her on short walks soon! Next week we'll start increasing the walk times so that hopefully she'll be able to walk to LaTaza (local coffee shop).

Day 3

Moxie continues to improve! When I went downstairs this morning she was excited to see me. She went outside and refused to go back inside. I had to wrap my arms around her and drag her in back to her hallway. She ate breakfast and I sat with her before I went to work. During lunch I did some PT with Moxie and gave her a warm compress. Eric also gave her a compress later in the day and we did her exercises again. Eric rubbed her ears which helped. She didn't flinch or whine-she was willing to let me manipulate her leg with no complaints. The incision is a little bruised but clean and healing well. Her ankle is a slightly swollen with fluid but that is normal and should go down in the next few days.
Moxie has spent more time standing today and barking at people-we've had several visitors, as well as random people walking on the sidewalk. When Eric took her outside mid afternoon she tried to jump on him. I've witnessed lots of toe touches and even some weight bearing walking on the healing leg. We also decreased her pain medication doses without ill effects. It sounds crazy but I believe that Moxie really wants to heal. She has a positive attitude and is willing to work so that she can run and play again. We're going to help her reach her goal!

Day 2

So we've gotten through day 2 and it's been pretty easy. Moxie's been great and is seemingly unfazed by the ordeal, other than being confined to her hallway. She's been outside a few times and I think we'll have to use her choke collar again as she's pulling strong with only 3 legs.

The big step is toe touches. She's been using her bum leg, touching the toe and putting a little weight on it. This is a big step as it's critical to her recovery. We've also started doing some physical therapy which involves moving the leg for her in a bicycle motion and stretching the leg out and compressing it. She was alright with what we did today and we'll increase the reps and the frequency moving forward.

Day 2: morning

Eric got up at 1 am to give Moxie her medicine (every 6 hours). She ate her peanut butter covered pills eagerly. She was also sleeping laying on the side with her operated leg, which we thought was a good sign.

When I got up this morning Moxie was pretty excited to see me. Lots of tail wagging and rolling on the floor. I took her out to relieve herself. Gracie followed and did the same. Moxie did not want to go back into her "fort" when we got inside. She wanted to go upstairs. I wrapped my arms around her and half dragged her back and put the gate back up. She settled back in after that. She inhaled her breakfast of wet/dry food (wet food is a special treat) and had her first real meal since Sunday. She licked her lips a lot after so I could tell she was satisfied! I gave her a few bones but she was uninterested and went back to sleep until Eric got up to cuddle with her about 7:15.

So, the healing has begun. She seems more alert and more insistent about being petted and cuddled with. Her leg doesn't look any more/less swollen and she hasn't been yelping or making any indication that she's in a lot of pain. Hopefully this trend will continue.

Here's a great link about the anterior cruciate ligament and the procedure.

Day 1

Moxie is back home from her TPLO surgery. She went under the knife yesterday afternoon. We went down to pick her up from VRCC- veterinary referral and critical care. After hearing about the recovery process from the vet tech (I'll explain this coming up) they brought Moxie in. Even after surgery and with only three working legs she about pulled over the vet tech to get to us. She had a square shaved on her back for the epidural and of course her left leg was shaved from the hip down. She was surprisingly coherent for being drugged up, but she came right over to get some attention. Moxie was moving relatively well which we weren't surprised about since she hasn't been able to use her leg for some time already. After going over some stretches to loosen up the knee we were able to go home. Again, while being drugged up and with only three legs, Moxie was pulling me out the door and wanted to go hop around the yard. She also really had to go to the bathroom and squatted for a long time before we carefully loaded her into the car.

We drove home with Lynette in the backseat with Moxie to keep her calm and not moving. She was happy to be with us again and seemed relatively comfortable. Coming home, Gracie our other dog, ran straight out to great her. We put her up in a closed off hallway with numerous blankets and pillows to sleep on. Moxie was happy to be home, and while wanting to go immediately to the backyard was easily convinced to lie in the hallway, her new home for the coming weeks.

It's been a few hours since we returned. Moxie ate some hot dogs and peanut butter and pigs ears. We made sure to get her all of her favorite treats. She wagged her tail when Lynette came home from dance and gave her some loving. She's been stretching her leg some on her own some, too. We're not going to start any PT until the swelling has gone down a little bit, but she might get a nice warm compress before bed!