Big Dog, Pig Dog

Ah…how time flies. The minutes are long, but the days and weeks and months are short. It’s a bittersweet thing, when you think about it.

The O.G.s (original gangstas) sharing some nappage. Maxxie and Sam both pre-date Pat, so our posse goes way back, yo. :p

(Ed. note: Much of this is also on the forums…)

It’s been four weeks since we received our diagnosis (Wed. March 6); amputation was done the next day. (So technically, it’s NOT our one-month anniversary…we’re actually a day early and a dollar richer, I guess… )

Our two week stint in Florida apparently didn’t phase Sam in the slightest, and Jacqie (our housesitter…and also our vet tech) said he was a peach. He was his normal stubborn self, figuring out how to move the barricades blocking him from the upstairs and downstairs almost immediately and helping himself to the couch, bopping around outside, etc etc. She kept us updated the whole time, and tried really hard to make it sound like he missed us :p (Which we all know is a falsehood, since he is a shameless manwhore and loves to have girlfriends over. And Jacqie spoils ALL of our beasties rotten, so she makes an excellent lady friend. I’m pretty sure they like her better than they like us. :p)

When we got home Sunday night, Sampson was right at there at the door with everyone else, shoving and fighting to get in front of the crowd and see what we brought them. He ran around the house bringing out toys, did the stairs, ate all his food, and, in general, was about as perky and upbeat as I’ve seen him in months.

I thought he was doing great the first two weeks–we had no potty issues (went just fine from the moment we woke up, no face plants or anything), appetite was normal (sporadic, but that’s normal), was able to do stairs (on his own–I tried NOT to let him) right away, etc etc. So even in that first timeframe, I was more pleasantly surprised than not. But the difference between Day 13 and Day 24 was even better. It’s almost like he’s saying, “Well, who knows how much time I have? Not going to waste it sitting around and grousing. Must get back to patrolling the yard and ignoring what people tell me. Priorities, people.”

Here’s a video from Tuesday. Not overly exciting, but you see some running, peeing, playing, poo-sniffing…you know, all the major bases. :p

Day 26 post-op

Anywhoooo…Yesterday, we went to our first PT visit. Our challenge is to get him to really start using his back legs independently, and to help build his core strength. Because of his dysplasia and arthritis, he bunny hops most of the time…the regimine is designed to get him to build up some muscle and flexibility and ease some of that. This is the first time I get to be the harsh taskmaster instead of the one DOING the PT! :p

The orthopedic surgeon who did the initial eval was H.O.T., so we had that going for us right off the bat. 😀 And the PT himself was wonderful. Supportive, yet stern, very helpful. We did a lot of ROM stuff (well, more passive ROM, I guess), some massage, some footwork drills, and then we got to use the water treadmill. Fun!

FWIW, I didn’t get any pictures AT therapy, but if you’ve ever seen a skinny, elderly, mostly bald, three-legged, chupacabra in a swimming pool…well, that pretty much sums up our visit, so no photos needed.

Today is suture removal (we left them in over vacation, as we had one little section that just wouldn’t close  up). The incision looks fine. While we were gone, there was some OCD lickage of the area, so he’s got some raw gross patches, but I think taking the stitches out will help.

That’s about it for now. I’ll leave you with a lovely image of our youngest cat, Finnegan the Naughty. We just had his first birthday on St. Pat’s. He’s got four legs (and puts each and every one of them to mischievous merrymaking every waking moment of his day), but I figure he’s cute enough to put in an appearance.